Both Benvolio and Tybalt are interesting to compare and contrast, because they can be described as complete opposites and foils. Tybalt is from the Capulet family and is Juliet's cousin (mothers side). He is very aggressive and seems easy for him to draw his sword when people insult him or hurt his pride. On the other hand, Benvolio is Romeo's cousin. Benvolio seems to not prefer public fighting, given that he is always trying to prevent and stop it.
Tybalt can be considered one of the most aggressive characters in the play. For example, in A1S1L66 Tybalt says "Turn thee... Look upon thy death." Benvolio then explains how there is no reason to fight and says them both should go to peace. Tybalt responds with: "Talk of peace? I hate the word as I hate the word
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He is a trustworthy friend and also could be considered a counselor. One example of his peace is at the beginning of the play when tybalt wants to fight benvolio: "I do but keep the peace: put up thy sword" He expresses his mature and responsible attitude towards Tybalt in order to calm him down. Even though this doesn’t work and they fight anyways, it shows how he wants to act about certain situations. Benvolio is also honest and a responsible person. “Here were the servants of your adversary, And yours, close fighting ere I did approach:I drew to part them: in the instant came the fiery Tybalt, with his sword prepared,Which, as he breathed defiance to my ears, he swung about his head and cut the winds, who nothing hurt withal hiss'd him in scorn: while we were interchanging thrusts and blows, came more and more and fought on part and part, till the prince came, who parted either part.” When he says what happened during the fight, to the Montagues, he is completely honest and does not change the story to make it in his favor (and make him look
Tybalt is related to Juliet, and is naturally a character foil to a relative of Romeo named Benvolio. Tybalt contains a quick temper, and makes a multitude of rash decisions. Tybalt also responds to disrespect with violence, and without much consideration. Benvolio’s name rings true to word that sounds similar:
Benvolio, in contrast to Tybalt, is a more peaceful person who can manage his angers and hate. He, I believe, is meant to be seen as some sort of mediator: “I pray the, good Mercutio, let’s retire. The day is hot, the Capulets abroad, And, if we meet, we shall not scape a brawl, For now, these hot days, is the mad blood stirring.” (Shakespeare, page 116).
Because of this conflict, confrontations occurred and insults were thrown. Hatred is bred which is evident when Tybalt, who is Lady Capulet's nephew, joins the fight against the Montague family. Tybalt hates Romeo and doesn't hesitate to let it be known.
From the very beginning of the play, Tybalt expressed how he hated peace. He would prefer to hate than to have peace with the Montagues.
When asked by Benvolio to make peace in the streets, Tybalt bluntly responds,” talk of peace, I hate the word. As I hate hell all Montagues.” This is the attitude of Tybalt throughout the play. He believes he is doing all for the best and uses violence as his tool. He gets angry at the ball with Romeo being there, “villain as a guest,” and believes it best to defend his family’s honor by later taking revenge. When Tybalt finds Romeo, he thinks it best to fight him and when he ends up killing Mercutio he believes he has done his duty by causing Romeo the same hurt he has brought Tybalt, “the injuries that thou hast done me.”
Tybalt’s loyalty towards the family dispute intoxicates him with a quarrelsome nature. After recognizing Romeo at the Capulet Ball, Tybalt persistently rejects his uncle’s remonstrance to stay serene. Even after being restrained by his Uncle Capulet, he vows vengeance on Romeo in the future as he says, “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” (1.5.88-90). Tybalt tends to take each and every “insult” towards his family and himself to heart, without even contemplating their true meaning. Furthermore, Tybalt’s aggravating behavior develops into a clear factor leading to his downfall. When Mercutio is found dead as a result of Tybalt, Romeo confronts him directly with a duel to the death. Rather than trying to discuss and come to a harmonious solution, Tybalt further inflamed the already belligerent environment. He does this by saying, “Thou, wretched boy, that didst consort him here, Shalt with him hence” (3.1.128-129). Tybalt’s relentless threatening behavior never fails to make an already hostile environment even worse. His cruel character is perpetual no matter what the
In fact, without it, many of the major plot lines would be incredibly different if Benvolio pertained some of Tybalt’s rage or if Tybalt shared some of Benvolio’s peace. Before Benvolio and Mercutio come upon Tybalt one afternoon, Benvolio tries to get out of it and mentions, “I pray thee, good Mercutio, let’s retire. / The day is hot; the Capulets, abroad; / And if we meet we shall not ‘scape a brawl, / For now, these hot days, is mad blood stirring.” (3.1, 1-4). Benvolio had prior knowledge that as Montagues, him and Mercutio would manage to get into a fight if they tried to stay where they were, surrounded by Capulets. He wanted to possibly escape the repercussions of what said fight might entail. However, Tybalt had very different plans. He purposely went looking for the two Montagues and started a brawl which, of course, resulted in Mercutio’s death. This death is a crucial part in the tragedy, for it is when Romeo causes another death, Tybalt’s, which gets him banished from Verona. Therefore, without this said character foil, none of this would have ever happened, and the plot line would drastically
In Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare, Tybalt is shown to be aggressive, sophisticated, and hazardous. Tybalt is aggressive because he immediately wants to kill Romeo when he sees him at the party. :This by voice should be a Montague, Fetch me my rapier boy” (I.5.54-55). This shows how aggressive Tybalt is to kill Romeo when he barely sees gimm, Tybalt urges the servant to get his rapier to kill Romeo for showing up uninvited at the Capulet party. Tybalt is shown to be sophisticated as he doesn’t listen to Lord Capulet. “You will set cock-a-hoop. You’ll be the man! Why uncle, tis a shame” (I.5.81-82). It shows that Tybalt is hard to convince to obey something. He seems to have a provincial mind and a gadfly for Lord Capulet who wants
Shakespeare cunningly gives the audience an early indication of Benvolio’s personality through his name. Benvolio translated literally means “good-will” or “well wisher” a role he consistently fills, although sometimes unsuccessfully throughout the play, striving to keep himself and others around him out of any conflict. In the very first scene of the play, Benvolio quickly establishes himself as the peacemaker as he tries to stop the fight between the Montague and Capulet servants by saying, “Part fools! Put up your swords, you know not what you do.”(I.i.64-65) Wanting peace he warns them to stop arguing before things evolve into a grave situation. In that statement, Shakespeare references the Gospel of Luke “Father forgive them for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34), using his skillful use of the written language to allude that Benvolio was taking on a Christ like peacemaker role in the play. Benvolio’s moral convictions do not change over the course of the play. His stance on peace is evident in all three scenes. In Act III, as Mercutio and Tybalt begin to fight, Benvolio once again attempts to be the voice of reason, “We talk here in the public haunt of mean: eithe...
