ROMEO AND JULIET

"To what extent do you believe Shakesphere presents love and violence to be intertwined in the plot and
character of Romeo and Juliet?"

Shakesphere's Romeo and Juliet is about two young lovers, whose love was destined for destruction.
They did not imagine that their love would lead to the tragedies that it did. These two young people did
nothing wrong except fall in love. One aspect of their destruction included the “ancient grudge” between
the two families. This contributed to the love of Romeo and Juliet being destined for destruction. The
two families, Montagues and Capulets had many disagreements. There was hate between the two
families so much that even the servants hated each other.
Love and violence is what keeps the play going and what makes it interesting. There are three major
violent scenes. The play starts off in the street where the Capulets and Montagues meet. The quarrel
starts off when Sampson bites his thumb at the Capulets, “Nay, as they dare. I will bite my thumb at
them which is a disgrace to them if they bear it.” This rude sign is like a spark and soon the argument
turns into a fight. This may seem quite stupid and stubborn, but the characters are defending their
honour, especially Tybalt. When Benvolio wants to make peace, Tybalt only replies, “What drawn and
talk of peace? I hate the word, As I hate hell and all Montagues, and thee. Have at thee, coward.” This
means he isn’t here to make friends, he’s here to get revenge because he has just been insulted. He hates
the Montagues more than anything.
Act 3 Scene 1 is about half way through the play and this is where everything starts coming together.
This is also the turning point from comedy to tragedy. At the start the Montagues are on their own on the
street, when all of a sudden the Capulets, including Tybalt arrive. Tybalt again has come to defend his
honour, because the previous night the Montagues had crashed the party in the Capulet mansion.
Tybalt’s main concern is Romeo and when Romeo arrives, Tybalt is pleased, “Well peace be with you,
sir, here comes my man.” Tybalt wants to fight to settle the score, but Romeo refuses, “Tybalt, the
reason that I have to love thee doth much excuse the appertaining rage.” Romeo is rejecting Tybalt’s
fight because he has just got married to Juliet, he can’t possibly fight his wife’s cousin. While all of this
is going on Mercutio is paying close attention, he’s confused and thinks Romeo is a coward. “O calm,
dishonourable, vile submission!” Mercutio steps in and starts arguing with Tybalt, with Romeo trying to
break them apart, but in doing so Tybalt manages to get to Mercutio and stab him. Mercutio is stunned
and falls back, at this point he realises how pointless everything has been, he turns on everyone. His
dieing words are a curse, “A plague on both your houses! They have made worms’ meat of me. I have it,
and soundly too. Your houses!” Romeo is infuriated by the death of his best friend and he seeks
vengeance. Romeo goes after Tybalt and spurs him on for a fight. The violent side of Romeo is seen and
he ends up killing Tybalt. “Romeo, away, be gone! The citizens are up, and Tybalt slain.” Romeo is
banished for killing Tybalt, “And for that offence, Immediately we do exile him hence.”
Later on, nearing the end of the play in Act 5 Scene 3, Romeo encounters Paris. Paris is praying at
Juliet’s tomb when Romeo comes along to see if his lover Juliet is actually dead. Paris is surprised and
doesn’t understand why Romeo is here, he thinks that Romeo has come to mock Juliet, “Stop thy
unhallow’d vile Montague can vengeance be persu’d further than death?” Romeo believes that he is
being treated with disrespect and once more unleashes his evil side. He fights Paris and kills him. Paris
knows he is defeated, but still wants to be with Juliet, “O, I am slain! I thou be merciful, open the tomb,
lay me with Juliet.” After murdering Paris, Romeo peacefully sees Juliet before taking the poison. When
Juliet wakes up and sees her lover dead, she too commits suicide.
 The play has a variety of different characters. The main ones are Romeo and Juliet, then Tybalt,
Mercutio and probably Benvolio; he appears quite frequently in the play. Each character is different and
has a personality of their own.
Juliet for example is a character that surprises me the most. She is quite a peaceful, quite neutral and
quiet person, not harbouring any hate. She isn’t a person who is violent in fighting, but she is violent in
her words. Juliet doesn’t express her anger by actions, she keeps it in. For instance, she is very brave to
stand up to her father, when he wants her to marry Paris. Her father uses hateful words against her,
“disobedient wretch, young baggage, green sickness carrion”, but Juliet manages to stick up for herself.
In Act 3 Scene 2 Juliet is thinking about her cousin’s death, when the nurse comes to visit. This is the
part that I found Juliet pretty strange. She first starts speaking to the nurse normally and then she starts
using complicated words. She uses many oxymorons to describe herself, “Dove – feathered raven,
wolvish – ravening lamb, damned saint.” Juliet talks about Romeo, how he can be a sweet but also a
very violent person. She is figuring out what choice she wants to make, either love or family. The only
thing she cared about, was that Romeo didn't get killed for the murder. Love overpowered the hate this
time. But can love overpower the hate of two families? Many times in the story the love overturns and
sometimes causes problems. In my opinion, Juliet can be clear and bright, but the way she thinks is
unpredictable.
Another character that plays an important role in the play is Tybalt. He is the one who keeps the play
going for the first half. Without him there wouldn’t have been a big street fight at the beginning,
Mercutio wouldn’t have been killed, leading to himself being killed. Tybalt is like the gear that holds
everything together; he’s also the gear that turns the play from comedy to tragedy. Tybalt is a type of
person that will fight for his name. He fights and defends his honour, showing his power even with the
slightest insult, for example the incident of “biting the thumb.” He hates the Montagues, an example is at
the Capulet party. When he sees Romeo he informs Lord Capulet and even argues with him to get rid of
the Montagues, “Uncle this is a Montague, our foe: a villain that is hither come in spite, to scorn at our
solemnity this night.” The next day Tybalt wants to settle the score with Romeo but I described earlier
he refuses. I think Tybalt is quite stubborn the way he hates anyone but the Capulets. His defense of
honour is overdone and all it ends up with is his death.
To conclude Romeo and Juliet is a tragic play. After the death of Romeo and Juliet the feud stops and
the families realize how pointless it all was. The two family’s grudge is like a volcano, it is
unpredictable in its actions. When it erupts it not only affects people near and far away, but also changes
the atmosphere. This is when a fight occurs and someone is killed then the city and everyone in it has to
suffer the consequences.

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