Explore the ways in which the characters of Tybalt and Mercutio are contrasted in the play Essay Example

Explore the ways in which the characters of Tybalt and Mercutio are contrasted in the play Paper Romeo and Juliet is a love story full of contrasts: love and hate; joy and sorrow; light and dark and Montagues and Capulets. The main contrast is between the Montagues and the Capulets; the audience would know from the prologue that there would be a contrast, From ancient grudge break to new mutiny. This give the audience an idea of how the families became such bitter enemies; this grudge results in five innocent youths dying, two of whom are Mercutio and Tybalt. The character Tybalt is based on a character from Arthur Brookes poem, where as Mercutio was Shakespeares own creation, to counteract possibly with the villainous Tybalt. Tybalt and Mercutio do not actually meet onstage until Act 3 Scene 1 when they fight; Shakespeare could have done this with the intention that when it came to them meeting it would be more dramatic. Therefore the audience see the characters develop and are able to imagine what would happen if they did ever meet. They are contrasting characters, Tybalt is aggressive; I hate the word,/ As I hate hell, this shows that he does not want to make peace with the Montagues even though he does not know why they hate each other. Whereas Mercutio fights when he thinks it is necessary, because Romeo was not fighting his side, Will you pluck your sword out of his pilcher by the ears? This shows how they both fight for something they think is right. On the contrary, both men believe that family honour is important and they will risk their lives and kill to support the family name, To strike him dead I hold it not a sin. Shakespeare suggests that Tybalt believes the family name to be so important th at he would kill someone and would not feel remotely upset. We will write a custom essay sample on Explore the ways in which the characters of Tybalt and Mercutio are contrasted in the play specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Explore the ways in which the characters of Tybalt and Mercutio are contrasted in the play specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Explore the ways in which the characters of Tybalt and Mercutio are contrasted in the play specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Tybalt does not feature much in the play compared to Mercutio; who says quite a lot, nevertheless the audience still know a great deal about Tybalts personality. The first impressions of Tybalt show him as an aggressive man, Look upon thy death this shows him as antagonistic, this is because thy death demonstrates to the audience that Tybalt is a man who does not mind if people who are from the house of Montague die. Therefore our first impressions of Tybalt are as a destructive person who is seen by the audience as aggressive because he talks about hell, What is drawn, and talk of peace? I hate the word/ As I hate hell, all Montagues and thee. This would have an impact on an Elizabethan audience because they were, on the whole religious and believed in heaven and hell. A comparison to hell showed how much Tybalt despised the Montagues. Tybalt does not want to make peace with the Montagues and he says I hate the word this reiterates the strength of Tybalts revulsion for the Montagues . In contrast, Mercutio is first seen in Act 1 scene 4 and he is seen as fun-loving; Nay, gentle Romeo, we must have you dance. He wants Romeo to join in and not just hold the light. Mercutio also talks about love and dreams and how they are false; Prick love for pricking, and you beat love down. Mercutio does not think that love is sincere and that Romeo is being silly because he thinks he loves Rosaline. He also thinks that dreams are stupid; Which are children of an idle brain, / Begot of nothing but vain fantasy. Mercutio has strong opinions and he is not afraid to say what he thinks, children of an idle brain. His views are a contrast to his personality because he seems so positive and his negativity about dreams and love could be because he was hurt by someone. The audience here can see hidden depths to his character. The main difference between Mercutio and Tybalt is in their speech; Tybalt speaks simply and he gets straight to the point, Uncle, this is a Montague, our foe: / A villain that is hither come in spite. Tybalt gets straight to the point and does not use any poetic language, because he does not think like Mercutio. Mercutio, on the other hand uses figurative language to get his point across; Her traces of the smallest spiders web. Here Mercutio is describing Queen Mabs carriage; Queen Mab is the Queen of dreams. When Mercutio mentions this it would appeal to the Elizabethan audience, because they were superstitious and believed in Queen Mab, perhaps they would have responded to Mercutios speech, until Romeo interrupts him. On the contrary, Tybalt says what he thinks and in simple and aggressive terms, As I hate hell, all Montagues and thee. This shows Tybalt as aggressive because he compares the Montagues to hell. He does not always think about his actions, but he just fights, because he wants to do what he thinks is right; To fleer and scorn at our solemnity? This shows that he is jumping to conclusions because he thinks that Romeo is only there as a joke and is trying to cause trouble. Therefore he wants to kill him, because he thinks Romeo is abusing the Capulet name, honour of my kin. This shows that Tybalt believes that he is protecting the family name by wanting to hurt Romeo. Although the audience already know what Mercutio thinks of Tybalt, they do not know what will happen when they meet; oh hes the courageous captain of compliments: Mercutio thinks that Tybalt is a man of little words, but his actions speak for his words. Mercutio is saying that Tybalt fights like a dancer, he moves around a lot, but does not do much fighting; he compares sword fighting to music, because they both follow rules precisely. In some interpretations, Mercutio would dance about on stage in an exaggerated manner, to mock Tybalts style. The most key scene in the play is Act 3 scene 1; this is the scene in which Mercutio and Tybalt finally meet and fight. The audience already know what Mercutio thinks of Tybalt from Act 2 scene 4; he fights as you sing prick-song, keeps time, distance and proportion. Mercutio thinks that Tybalt fights like a cat and he fights as if it is a dance. Tybalt does not make the first move; this is surprising because the audience would think that Tybalt would want to fight because the impression of him the audience have is that he is a man who likes to fight. Mercutio insults Tybalt, who responds with his sword; By my heel, I care not shows that Mercutio starts by insulting Tybalt, but Tybalt ignores it at first, because he does not want to fight Mercutio. Even though they are enemies they still use formal language, you shall find me apt enough to that, sir, shows that Tybalt is being polite even when Mercutio is insulting him. The family name is important hence the reason why Tybalt suddenl y becomes aggressive when Romeo enters; thou art a villain. Tybalt calls Romeo a villain because he attended the Capulet party and he is a Montague. Mercutio has family pride too, even though he is not a Montague, he is Romeos friend so he believes that the family name is very important, O calm, dishonourable, vile submission! Mercutio is infuriated because Romeo is not fighting for the family and he is being cowardly and he should be fighting because he is a Montague, men in Elizabethan time thought of it cowardly if one did not fight for their family, therefore the audience would have seen Romeo as dishonouring his family. Tybalt kills Mercutio in a cowardly way, Tybalt under Romeos arm thrusts Mercutio in. Tybalt, on the other hand, kills Mercutio when he is not looking, because Romeo tells them to stop, therefore he did not kill Mercutio because he was endangered it was because he was scared that he would lose a contrast to Mercutios sense of honour and mortality. Tybalt and Mercutio are contrasted in Romeo and Juliet because they show the consequences to a feud which goes back generations. Mercutio is portrayed as a man who has a vivid imagination and the joker of the play, whereas Tybalt is aggressive and he knows what he wants and will go after it until he finally achieves his goals.