Why does Tybalt hate Romeo in Romeo and Juliet?

Tybalt is a Capulet and the cousin of Juliet in Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet. Romeo is a Montague and, for a reason never given, the two families are embroiled in a bitter feud which often spills over into the streets of Verona. In Act I, Scene 1, Tybalt expresses his hatred for the Montagues when he confronts Romeo's cousin Benvolio after a disagreement among Montague and Capulet servants. Tybalt says,

What, drawn and talk of peace? I hate the word
As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee.
Have at thee, coward!

Patience perforce with willful choler meeting
Makes my flesh tremble in their different greeting.
I will withdraw, but this intrusion shall,
Now seeming sweet, convert to bitt’rest gall.

Why is Tybalt angry at Romeo in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet?

What is Tybalt's role in Romeo and Juliet?

Tybalt is a hothead that Shakespeare uses as a catalyst to make things move faster.  Given that the entire play takes place in three days, some sort of catalyst was necessary.  Tybalt's character made the perfect vessel.

Tybalt is quick to react and embodies the very essence of machismo espoused by the culture.  The very first scene of the play shows us Tybalt's easily lit furor when he practically begs Benvolio to fight him simply because other Montagues and Capulets are fighting.  Tybalt explains that he hates the word "peace" as he "hate(s) hell, all Montagues, and" Benvolio.  In Act 1, Scene 5, we find Tybalt being immediately offended at the presence of Romeo during a Capulet party.  He leaves to get his sword but is stopped by his uncle.  Tybalt than vows, "I will withdraw, but this intrusion shall, / Now seeming sweet, convert to bitterest gall." This gets the ball moving, and Tybalt then sends a letter that essentially asks for a duel with Romeo.  However, Romeo has fallen in love with Tybalt's cousin. Before actually running into Tybalt, Romeo marries Juliet thus making him Tybalt's relative via marriage.  Romeo then refuses to fight Tybalt, which enflames Tybalt even more. When Mercutio stands in for Romeo, Tybalt slays him (though mainly because of Romeo's interference).  Tybalt is then killed by Romeo in revenge for Mercutio's death, and Romeo is banned from the city by the Prince, physically separating him from Juliet.

Without Tybalt, Romeo and Juliet may well have been able to carry on with their secret marriage until a time came that they could reveal what they had been doing. Tybalt's desire to kill Romeo makes sustaining the marriage an impossibility.

How does Tybalt influence the tragic events in Romeo and Juliet?

Tybalt plays a significant role as a rather minor character. His quick-temperedness at the party foreshadows the duels in Act III, scene 1. As Lord Capulet rebukes him, one can sense the rage and desire to regain his pride, seething just below the surface. Of course, he challenges Romeo to a duel, but Mercutio steps in instead. Tybalt slays him, but seemingly by accident. Romeo pursues him, and kills Tybalt in a heated battle. This leads to Romeo's banishment.

All of these are instances in which Tybalt affects the tragic nature of the play. Yet let's not forget Juliet, her parents, and the Nurse. Tybalt's death affects each of them, driving the tragic plot further. For Juliet, it forces her to reconsider her love for Romeo. Her parents drive her into marriage with Paris, thinking it is her sadness over her cousin's death that keeps her so melancholy. And the Nurse turns her back on Romeo, seeing him only as a murderer and a disdainful man. Thus, Tybalt is quite influential throughout the play.

How does Tybalt influence the tragic events in Romeo and Juliet?

He is a nephew to Lord Capulet and a cousin to Juliet. He does not speak many lines, but he influences the entire course of the play to a degree that exceeds his seemingly minor role in it. Throughout the play, he demonstrates his angry, resentful, and stubborn nature. Tybalt urges on the fight of the Capulet and Montague households. In addition to his being belligerent and stubborn, Tybalt also has no qualms about fighting unfairly.

How does Tybalt influence the tragic events in Romeo and Juliet?

Tybalt's execution of Mercutio is pivotal to the tragic ending of Romeo and Juliet.

In Act III, Scene 1, a fiery Mercutio meets and argues with an equally explosive Tybalt, who encounters hostility from Mercutio immediately. For, when Tybalt says he will have a word with him, Mercutio provokes him by replying, "make it a word and a blow." The ensuing argument then becomes further inflamed by the arrival of Romeo, who in his euphoric happiness seeks to ameliorate things. He declares to Tybalt that he now loves him, but without providing a reason for this change of heart first. When an already riled Mercutio hears Romeo, he accuses his friend of "vile submission" and draws his sword. 

