Tybalt Character Analysis

Shakespeare and Golding have both created villains that add tension to their stories. Tybalt appears throughout the play to only act villainous to protect his families, “solemnity.” At different times in the play we can truly see Tybalt’s explosiveness which sometimes has devastating consequences. Modern audiences would take this as villainy whereas Elizabethan audiences might’ve understood it as courage rather than evil. On the other hand, Roger appears to be an extended metaphor, depicting the evil Golding believed festooned in all humans. Golding creates Roger as psychotic a character the audience truly dislike.

Shakespeare’s introduction of Tybalt appears to be very contrasting to Golding’s introduction of Roger. Through their introductions

Jack appears to be extremely arrogant when he reveals that he believes he, “ought to be chief.” Jack thinks he has control over the boys, so much in fact that he can declare himself as their leader. However, it’s very interesting to see that Jack hesitated when Roger spoke up. This hesitation suggests that Roger has an unspoken authority over the boys. This unspoken authority can also be found in Tybalt’s opening. He instils fear in Benvolio and creates tension between them, and similarly, it appears Roger creates tension between himself and Jack. Jack’s hesitation also foreshadows the animosity between Jack, the main antagonist, and Roger. This animosity between them is quite interesting as the audience are already aware of the villainous ways of Jack when he called Piggy fat. Roger interrupts Jack and suggests, “Let’s have a vote.” Roger was the first to suggest a democratic approach and He was the only one to poses enough courage to stop Jack grabbing power, subsequently he becomes the first hero in this chapter, or at least to begin with. On the other hand, Tybalt solely creates chaos and is the first villain in Romeo and Juliet. Jacks hesitation also creates confusion in the eyes of the audience resulting in them asking themselves whether Roger is a shy, weak character or instead a powerful one? The combination of the words, “secrecy,” and,

The light hearted toast from lord Capulet creates a calm atmosphere. Furthermore, love and happiness is created by Romeo’s soliloquy, where he expresses Juliet’s beauty. But this peaceful atmosphere is destroyed by the temper of Tybalt. Both Tybalt and Roger poses the ability to kill the mood. Shakespeare also magnifies Tybalt’s aggressive behaviour as Tybalt immediately orders his servant to, “fetch me my rapier,” suggesting he was intending to harm and maybe kill Romeo. This statement would shock the audience as Romeo is a protagonist in this play; he is the hero, but his life is now being threatened. To the dismay of the audience it becomes clear that a relationship cannot develop between the, “star crossed lovers,” as Tybalt will never allow it. Due to this realisation, Tybalt becomes the audience’s villain and main antagonist to Romeo and Juliet. Similarly to this Roger can appear as the villain of Lord of the Flies. In chapter eight through the barbaric murder of the sow it becomes evident that Roger is a deranged psychopath. One thing very interesting with this scene is the boys strong desires to hurt the sow. Golding states the boys, “wedded to her in lust.” Firstly, “lust,” suggests the boys had strong sexual desires to create suffering implying hunting is no longer for survival but instead for fun. Golding is reminding the audience that they are no longer boys and that their childhood innocence has been