Romeo and Juliet
Tybalt
Juliet's fierce cousin
A proud, hot-tempered Capulet swordsman who hates all Montagues and is quick to call a fight over family honor.
Tybalt is the nephew of Lady Capulet and Juliet's cousin, a skilled swordsman who treats the feud as a personal matter. He attacks Benvolio in the opening brawl even as Benvolio begs for peace, saying he hates the word as he hates hell and all Montagues.
He lives for honor and cannot bear an insult, real or imagined. When Romeo appears masked at the Capulet feast, Tybalt knows his voice and wants his rapier at once, only to be overruled by Lord Capulet, who tells him to leave Romeo alone. That humiliation sours into a grudge. Tybalt is not a complicated schemer. He is simply someone for whom backing down is worse than dying.
“'Tis he, that villain Romeo! I'll not endure him! Why, uncle, 'tis a shame!”
In the story
Contains spoilers.
After the feast, Tybalt sends a challenge to Romeo's family and goes looking for Romeo in the public square. Romeo, who has just married Tybalt's cousin, answers him with gentle words that Tybalt cannot understand. Mercutio, disgusted, takes the fight in Romeo's place, and Tybalt stabs him under Romeo's arm before running away.
He comes back in triumph. Romeo, grieving, draws his sword and kills him. Tybalt's death divides the lovers, brings the Prince's sentence of banishment, and leaves Lady Capulet crying for Montague blood. In the tomb, Romeo's last words to the dead Tybalt ask his forgiveness.
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
