Tybalt has the deserved reputation of a hothead, a young man with a violent temper who is quick to take offense and forever getting into fights and scrapes. In the very first scene of the play we see him living up to his nickname of "The Prince of Cats," so-called because he's always looking for a fight. He shamelessly fuels the fire of the skirmish between the servants, goading the Montagues into further acts of violence. The dominant moral code permits young men to fight to the death if needs be to defend their honor and the honor of their families. But even by the standards of the time, Tybalt's taste for violence is excessive. He doesn't fight because he has to; he fights because he wants to. This, more than anything else, is what makes him so widely feared.
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