A Character Study on Tybalt and Mercutio, and as Director What

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A Character Study on Tybalt and Mercutio, and as Director What

Instructions I would give the Actors Taking on their Parts

Romeo and Juliet is a world famous play written by William

Shakespeare. The tale is of two lovers suicide when their feuding

families keep them apart. The families have been sworn enemies for

generations they are wealthy, powerful and often violent. Some

characters are quiet without much involvement, others the play

revolves around, Tybalt and Mercutio are somewhere in the middle they

do not greatly contribute to the main story line, however they form

the base of it, even though they both are killed early on. They create

the atmosphere and reality aspect in the story.

The prologue sets the scene, briefly summarizing the story and

emphasising the trouble in Verona. We are told of the feud between two

credential families, the Montague's and the Capulet's, there have been

three civil brawls caused by them, 'from ancient grudge beaks new

mutiny' the city is in chaos. This makes the environment for Tybalt

ideal, as he relishes fighting.

Tybalt (A.K.A prince of cats) is a passionate swordsman. He was born

to violent times in troubled Verona, therefore he lives and breathes

fighting. He has known nothing but chaos throughout his life as he is

a Capulet, sworn enemy to all Montague's and their companions

(including Mercutio, Romeo's [Montague] best friend). Tybalt lives to

the extreme, his mannerisms are eccentric and he repeatedly

overreacts, he takes simple things out of context and always reacts

violently as he knows nothing else. For example, in Act1 Scene1, as

Benvolio seeks peace he cries 'what, art tho drawn amongst these

heartless hinds? Turn thee Benvolio and look upon thy death.' This

shows his willingness to kill without mercy, on the slightest

pretence. Therefore considering first impressions, as director I would

chose an actor to be Tybalt that has an Italian influence in his

appearance, and accent. He would have 'rugged' features and deep,

brown, fiery eyes to correlate with his delicate temper, this in my

opinion, giving the impression of a key member in a Mafia. He would

have brown/black short hair and a small 'goatee' but the rest of his

face would be clean-shaven to show he takes great pride in his

intimidating appearance. His clothes would also reflect this, wearing

dark colours and always looking smart, again based on the stereotype

of a gang member. He should be wearing a white shirt open at the top,

black jacket and trousers with shiny back shoes, he would always look

calm and collected as though he enjoyed life and hadn't a care in the

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