Romeo and Juliet: Conflicts and Violence

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Romeo and Juliet was a very famous play written by William Shakespeare. The play was first performed in the 16th century, historians don’t know exactly when the play was written because Shakespeare didn’t want his plays documented. Romeo and Juliet is about two rivaling families, the Capulet’s and the Montague’s, it involves violence, love/lust, hatred, a marriage and death. The play begins with a fight, this sets the mood for the play. In this essay I will discuss the violence and conflict in the play.
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In the first scene there was a fight between four servants, two from each family, a Capulet bites his thumb at a Montague. Abram (Montague) says to the Capulet “Do you bite your thumb at us Sir?”
The servants end up having a fight because biting your thumb at someone was one of the most offensive things to do in Elizabethan times. Benvolio (Montague) breaks up the fight between the servants, he says “Part fools! Put up you swords; you know not what you do.

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Tybalt then shows up and they have another fight. I think this is a really good way to start off the play because it grabs the audience’s attention and it shows the conflict and violence between the families. The prince of Verona must of got very annoyed with the consent fights as he said “If ever you disturb our streets again, your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace” This makes it obvious it had happened more than once.
Shakespeare must of really thought about the opening scene of this play as he uses something so offensive and something to really grab peoples attention.
Act 3 scene 1 is also a scene involving violence and death. Mercutio is killed in a fight with Tybalt, just before he dies he says “I am hurt, A plague o’ both your houses!”
Mercutio feels betrayed by Romeo and he hopes the families fight forever. Romeo then kills Tybalt for taking Mercutio’s life, he says “Either thou, or I, or both must go with him!”
This shows Romeo is really upset that Mercutio is dead for a fight he shouldn’t of even been in. This scene is important because Romeo can no longer see Juliet because he has been banished from Verona. The characters behave as expected accept from Romeo who doesn’t want to fight as him and Tybalt are now in laws. I think this is unfair on Romeo because he tried not to fight and he didn’t retaliate, this shows he actually wants to end the ancient grudge between the families.
In act 5 scene 3 Romeo, Juliet and Paris die. Romeo and Juliet proved how much they loved each other by killing themselves, they loved each other so much they had to be together. I think this is a really good way to end the play because it shows us the hatred between their families actually ended up killing so many people, including both lords (Capulet and Montague) only children, but it did stop the family feud.
If I had to direct act 5 scene 3 I would have a single spotlight on Juliet when she is stabbing herself and have everything else around her dark, so that all the audience’s attention is on Juliet. I would have depressing music on and make it over dramatic so that it would be more realistic and over the top so it show the audience just how upset she is losing her husband. When she stabbed herself I would get her to scream really loudly as if she really was in a lot of pain, I would make her do really good facial expressions so the audience could hear and see that she is in so much pain, emotionally and physically. Then I would make her fall on Romeo so it’s like they’re finally together and there’s nothing their families can do about it.
This is a very violent play but at the same time it is full of love. There is a lot of fighting and deaths in the play and also suicide. The things I remember about this play is how there’s such a contrast of hatred and love. I obviously remember Romeo and Juliet falling in love and the famous balcony scene, as they are both romantic so you’d want to remember them. I also remember when Mercutio gets stabbed and Romeo runs after Tybalt and says “Either thou, or I, or both must go with him” You can imagine just how upset Romeo is. Another one of my favourite scenes is the last one. It proves two people can love each other so much they’re willing to take their own life to be with them.
I really admire Juliet in this scene because she has the choice to live or die, and she chose to die to be with Romeo. She picked a painful way to kill herself as well, Shakespeare created a character that must have had a lot of guts to go through that amount of pain for the person she loved. I think this is a really good play because its not easy to create something that involves love, hate and death, but Shakespeare managed it.

Claude Harrison

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