How the hell am I supposed to kill these rats if my character is too busy flinching between rapid rat bites? I'd like to think I'm not a completely incompetent moron, but I start to question myself when I have trouble getting through the tutorial. Please, for the love of god, tell me there's some sort of bug or glitch.

One or two hits with one of the swords that captain Renault had and they're dead. Not much of a problem.

Yeah, if I'm fast enough to hit them first, I'm good, and the rats are dead, but if they hit me first, all I can do is watch myself be attacked all the way across the room. The time between the rats attacks is so short, my character has no chance to fight back no matter how rapidly I pull the trigger on my controller.

try blocking, should cause them to flinch for a second and you can smack them then.

Did you try Blocking?
(you don't need a shield to do it)

I've tried blocking. That doesn't seem to work either, there's no time between the rats attacks. I've tried two different swords, and my fists. Maybe I need to turn the difficulty down or something (if possible), but I don't think I should have to. I asked a friend and he said he had no trouble.

As far as I know, the difficulty slider does not change attack speed, only damage.

How fast the attack are, literally?

If I had to guess, I would say the attacks are no more than a second and a half apart, and my character is knocked back after every hit.

I like the flare spell for this, although it does quite smell the place up between burning fur and rat flesh.

I haven't tried the flare yet, but I doubt the results would differ. I'll just keep trying at it. Maybe if I turn down the difficulty I won't be knocked back so much. I'm a newbie (obviously), but I would be surprised if there wasn't a way to take hits without being knocked back.

You might try swinging your sword continuously while walking backwards. The intent would be to let the rats charge into your buzz saw. I haven't bothered with rats, but that tactic works superbly with a long weapon vs zombies. Rats are silly, but they are indeed very fast with their leaps into attack.

Try sneaking and catch them off guard, seriously I don't mean to sound harsh, but you shouldn't have any problems completing this part of the game..if all fails just spam the attack button and you will kill them.

Just punch 'em out. They're made of glass.

[or let them chew on you to increase your armor/block skill]

I don't see how you can get mobbed by three at a time. I usually go through the tutorial dungeon pretty slowly and end up only taking on hostiles 1, maybe 2, at a time. In any event, you should be able to see them coming. So, when they charge, spam some flares. That should take out some, if not all of them. Then, the odds are better for you in melee.

I get the impression you're getting stagger-locked. Are you playing an Orc, Imperial, or male Breton? That hit to Agility to start can be a bear to overcome, as Agility is what keeps you from getting staggered.