romeo and juliet violence essay

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Romeo and Juliet

William shakespeare.

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“These violent delights have violent ends,” says Friar Laurence in an attempt to warn Romeo , early on in the play, of the dangers of falling in love too hard or too fast. In the world of Romeo and Juliet , love is not pretty or idealized—it is chaotic and dangerous. Throughout the play, love is connected through word and action with violence, and Romeo and Juliet ’s deepest mutual expression of love occurs when the “star-crossed lovers take their life.” By connecting love with pain and ultimately with suicide, Shakespeare suggests that there is an inherent sense of violence in many of the physical and emotional facets of expressing love—a chaotic and complex emotion very different from the serene, idealized sweetness it’s so often portrayed as being.

There are countless instances throughout Romeo and Juliet in which love and violence are connected. After their marriage, Juliet imagines in detail the passion she and Romeo will share on their wedding night, and invokes the Elizabethan characterization of orgasm as a small death or “petite mort”—she looks forward to the moment she will “die” and see Romeo’s face reflected in the stars above her. When Romeo overhears Juliet say that she wishes he were not a Montague so that they could be together, he declares that his name is “hateful” and offers to write it down on a piece of paper just so he can rip it up and obliterate it—and, along with it, his very identity, and sense of self as part of the Montague family. When Juliet finds out that her parents, ignorant of her secret marriage to Romeo, have arranged for her to marry Paris , she goes to Friar Laurence’s chambers with a knife, threatening to kill herself if he is unable to come up with a plan that will allow her to escape her second marriage. All of these examples represent just a fraction of the instances in which language and action conspire to render love as a “violent delight” whose “violent ends” result in danger, injury, and even death. Feeling oneself in the throes of love, Shakespeare suggests, is tumultuous and destabilizing enough—but the real violence of love, he argues, emerges in the many ways of expressing love.

Emotional and verbal expressions of love are the ones most frequently deployed throughout the play. Romeo and Juliet wax poetic about their great love for each other—and the misery they feel as a result of that love—over and over again, and at great lengths. Often, one of their friends or servants must cut them off mid-speech—otherwise, Shakespeare seems to suggest, Romeo and Juliet would spend hours trying to wrestle their feelings into words. Though Romeo and Juliet say lovely things about one another, to be sure, their speeches about each other, or about love more broadly, are almost always tinged with violence, which illustrates their chaotic passion for each other and their desire to mow down anything that stands in its way. When Romeo, for instance, spots Juliet at her window in the famous “balcony scene” in Act 2, Scene 2, he wills her to come closer by whispering, “Arise, fair sun ”—a beautiful metaphor of his love and desire for Juliet—and quickly follows his entreaty with the dangerous language “and kill the envious moon, Who is already sick and pale with grief.” Juliet’s “sun”-like radiance makes Romeo want her to “kill” the moon (or Rosaline ,) his former love and her rival in beauty and glory, so that Juliet can reign supreme over his heart. Later on in the play, when the arrival of dawn brings an end to Romeo and Juliet’s first night together as man and wife, Juliet invokes the symbol of a lark’s song—traditionally a symbol of love and sweetness—as a violent, ill-meaning presence which seeks to pull Romeo and Juliet apart, “arm from arm,” and “hunt” Romeo out of Juliet’s chambers. Romeo calls love a “rough” thing which “pricks” him like a thorn; Juliet says that if she could love and possess Romeo in the way she wants to, as if he were her pet bird, she would “kill [him] with much cherishing.” The way the two young lovers at the heart of the play speak about love shows an enormously violent undercurrent to their emotions—as they attempt to name their feelings and express themselves, they resort to violence-tinged speech to convey the enormity of their emotions.

Physical expressions of love throughout the play also carry violent connotations. From Romeo and Juliet’s first kiss, described by each of them as a “sin” and a “trespass,” to their last, in which Juliet seeks to kill herself by sucking remnants of poison from the dead Romeo’s lips, the way Romeo and Juliet conceive of the physical and sexual aspects of love are inextricable from how they conceive of violence. Juliet looks forward to “dying” in Romeo’s arms—again, one Elizabethan meaning of the phrase “to die” is to orgasm—while Romeo, just after drinking a vial of poison so lethal a few drops could kill 20 men, chooses to kiss Juliet as his dying act. The violence associated with these acts of sensuality and physical touch furthers Shakespeare’s argument that attempts to adequately express the chaotic, overwhelming, and confusing feelings of intense passion often lead to a commingling with violence.

Violent expressions of love are at the heart of Romeo and Juliet . In presenting and interrogating them, Shakespeare shows his audiences—in the Elizabethan area, the present day, and the centuries in-between—that love is not pleasant, reserved, cordial, or sweet. Rather, it is a violent and all-consuming force. As lovers especially those facing obstacles and uncertainties like the ones Romeo and Juliet encounter, struggle to express their love, there may be eruptions of violence both between the lovers themselves and within the communities of which they’re a part.

