Then Shakespeare introduces another character called Benvolio who is Romeo’s cousin, similar to Tybalt being Juliet’s cousin. Shakespeare uses his character of Benvolio to enhance the violence of Tybalt because Benvolio is peaceful and calm when side by side with Tybalt it creates a contrast between peace and Tybalt’s violence. Benvolio’s peacefulness is shown when he says “part, fools! Put up your swords; you know not what you do.” Whereas Tybalt’s violence is shown through “what, art thou drawn among these heartless hinds? Turn thee, Benvolio, look upon thy death.” Here, Shakespeare is again contrasting Tybalt's violent sentence after Benvolio's peaceful sentence to highlight Tybalt's violent character. Tybalt picks a fight by saying “talk of peace! I hate the word, as I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee: have at thee cowards!” This starts an enormous fight that results in the Prince’s arrival. He calms the villagers by saying that anyone else caught fighting will be put to death. Next, Benvolio is shown speaking to his uncle and Tybalt is described as “the fiery Tybalt, who with his sword prepared, which, as he breathed defiance to my ears, he swung about his head and cut the winds.” This again shows the violence and viciousness of Tybalt’s character. The audience is being encouraged to see Tybalt as the villain of the play.
The next time Tybalt is presented is in the party scene. In this scene it starts with Tybalt's violence and ends showing his own family think he's too violent and tempered. When Romeo goes to the party of the Capulet’s and when Tybalt over hears him, he says “this, by his voice, should be a Montague, fetch me my rapier” which shows Tybalt's violence and how eager he is to fight. Tybalt then tells lord Capulet that Romeo is here but, lord Capulet orders Tybalt to ignore him because he knows that Romeo won’t cause any trouble. This also shows that even Tybalt's family recognises him for being too aggressive and wanting to fight. Lord Montague calls Tybalt princox meaning a self-confident young fellow. Tybalt shows more of his anger at the end of the scene by showing he will be after revenge later on (“I will with draw: but this intrusion shall now seeming sweet convert to bitter gold”) which leaves the audience tensed and wondering what will happen next.
The next time Shakespeare presents the character of Tybalt is in the letter scene. At the beginning of this scene Benvolio tells us some important information which is that Tybalt has sent a letter to Romeo’s father (lord Montague) which challenges Romeo to a brawl. To develop Tybalt’s character even more Shakespeare keeps making references about his character Tybalt being like a cat and this is shown when his nickname “prince of cats” This is used which tells us more about Tybalt's character being that he is sly, sneaky and very territorial. I think this is effective as it relates to a common household cat that more people would have had as pets so at some point would have seen how cats can be very territorial.
The final appearance of Tybalt is in Act 3, scene 1 there is violence which leads to the deaths of Tybalt and Mercutio. The scene takes place on a street in Verona and happens soon after Romeo and Juliet get married. Characters present at this scene are Tybalt, Benvolio, Romeo, Mercutio and at the end the Prince. When Tybalt arrives, Mercutio says “by my heel I cure not” this shows us that he is not in the mood for a fight and he is not fussed or cares what they do. He also says “I will not budge for no man’s pleasure” which tells us that he will not move to make him happy, at this point the audience can feel the tension building and that a fight is about to be unleashed. Then Romeo enters the scene in which Tybalt then starts to provoke Romeo by saying insulting words (villain) about him, although it is insulting him because he’s from a rich background so he ignores it because he has just married Juliet so him and Tybalt are now family, then Tybalt orders Romeo to take out his sword and fight, his reason for making this order is for Romeo being at the Capulet party earlier in the play. When Mercutio (who was in a jokey mood a minute ago) dies in Romeo’s arms because of Tybalt killing him, Romeo is then angered by this and goes to fight with Tybalt. After Romeo has slain Tybalt he realises that his punishment will be banishment or death, so his character says “o I am fortunes fool”.
In conclusion I think Tybalt's character is important to the play especially that although nearly everyone in the play has killed another character but Tybalt is picked out to be the worst one which every story should have a good character (Mercutio) and a bad one (Tybalt).
