Tybalt is Lady Capulet's nephew and the feud's purest voice: all 37 of his lines serve the quarrel. At the feast he picks out a Montague "by his voice" and calls for his rapier before Romeo is named: the family is enough. Capulet humiliates him as "goodman boy", and he withdraws vowing revenge (Act 1, Scene 5). Brooke's poem, Shakespeare's source, has no Tybalt at the feast: the grudge is born where the love begins. Mercutio's "prince of cats" (Act 2, Scene 4) plays on Tibert, the cat in the Reynard the Fox tales. In Act 3, Scene 1 the debt comes due: Tybalt challenges Romeo, kills Mercutio under Romeo's arm, and is killed.

"What, drawn and talk of peace? I hate the word / As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee" (Act 1, Scene 1). The list narrows from hell to a family to "thee": cosmic and personal hatred become one.
"Boy, this shall not excuse the injuries / That thou hast done me" (Act 3, Scene 1). Romeo struck no blow at the feast, so "injuries" turns a slight to Tybalt's name into a wound to be paid in blood; "Boy" passes on Capulet's insult.

Use him as a foil to Benvolio (hate against peace) and to Romeo (honour against love). Weigh Jerzy Limon's "always a man of honor" against the play's silence on why he flees and returns. He never speaks to or of Juliet: Romeo kills him for Mercutio, not over her.

"What, drawn and talk of peace? I hate the word / As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee" (Act 1, Scene 1). The list narrows from hell to a family to "thee": cosmic and personal hatred become one.
"Boy, this shall not excuse the injuries / That thou hast done me" (Act 3, Scene 1). Romeo struck no blow at the feast, so "injuries" turns a slight to Tybalt's name into a wound to be paid in blood; "Boy" passes on Capulet's insult.