Tybalt is a Capulet whose fiery nature prompts him to be ever ready and eager for a sword fight, especially with his family's enemies--the Montagues. In 1.1, as Benvolio (a Montague) tries to stop the fighting servants, Tybalt challenges him as a coward. In the ball scene (1.5), he wants to fight when he recognizes Romeo and is kept in check only by Lord Capulet's strenuous ban against any disruption. To avenge this insult from Romeo, he seeks the young Montague in 3.1, but turns against and kills Mercutio when Romeo refuses to fight. Tybalt is finally killed when Romeo fights him to avenge the murder of his friend Mercutio and to regain his honor. Tybalt (center, in black, played by Hugh Quarshie) tries to strangle the fallen Mercutio (center, bottom, Michael Kitchen) as Romeo (played by Sean Bean, 2nd from left) tries to stop him, in this 20th-century setting of the play directed by Michael Bogdanov at the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon.
Photostage/Donald Cooper