Tempers flare and aggressive action escalates. Still, Romeo tries to stop the others by reminding them of the Prince's having forbidden "bandying in Verona streets./Hold, Tybalt, good Mercutio!" But, Tybalt reaches with his sword under Romeo's arm and stabs Mercutio.

This murderous act against Mercutio by Tybalt enrages Romeo so much that he then slays Tybalt in retaliation. This sets in motion the circumstances and actions of both Romeo and Juliet that bring about their tragic ends:

• Because he has killed Tybalt, Romeo is banished.
• Believing that Juliet grieves so much over Tybalt's death, her parents decide that she should marry Paris. This decision leads Juliet to seek help from Friar Laurence, who gives her a potion which makes her seem dead in order to stall any actions by the Capulets, so that Romeo can come and "bear thee [her] hence to Mantua" (4.2.).
• Away from Verona in Mantua, Romeo is told mistakenly that Juliet has died; desperate, he purchases poison and rushes to the Capulet tomb. There he encounters Paris and slays him.
• Romeo finds Juliet, who he believes is dead. 
• Romeo drinks the poison.
• Juliet comes out of her drug-induced state and asks Friar Laurence where Romeo is because she remembers their plan. But Friar Laurence, who has just discovered Paris's and Romeo's bodies, becomes frightened as he hears the approach of the guards. He tells her that Romeo "there lies dead,/And Paris, too" (5.3). He offers to put her safely in a convent, but first "go, good Juliet, I dare no longer stay" (5.3). The nervous Friar Laurence flees.
• Left alone, Juliet goes over to Romeo's dead body. She hears the watchman. In despair, she snatches Romeo's dagger and kills herself.

Who is Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet and why is he considered a villain?

Tybalt is Juliet's cousin, an outspoken and often hot-headed Capulet who is proud of his family name.  With regard to his being a "villain," dictionary.com defines a villain as, "a character in a play, novel, or the like, who constitutes an important evil agency in the plot" (see website below).  Thus, a villain is not just someone who is evil, but, rather, someone whose evilness contributes significantly to the plot of the story in question.

Tybalt fits the description of a villain.  Not only does he pick a fight with the Montagues in Act 1, Scene 1 and vow revenge later in the play after Romeo has attended the Capulet party, but his "evilness" causes him to sword fight with Mercutio in a way that ultimately leads to Mercutio's death.  This is a pivotal scene within the play, as it leads to the downfall of Romeo and Juliet's marriage and, eventually, to their double suicides. While Tybalt did not intend to kill Mercutio, the fact that he does, and that his intent in that scene was not good to begin with, makes him fulfill the definition of a villain.

Why is the nurse angry at Romeo in Romeo and Juliet?

Nurse is annoyed at Romeo because he does not interfere when Mercuito is teasing her with bawdy jokes, and because he weeps for Juliet.

Romeo and Nurse’s relationship is an interesting one, because she is one of the few people who actually knows what is going on.  She is irritated with him several times.  Nurse is first annoyed at Romeo because he has eyes for Juliet, and then because he secretly marries her when Paris is a much better catch.  However, the time when she yells at Romeo because Mercutio was teasing her is the only time she is really angry at him.

In Act 1, scene 5, Romeo crashes Juliet’s party at the Capulet house.  He is caught by Tybalt, who wants to start a fight, but her father lets him stay.  Then, Romeo sees Juliet and they talk, and then kiss.  At this point, the nurse intervenes by telling Juliet that her mother wants her.  Romeo asks the nurse who she is, and finds out she is a Capulet and the daughter of the house.

I tell you, he that can lay hold of her

Shall have the chinks. (Act 1, Scene 5, p. 33)

She tells Romeo that whoever marries Juliet will have money, but then Juliet asks her his name, nurse replies that he is “the only son of your great enemy” (Act 1, Scene 5, p. 34).  Juliet then denies that she is interested in Romeo.

Unfortunately, Romeo’s friend Mercuito annoys Nurse by teasing her.  She asks Romeo about his “saucy” friend and he laughs it off by saying that Mercutio just likes to hear himself talk.