Benvolio is a very trustworthy character. After Mercutio, Tybalt, and Romeo just fought, the prince asks what had happened. Benvolio told the prince that he would tell everything about the unfortunate deadly fight, and so he did. “O noble prince, I can discover all the unlucky manage of this fatal brawl,” (III.i.105-106). Whether it be his friend or his family or him, he still told the truth.
In Romeo and Juliet it stays true that the noble character Benvolio knows the diversity between what to do and what not to do. Benvolio is the character to help others out of situations that can be heated,and offering guidance when needed.Although in Act 3,of the play during the fight between the Capulet and Montague it drove how Benvolio was a deceiver to his friends. Benvolio's character reflects on many people today,showing that there is good and bad in the world;and as people we need to learn how to help each other when situations go
Tybalt and Bernardo have different attitudes, Tybalt’s attitude is daring and always starts the fight first between the two families. For example in Act 3, Scene 1, when Tybalt saw the Mercutio and Benvolio, he began to laugh and call them names. Tybalt even decided to physically taunt Mercutio and went up and splashed water on him. On the other side, Bernardo did not look for ...
This aggression is shown when Tybalt insults Romeo (3.1.55-69), calling him “thou art a villain” (3.1.56), and “boy” (3.1.61). In the context of this scene, boy is an insult. Once Romeo shows that he will not fight back (3.1.57-60), Tybalt’s ego takes control. This incident embodies cockiness as Tybalt continually berates Romeo and his friends with insults. He has no real reason to escalate this conflict as he knows that the Prince hates fighting. Despite this, Tybalt shows how cocky and abrasive he is, and perpetrates the tragedy by killing Mercutio and getting killed, himself. Since Tybalt literally beckons Romeo to draw (3.1.62), he further exemplifies cockiness. This results in a tragedy as Tybalt slays Mercutio and is slain by Romeo in turn. Furthermore, Tybalt shows aggression in his aside with Lord Capulet at the party. Tybalt says many threatening things about Romeo, calling him: “a slave” (1.5.52), his “foe” (1.5.59), and a “villain” (1.5.63). In this part of the story, Tybalt shows aggression, by wanting to kill Romeo. This is made evident by him asking his servant to grab his sword (1.5.52-4). Once again, Tybalt shows unnecessary aggression by insulting and threatening Romeo. This moves the plot towards tragedy by establishing a rivalry between Romeo and Tybalt. Later on, this rivalry results in the death of Tybalt and Mercutio. In summation, Tybalt’s aggression and cockiness results in the deaths of himself and Mercutio, making this story a
As already shown, both Romeo and Juliet are horrified to discover that they were family enemies. Despite of this, they both choose to devote their love for eachother. Given this point, it is unrequited love that brings Romeo and Juliet together. But this also means that they would have to get over the fact that their families hate each other. This eventually leads them to forgiving the rival family for all the hateful acts that have occurred against one another. This is not the only forgiveness that is experienced in this play. Tybalt is a Montague with a fiery attitude. After catching Romeo at a party he was not supposed to be at, Tybalt had it out for Romeo. Just after Romeo and Juliet’s wedding, Tybalt comes looking for him wanting to fight. Romeo does not want to fight because he now loves Tybalt since he is family to him, but neither Tybalt or anyone else knows this reason. Quickly Mercutio steps in and tells Tybalt that he will fight him in honour of Romeo. Sadly this leads to the death of Mercutio. Romeo is angry and in need of revenge, which creates an intense fight between Tybalt and Romeo. Romeo wins this battle, killing Tybalt. He leaves in a hurry, only to discover that he would be banished from Verona. The death of Tybalt is absolutely devastating to Juliet. Her cousin was murdered by her husband. But she did not hesitate to forgive Romeo, she did so right away. She knew that Romeo had a reason for this incident and decides to
Tybalt was a adversary of Romeo and had the drift to kill him. His spleen of the situation is Romeo trying to love his coz Juliet. He approached Romeo and Mercutio looking for a fight. Tybalt and Mercutio ended up fighting and Tybalt killed Mercutio, because Tybalt did this, he deserved the death penalty for his transgression. Romeo then took revenge and killed him (3.1.70). This is a legal issue because Tybalt was going to be treated to the death penalty anyway so Romeo killing him was just like giving him the death penalty. This death is a lot different than the others because his was a legal issue and he deserved to die, the other deaths in the play like Romeo, Juliet and Mercutio decided to die for a family member that they love.