Exemplar Essay: Tybalt

How does Shakespeare present Tybalt?

Read the extract and exam question. In the exam, you should always underline important information given to you about the extract, as well as important words in the question.

Read this extract from Act 3 Scene 5 of Romeo and Juliet and then answer the question that follows. At this point in the play Tybalt has realised that Romeo has attended the Capulet ball uninvited. He recognises Romeo’s voice. Tybalt speaks to Lord Capulet about wanting to fight Romeo immediately.

ROMEO

Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight!

For I ne’er saw true beauty till this night.

TYBALT

This, by his voice, should be a Montague.

Fetch me my rapier, boy. What dares the slave

Come hither, cover’d with an antic face,

To fleer and scorn at our solemnity?

Now, by the stock and honor of my kin,

To strike him dead I hold it not a sin.

CAPULET

Why, how now, kinsman, wherefore storm you so?

TYBALT

Uncle, this is a Montague, our foe;

A villain that is hither come in spite

To scorn at our solemnity this night.

CAPULET

Young Romeo is it?

TYBALT

’Tis he, that villain Romeo.

CAPULET

Content thee, gentle coz, let him alone,

’A bears him like a portly gentleman;

And to say truth, Verona brags of him

To be a virtuous and well-govern’d youth.

I would not for the wealth of all this town

Here in my house do him disparagement;

Therefore be patient, take no note of him;

It is my will, the which if thou respect,

Show a fair presence and put off these frowns,

An ill-beseeming semblance for a feast.

TYBALT

It fits when such a villain is a guest.

I’ll not endure him.

CAPULET

He shall be endured.

What, goodman boy? I say he shall, go to!

Am I the master here, or you? Go to!

You’ll not endure him! God shall mend my soul,

You’ll make a mutiny among my guests!

You will set cock-a-hoop! You’ll be the man!

TYBALT

Why, uncle, ’tis a shame.

CAPULET

Go to, go to,

You are a saucy boy. Is’t so indeed?

This trick may chance to scath you, I know what.

You must contrary me! Marry, ’tis time.—

Well said, my hearts!—You are a princox, go,

Be quiet, or—More light, more light!—For shame,

I’ll make you quiet, what!—Cheerly, my hearts!

TYBALT

Patience perforce with willful choler meeting

Makes my flesh tremble in their different greeting.

I will withdraw, but this intrusion shall,

Now seeming sweet, convert to bitt’rest gall.

Exit.

Starting with the extract, explore how Shakespeare presents Tybalt as an aggressive and violent character in Romeo and Juliet.

• how Shakespeare presents Tybalt as an aggressive and violent character in the extract.

• how Shakespeare presents Tybalt as an aggressive and violent character in the play as a whole.

[30 marks]

[+ 4 SPAG]

Romeo and Juliet is a play about strong emotions in which many tragic events take place. Shakespeare uses the character of Tybalt to explore strong feelings of honour and anger. Tybalt’s fervent desire to defend the Capulet honour, combined with his inability to control his anger, leads to his own downfall and his death triggers further tragic events in the play. Through Tybalt’s actions, Shakespeare could be suggesting that an inability to control anger, and a need to fight to prove honour or masculinity can have tragic consequences.

In the extract, Shakespeare presents Tybalt as a character who is unable to control his anger. The moment Tybalt hears Romeo’s voice, Shakespeare has Tybalt say to his servant ‘fetch me my rapier’. In other words, Tybalt is demanding that his servant fetches his sword. It is clear from these words that Tybalt is an aggressive character, who immediately resorts to violence, rather than trying to resolve his anger peacefully by discussing his concerns with Romeo. Tybalt would prefer to fight Romeo in order to give Romeo a very clear message that he is unwelcome at the Capulet ball. Shakespeare’s choice to have Tybalt respond to Romeo’s presence at the ball in this way demonstrates how strongly he feels about the feud between the Montague and the Capulet families. These strong feelings lead to the first death in the play in Act Three.

Also in the extract, Shakespeare makes clear family honour is important to Tybalt. In lines 9-10, Shakespeare has Tybalt state ‘Now, by the stock and honour of my kin, To strike him dead I hold it not a sin’. In other words, Tybalt is stating that he thinks it would not be sinful to kill Romeo because he would be doing it in order to defend the honour of the Capulet family. A religious Elizabethan audience would have felt that killing someone was the worst sin you could commit, but would perhaps have understood Tybalt’s motives. As a man in the Elizabethan era, Tybalt would have been viewed as a coward if he allowed Romeo to mock him in this way. It is not surprising, therefore, that Tybalt responds to Romeo’s actions by saying that he wants to fight and kill him. Perhaps Shakespeare presents Tybalt in this way in order to challenge ideas about honour and masculinity in the Elizabethan era. If Tybalt had not believed so strongly in fighting in order to defend his honour, then the first tragic deaths of the play could have been avoided.

Early in the play, Shakespeare presents Tybalt as a violent character who is often seeking a fight. In the opening scene when the servants of the Montague and the Capulet families are fighting, Shakespeare makes clear Tybalt is a violent and aggressive character by having him try to join in the fight. In contrast with Benvolio, who is actively trying to keep the peace and urging the servants to put their swords down, Tybalt encourages the fight and wants to draw his sword. In response to Benvolio’s plea for peace, Shakespeare has Tybalt say ‘Peace! I hate the word as I hate hell, all Montagues and thee’. In other words, Tybalt is stating that he hates the idea of peace as much as he hates the idea of being sent to hell and as much as he hates the Montague family. Shakespeare’s repetition of the word ‘hate’ in this quotation emphasises the anger in Tybalt’s character. It is as if he is consumed by the hate he feels for the Montagues and is unwilling to consider resolving the feud. An Elizabethan audience may have sympathised with Tybalt’s actions as fights and conflict were common in society at the time. Shakespeare’s choice to present Tybalt as such a hateful character the first time the audience meets him foreshadows later events, as it could be argued that Tybalt’s hate triggers all of the tragic events in the play.

Later in the play after the Capulet ball, Shakespeare presents Tybalt as a character who will kill in order to defend his family honour. In Act Three, Tybalt challenges Romeo to a fight on the streets of Verona as revenge for Romeo attending the Capulet ball. In spite of Romeo’s attempts to reason with Tybalt, Tybalt is unwilling to listen, responding with the words ‘villain’ and ‘boy’. Shakespeare’s use of the word ‘villain’ when Tybalt refers to Romeo indicates that he believes in the feud so strongly that he sees Romeo as a villain - someone who deliberately harms others - even though Romeo has done nothing wrong. He appears to have tunnel vision and is unwilling to listen to Romeo when Romeo tries to explain that he only seeks peace. Shakespeare’s use of the word ‘boy’ indicates that Tybalt enjoys trying to mock Romeo and put him down, as a way of trying to provoke Romeo into fighting with him. The way Shakespeare contrasts Tybalt and Romeo in this scene adds to the tragedy of the play. The strength of Romeo’s love for Juliet has overwhelmed all previous loyalties, leading him to state proudly he ‘loves’ Tybalt. This only provokes Tybalt more and heightens his feelings of anger towards Romeo. Romeo’s feelings of love, therefore, blind him to his loyalty to the Montague family, further provoke Tybalt and result in Mercutio fighting in his place. The love and anger in this scene - such strong, passionate emotions that both Romeo and Tybalt struggle to control - bring about the tragic deaths of two of the play’s central characters.