Love and Violence ThemeTracker

Love and Violence Quotes in Romeo and Juliet

Two households, both alike in dignity, In fair Verona, where we lay our scene, From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. From forth the fatal loins of these two foes, A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life; Whose misadventured piteous overthrows, Doth with their death bury their parents' strife. The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love, And the continuance of their parents' rage, Which, but their children's end, nought could remove, Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage; The which if you with patient ears attend, What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.

Why then, O brawling love! O loving hate! O any thing, of nothing first created; O heavy lightness! serious vanity! Mis-shapen chaos of well-seeming forms!

Oh, she doth teach the torches to burn bright! It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night Like a rich jewel in an Ethiope's ear, Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear. So shows a snowy dove trooping with crows As yonder lady o'er her fellows shows. The measure done, I'll watch her place of stand, And, touching hers, make blessèd my rude hand. Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight! For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night.

You kiss by th’ book.

My only love sprung from my only hate! Too early seen unknown, and known too late!

But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun!

O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name; Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, And I'll no longer be a Capulet.

'Tis but thy name that is my enemy; — Thou art thyself though, not a Montague. What's Montague? It is nor hand, nor foot, Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part Belonging to a man. O, be some other name! What's in a name? That which we call a rose, By any other word would smell as sweet; So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd, Retain that dear perfection which he owes Without that title: — Romeo, doff thy name; And for thy name, which is no part of thee, Take all myself.

I take thee at thy word: Call me but love, and I'll be new baptis'd; Henceforth I never will be Romeo.

O, swear not by the moon, the inconstant moon, That monthly changes in her circled orb, Lest that thy love prove likewise variable.

Good-night, good-night! Parting is such sweet sorrow That I shall say good-night till it be morrow.

Romeo, the hate I bear thee can afford No better term than this: thou art a villain.

Romeo: Courage, man; the hurt cannot be much. Mercutio: No, 'tis not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a church-door; but 'tis enough, 'twill serve: ask for me to-morrow, and you shall find me a grave man.

O, I am fortune's fool!

Come, gentle night, — come, loving black brow'd night, Give me my Romeo; and when he shall die, Take him and cut him out in little stars, And he will make the face of Heaven so fine That all the world will be in love with night, And pay no worship to the garish sun.

Wilt thou be gone? it is not yet near day. It was the nightingale, and not the lark, That pierc'd the fearful hollow of thine ear; Nightly she sings on yond pomegranate tree. Believe me love, it was the nightingale.

Is there no pity sitting in the clouds That sees into the bottom of my grief? O sweet my mother, cast me not away! Delay this marriage for a month, a week, Or if you do not, make the bridal bed In that dim monument where Tybalt lies.

Or bid me go into a new-made grave, And hide me with a dead man in his shroud - Things that, to hear them told, have made me tremble - And I will do it without fear or doubt, To live an unstain'd wife to my sweet love.

Then I defy you, stars!

O true apothecary! Thy drugs are quick. — Thus with a kiss I die.

Yea, noise, then I'll be brief; O, happy dagger! This is thy sheath; there rest, and let me die.

For never was a story of more woe Than this of Juliet and her Romeo.

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Violence and conflict in Romeo and Juliet; essay sample

Language and dramatic devices to present violence and conflict in romeo and juliet.

The play is full of examples of different kinds of conflict and disorder, and the feud between the Capulets and the Montagues is at the centre of most of it. The Romeo and Juliet conflicts is the cause of all the deaths in the play and Shakespeare shows, through its consequences, its futility and insignificance. We are made aware of this feud right from the outset of the play and it is the first thing that the Prologue mentions: `Two households, both alike in dignity / In fair Verona where we lay our scene, / From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, / Where civil blood makes hands unclean…' The Prologue has a sinister, menacing tone in delivering the message that there will be a `grudge' that escalates to `mutiny' and that `civil blood makes hands unclean' tells the reader that there will be a fatal fight, which the audience awaits to see.

The opening scene of the play itself emphasizes this feud and conflict in a community and society, set in Verona, creating such a serious situation that the Prince threatens death to anyone who disturbs the peace of the city again because of it. The love of Romeo and Juliet is therefore set within a world of hate created by their fathers' feud and in the making, the families' feuds are directly responsible for the tragedies that follow in the play. The hatred and violence that is set up is in direct contrast to the love of Romeo and Juliet, and in the end they are victims of it, as the Prince points out at the end of the play: `See what a scourge is laid upon your hate! / That heaven finds means to kill your joys with love …' (Act 5, Sc 3) From the Prince's words, he treats the affair as a matter as karma, in that the `scourge' or punishment is because of the families' `hate'. He then associates the affair with `heaven' to show that a supreme, natural is governing our lives, and as consequence of the families' hatred, heaven killed `your joys'. But the Prince claims that it was `love' that killed them, relating that it was the families' feud that destroyed them because they created a society where Capulets and Montagues did not mix, and they did not provide a peaceful atmosphere for the future generations, but dwelled upon old family problems.

