Tybalt's Volatile Quotes

William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet opens in Verona, Italy. Two families with a burning hatred for each other cause havoc and fear throughout the city. One side, Lord and Lady Montague with their son, Romeo Montague, and the other family, Lord and Lady Capulet along with their daughter, Juliet Capulet. Both children deal with their love despite their families being sworn enemies. The family trees continue with cousins, carrying on their rivalry against each other. Tybalt Capulet, Juliet’s cousin, cares very strongly for his family’s reputation and upholds the family's hatred through violence. Shakespeare displays Tybalt as a volatile person in several scenes throughout Romeo and Juliet. Tybalt’s actions reveal his volatile personality and hint at his character to the audience. In Act 1, Scene 1, a fight breaks out between servants of the Montague and Capulet families and ropes in Benvolio and Tybalt.

(1.1.65-67) This quote exhibits that Tybalt is short-tempered using context clues and his choice of words. Tybalt places the Montagues alongside hell, displaying the level of this household rivalry has reached. Tybalt’s quality of being volatile, seen by the evidence, will most definitely get him in trouble later on in the play as he is quick to get into fights. Additionally, Tybalt uses his words at Lord Capulet’s masquerade party and creates chaos when he says, “This, by his voice, should be a Montague. /Fetch me my rapier, boy. What, dares the slave…To strike him dead I hold it not a sin.” Tybalt is expressing his hatred for the Montagues by saying that killing him wouldn’t be a sin, that’s how bad the Montagues are. This rivalry between the two families has become so nasty that Tybalt is willing to create havoc at a party in front of many guests just because the boy is a Montague. This quote also shows how quickly Tybalt gets worked up, he ties together Montagues and death in just five