Tybalt dances to and fro, attempting to evade his opponent, to catch him off balance and to gain angular advantage, while Mercutio moves with wider steps and rushes in a series of tangents to the circle whose radius is Tybalt’s outstretched rapier and sword-arm. Mercutio, in other words, rushes rapidly in and out of distance, hoping to catch Tybalt unprepared, and to throw a thurst from stoccata or imbroccata (in which the sword is held, knuckles up, over the head) while Tybalt is both off balance and within distance. The difference in styles suggests the mechanics of Mercutio’s death. Mercutio takes his fatal thrust, not by accident, but in a situation where the advantage is all with the Spanish style. A rapier held in either stoccata or imbroccata suffers a disadvantage when beaten down from the side, for the blow displaces an already slanted weapon and the Italian fencer must withdraw his point to regain a thrusting position; beating down the Spanish point has a far less effect, since the Spanish fencer trained rigorously to keep his point in position for a thrust, and with a flip of the wrist to recover his point quickly from a beat. Thus Romeo rushes between the two, and Tybalt immediately recovers his point and thrusts automatically and quickly. When Mercutio complains that Tybalt has “scratched” him to death he describes a peculiarity of the Spanish thrust (which was a short stabbing motion rather than a full thrust, since the Spaniard already had his arm extended), as well as playing on Tybalt’s feline name.
Adolph L. Soens, “Tybalt’s Spanish Fencing in Romeo and Juliet”
