Mercutio And Tybalt example essay topic

In this essay I am going to investigate and explore the differences and similarities between the characters Tybalt and Mercutio in the famous love story Romeo and Juliet. Then I will analyse the factors that lead up to their deaths. Tybalt is Juliet's cousin. He is a far cry from Romeo's cousin, Benvolio.

He is a fiery young man and a troublemaker. He loves fighting for his own sake. "peace? I hate the word, as I hate hell, all Montague's and thee" Tybalt is almost a caricature of feuding violence. He is the kind of person who keeps the feud alive, he represents feud in living form throughout the play. Mercutio stands apart from the antagonism between the Capulet's and Montague's, being a member of neither family. Mercutio is young, rich and intelligent.

His defence of Romeo's honour, despite the fact that he himself is not involved in the feud, gains our admiration. Both men are easily provoked and easily annoyed. They are always prepared to fight when their honour need to be defended. "Pluck your sword" says Mercutio. "I'll not endure him" says Tybalt. This shows how stubborn both characters are.

They both feel they are always right which causes more conflict and shows more stubbornness. Both men have hatred for one another. This is shown as Mercutio cries to Tybalt "vile submission" There are only few similarities between the two characters, however because of this, they die. There are many differences between Mercutio and Tybalt.

Mercutio is a fun character with a witty personality, neither Montague nor Capulet. He is extremely imaginative and creative, when describing Queen Mab and his friends he says "Her traces are of the smallest spider's web" His role in life is to enjoy it, carefree and in a fearless manor. He is absent-minded, confident, bold, gallant, intrepid and valorous. In the end he has a winning personality, as when he is dying he makes a joke "Ay, a scratch, go villain, fetch a surgeon" He says "scratch" because he calls Tybalt a "rat catcher" This shows how he plays on his words. Tybalt on the other hand is very aggressive, full of rage, anger and has a very short temper. When Romeo arrives at the party Tybalt says "Tis he, that villain Romeo" The word "villain" means wicked, showing just how far his hatred goes with Romeo.

Tybalt is full of passion honour and love for his own family, the Capulet's. He has no remorse shown when he is arguing with Benvolio "look upon thy death" he hated him so much he'd rather him dead. He hates peace and love "what I hate the word". He hated all Montague's "As I hate all the Montague's" this shows how he is vengeful and again shows hatred. He is bitter, spiteful and has an impetuous, resentful, vengeful untamed personality. It is because of all these reasons that both Mercutio and Tybalt are killed.

Mercutio is killed due to his stubbornness, he will not back down from a fight, and he must defend his honour. Romeo would not defend himself against Tybalt, so Mercutio felt he must intervene, and protects Romeo, but is killed by Tybalt. He dies because his love for Romeo is so strong. Due to the fact that he killed Mercutio, Romeo cannot bare to see Tybalt alive, his guilt is so strong. Tybalt's death is due to his complete hatred for all Montague's and because his pride and honour is so strong. Additionally, if Tybalt had not provoked Romeo then both Mercutio and Tybalt may still be alive.

However, both men die due to hatred, bitterness, anger and remorse.