Mercutio, Benvolio and Tybalt give us three very different portraits of the young men who are part of Verona society. Compare these characters and their roles and their roles in the play.

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Adam Lane 10r2

Mercutio, Benvolio and Tybalt give us three very different portraits of the young men who are part of Verona society. Compare these characters and their roles and their roles in the play.

In the play “Romeo and Juliet” by William Shakespeare there are two families, the Capulets and the Montagues. Benvolio is a nephew to Montague and Tybalt is a nephew to Lord and Lady Capulet. Mercutio is a friend of Romeo, who is a member of the Montague family, and he is also a nephew of the Prince.

Young men in Verona society were very aware of status and people would never fight below their rank, this was seen as cowardly. Fencing was very popular in Verona as there are many references to this. It was the most popular sport, just like football in England now. People in Verona also enjoyed wordplay, usually involving sexual puns. People still do this today in jokes.

 I will now examine the characters attitude to violence and fencing and explore the similarities and differences. In the play Benvolio is definitely the peacemaker because on many occasions when a fight is going on Benvolio always tries to break it up.

“Part fools, put up your swords.”

I think this quotation suggests that Benvolio thinks he is better than the servants who are fighting and that he thinks they are “fools” for fighting with each other.

He also gives biased accounts of the fights that take place, which often aggravates Tybalt who has a “Fiery” temper and likes to keep feuds on going:

“You shall find me apt enough to that sir, as you will occasion.”

Tybalt is the most aggressive character in the play, and he always tries to pick a fight. For example, in Act 3 scene 1 when he stabs Mercutio he is one of the main initiators of the fight. Tybalt is very loyal to the Capulet house, and he always gets revenge if something happens:

“But this intrusion shall, now seeming sweet, convert to bitterest gall.”

This indicates that something bad is going to happen. I think it is setting the scene for the murder.

Mercutio is fairly similar to Tybalt in many ways, he is aggressive and likes to fight. These two characters contrast greatly to Benvolio who does not like fighting. Mercutio is not actually a Montague but he is very loyal to Romeo and the Montague house. I think that Mercutio just sticks up for people and what he believes in, he doesn’t just go around looking for fights. In Act 3 scene 1 Mercutio gets very aggressive towards Tybalt who then goes on to stab him. I think this was a murder because he easily loses his temper, “Tybalt, that murderer, which way ran he?”

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This suggests that everyone thinks it was a murder.    

I will now look at the characters attitudes to status and sum up the similarities and differences.

Benvolio does not seem to be interested in status because he is accused of fighting with servants. This tells me that he does not care about what status he has or anyone else has. His only aim is to keep the peace. Benvolio usually speaks in prose although he does use verse occasionally. However Tybalt speaks in blank verse to suggest that he has a high rank.

“What are thou drawn among ...

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