In Act 1, scene 1 we first see Tybalt. He says ‘What, drawn and talk of peace? I hate the word’. This suggests to me that he is very concise, and gets straight to the point. Also in very few words, we can tell he loves violence, and hates peace. Tybalt then calls the Montague boys ‘cowards’ and they all fight. Overall from this scene we can see Tybalt is a violent character, and provokes a fight with the Montagues which carries on the ‘ancient grudge.
Just before we meet Romeo, Lord Montague and Benvolio speak of him. Montague describes him as ‘his own affections counsellor’. This suggests to me that they think of him as emotional, and by the words ‘his own’ suggests he doesn’t really take anyone else’s advice accept his own. Lord Montague then goes on to say ‘but to himself so secret, and so close, so far from sounding and discovery’. This is indicating to me that they believe he is in his own world, and he doesn’t really realise anyone else’s world besides his own. The tone of this line, and the quotes before and following, suggests to me that Lord Montague isn’t happy about this and he would rather his son be much more open about this.
Romeo then discusses his love and happiness about Rosaline to Benvolio. He says ‘being purged’ in a sentence describing his love, which shows me that he believes he not himself as he has fallen in love, but maybe he thinks this as a bad thing by using the word ‘purged’. He also then says ‘being vexed, a sea nourished with loving tears’. This is a fascinating quote as its contrasting to very different elements, sadness and love to the natural beauty of the sea. By juxtaposing this, its shows Romeo’s weird view on love. He then says ‘a choking gull, and a preserving sweet’ which yet again juxtaposes the two ideas. By showing his point of view of love in two different manners, he really is showing us the audience how his emotions are flying high, and how he does not know what to belive.
