This week, we read further into Romeo and Juliet. To show what I’ve learned about the play (so far), I created an image that represents and contrasts the characters of Benvolio and Tybalt.
There are a couple key things in this image that are important to mention. First is the words. I placed five words around the collage. The words ‘peace’ and ‘hatred’ symbolize what they have shown to want. In Act 1, Scene 1, Benvolio tries to convince others to be peaceful— ‘I do but keep the peace.’ Meanwhile, in the same scene, Tybalt is driven by his hatred to fight— ‘…peace? I hate the word!/As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee.’ He also calls Benvolio a coward, which is the third word in the collage. Opposite that, Benvolio calls Tybalt fiery, a quote from later in the scene— ‘I drew to part them; in the instant came/The fiery Tybalt, with his sword prepared’. The last word is adversary, which is used to describe the Montagues and Capulets, and perfectly sums up Benvolio and Tybalt’s relationship.

The next piece of the collage is the images. On the left is both an image of Benvolio from the 1968 version of Romeo and Juliet, directed by Franco Zefirelli, and an image of Benvolio from the 1996 version of Romeo and Juliet, directed by Baz Luhrmann. Tybalt, on the other side, also is pictured in both films. In both images of Tybalt, he is holding a weapon up. This is different from the images of Benvolio, who is either not holding a weapon or holding it defensively. The other images on the right side (Tybalt’s side) are fire, for the word ‘fiery’, and wind, in reference to the line ‘He swung about his head and cut the winds,’ which displays Tybalt’s temper. On the left side is an olive branch, a symbol of peace. There is also, however, a sword. This is a reference to the oxymoronic  line ‘What, drawn and talk of peace?’, spoken by Tybalt about Benvolio. I also included a yin and yang symbol in the middle to show that they are opposites; one seeks peace but fails to find it, and the other seeks hatred in peace.
The last key thing is the details. First, there is a clear line in between Benvolio and Tybalt. They are very divided. The other detail in this image is the lines on the sides, which are made of a colour palette from the images on that side.
I enjoyed creating this collage, and I hope you enjoyed reading my blog post!