Before she tells him she is a messenger from Juliet, she is annoyed at Romeo because she has been annoyed at Mercuito, and the servant Peter.  Romeo basically gets her on a bad day.  She grumps at him.

And thou must stand by too, and suffer every knave to use me

at his pleasure! (Act 2, Scene 4, p. 53)

She is annoyed that he just stood there and did not interfere in Mercutio’s teasing or jump to her honor.

When she finds Romeo crying about being banished, she gets a little miffed as well.  She finds him blubbering on the ground with Friar Lawrence.

Stand up, stand up! Stand, an you be a man.

For Juliet's sake, for her sake, rise and stand!

Why should you fall into so deep an O? (Act 3, Scene 3, p. 71)

By this point, Nurse has taken on Romeo as another one of her charges.  She cares about him, for Juliet’s sake.  She wants him to be a man, for her, and stand up for her both literally and figuratively as a good husband.

Why is Tybalt the antagonist in Romeo and Juliet?

1. An antagonist is the person who opposes the protagonist in some way; the antagonist can even be the protagonist's adversary.  Tybalt is certainly the one who most opposes Romeo.  He becomes irate that Romeo dares to show up at Lord Capulet's party, even when Lord Capulet says that he's heard that Romeo is a pretty good kid and that Tybalt should "take no note of him."  Regardless of his uncle's wiser, calmer words, Tybalt remains enraged at what he perceives as Romeo's audacity.

2. Then, the next day, Tybalt challenges Romeo to a fight, a move that definitely positions him as Romeo's adversary.  Though Romeo first refuses, when Tybalt kills Mercutio, Romeo becomes enraged and kills Tybalt.  This results in Romeo's banishment from Verona, an event that makes it quite difficult for the pair to be together.

3. It is Tybalt's death, then, that causes Lord Capulet to change his mind about marrying Juliet to Count Paris at her age.  He decides, in order to pull her from what he thinks is her terrible grief over her cousin, that Juliet and Paris should be married immediately.  This is what results in Juliet's desperation and the plan for her to fake her own death. 

Therefore, without Tybalt's opposition to Romeo, his positioning of himself as Romeo's adversary, and then his violent death, the result of the fight to which he challenged Romeo, it is possible that this play would not have ended with such tragedy.

Why is Tybalt in the play Romeo and Juliet?

In the play, Romeo and Juliet, the character of Tybalt serves a few significant purposes. First, he acts as a foil to Benvolio at the outset, by saying these words:

" What, art thou drawn among these heartless hinds? Turn thee Benvolio, look upon thy death" (Act 1 Scene 1, lines 57 - 58)

While Benvolio is the peacekeeper of the Montague family, Tybalt is the fiery tempered, fight-loving instigator of the Capulets and it is, in part, his petulant behavior and attitude that moves the action of the play towards its eventual tragedy.

Later on in the play, in Act 3 scene 1, Tybalt insults Romeo by calling him a villain. Romeo, who has just hours before secretly married Juliet, replies, “I do protest I never injured thee, But love thee better than thou canst devise.” Mercutio steps in to defend Romeo’s honor and returns Tybalt’s insult by calling him “Good King of Cats.” Mercutio draws his sword, then he and Tybalt fight. After Mercutio dies during the fight, Romeo is finally drawn into it and ends up killing Tybalt in return. This action sends Romeo into banishment from Verona and from Juliet. It is Tybalt's character that serves as the catalyst for the events that will lead to the tragic deaths of the two lovers.

What is the role of Tybalt in the play?

Tybalt plays the role of the excitable cousin of Juliet in the play Romeo and Juliet. He is actually the spark that sets off the explosion that forces Romeo to flee Verona and eventually leads to the death of the two main characters.

Early in the play, after Romeo and Juliet have met, Tybalt and other Capulets encounter Mercutio and other Montagues. Due to their age-old feud, these characters have a hard time simply letting each other pass by without picking a fight. At this point, Tybalt and Mercutio engage in sword play, with Tybalt killing Mercutio as Romeo attempts to intervene  and keep the peace. Romeo in turn, fights Tybalt and kills him, thereby destroying any hope of a reconciliation that will make his relationship with Juliet a future possibility.