In this extract Benvolio is presented as loyal, a peacemaker and mature. Benvolio is a foil character for Tybalt therefore he is known to be ‘benevolent’ as Shakespeare suggests in his name. Furthermore in this extract Benvolio is shown to give his recount of an earlier fight and the audience is shown his mature approach and his loyalty to his friends and family.
Shakespeare shows Benvolio as loyal in this extract as only two lines Into his recount Benvolio establishes that his cousin is not to blame for the fight . He says “ Romeo that spoke him fair” highlighting to the prince and others who hadn’t witnessed the fight that Romeo too way vying for peace and hadn’t instigated the fight. In addition Shakespeare uses words with positive and peaceful connotations such as “ nice” , “gentle” and “calm”. This shows how Benvolio was painting Romeo as innocent in the quarrel whilst letting others know that Tybalt couldn’t be dissuaded from violence. Furthermore the audience is shown that Benvolio doesn’t mention that Mercutio also goaded Tybalt on due to his loyalty for his friend, this may have made the audience at the time question how honest Benvolio actually is as he is leaving out key details. Also Benvolio exaggerates Romeo’s peace making by repeating things such as “bade him bethink”
…show more content…
Showing how he intended to diffuse the fight but had not been able to Intervene as Romeo was driven by revenge. This echoes Shakespeare’s criticism of excessively passionate behaviour, highlighting how acting recklessly out of love can have equally negative consequences as acting recklessly out of hate. Also Benvolio highlights how Tybalt was extremely unreasonable during the fight as “ he could not take truce”. This emphasises that Benvolio is a foil character to Tybalt due to their completely contrasting views. While Benvolio is attempting to make peace Tybalt came seeking a