At the beginning of the Act three Scene one, when there are `hot days' and `the mad blood is stirring', the audience view the scene in awe as they expect to see an action packed scene. This scene marks the final appearance of Mercutio. After this, our attention is concentrated only on Romeo and Juliet. Unusually for Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet has no sub-plot at all, and the simple and clear storyline results in giving the play a relentless feeling. In this scene, relentlessness is fundamental with `these hot days' that Shakespeare creates so the audience capture every moment in the play, and embrace them.

The scene is a major turning point in the play and it is appropriate that it should start with references to heat and passion. The references follow up upon the couple's marriage, and therefore the references of heat show deep love. But Shakespeare shows that with great love, there comes great evil as consequence. The references to heat matches the remarks Mercutio makes about Benvolio who `art as hot a Jack in thy mood as any in Italy.' Here, Shakespeare creates a pathetic fallacy in which the characters' emotions are portrayed through the surroundings. Shakespeare emphasizes the characters' emotions to the audience by showing it through the structure and setting of the play, so the audience are constantly reminded what is happening. Shakespeare also created the same structure and setting in Act I Scene I, where also `the day is hot'. Shakespeare created both scenes alike to remind the audience there will be a fight, and to heighten the tension so the audience get prepared for watching a fight. The audience are also reminded of Prince Escalus' speech where he concluded in saying that `If ever you disturb our streets again, / Your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace.' The audience's await to see what will happen .” By Shakespeare structuring the scenes very similarly by the surroundings of heat and passion, the urge for fighting from Tybalt and the attitude of pacifism from Benvolio: we can see that Shakespeare intended this so that the audience can relive the moments again, to feel that there will be a `riot'. Immediately, the audience are aware of the situation that there will be a fight, and this makes the atmosphere more frightening because we know that someone `shall pay the forfeit' according to the Prince.

As usual, Benvolio yearns for peace. He says to Mercutio that the day is too hot, members of the Capulet family are about and they should leave. Mercutio replies that this is poor advice coming from someone as hot-tempered as Benvolio, who is `as soon moved to be moody, and as soon moody to be moved.' This is comic to the audience because the only person more inclined to fight than Mercutio is Tybalt, whereas Benvolio is a natural peace-maker. The exchange of insults between Mercutio and Tybalt shows how both of them will pick a fight over nothing. Benvolio warns them that they are in a public place where `all eyes gaze on us' but they seem not to care. Benvolio is aware of the consequences that the Prince issued, but Tybalt is not and this makes the audience even more scared because we can see how furious he is, because he doesn't worry that someone will die. In any case, Tybalt is more interested in quarrelling with Romeo, who enters at this point. The reason for Romeo's entrance at this given time is because Tybalt has just been ridiculed by Mercutio's witty criticisms and Tybalt is glad when Romeo arrives as he wishes to take his anger out on him. When Tybalt declares `Here comes my man,' it shows the passion of hatred that Tybalt has for Romeo, because he treats him as `man' a derogative term and implications of `my' refers that Romeo belongs to Tybalt, and Tybalt will do as he wishes with him. Tybalt is in a very paranoid and aggravated mood and explains that `this shall not excuse the injuries / That thou hast done me, therefore turn and draw.' Tybalt is now exclaiming that this commencing fight `shall not excuse the injuries' and therefore Tybalt will not feel remorse, and he will believe the fight to be justice: and this ruthless attitude of Tybalt frightens the audience. Tybalt states that Romeo must `turn and draw' because Tybalt only thinks that fighting is the answer to his problems, and this attitude of Tybalt being war-like makes the audience sad because it seems that Tybalt, who seems to have more experience, will kill Romeo, and good will be overthrown by evil. Romeo and Tybalt have a gripping, testifying talk, and Shakespeare does this to heighten the audience's tension before the showdown fight.

Romeo and Juliet takes place in a masculine world in which notions of honour, pride, and status are all major to everyone and these factors can escalate into the violence. The violence in the play's social environment is a dramatic tool that Shakespeare creates to make the lovers' romance seem even more precious, valuable and fragile: their relationship is seen by society as an insignificant feeling of love in a significant world of hate. The fights between Mercutio and Tybalt and then between Romeo and Tybalt are surreal. Passion outweighs reason at every turn. This is because Shakespeare wants to highlight the young love in this masculine society. Therefore, the audience feel a bond with Romeo and Juliet, due to pity and admiration.

Family pride is important in the play and because Juliet is Tybalt's cousin, Romeo will not fight someone who is now a member of his own family. Shakespeare creates this sensation of family love to show that there can be bonds and relationships in a masculine world, when they are permitted. Mercutio, who is unaware of Romeo's marriage, is disgusted at Romeo and thinks that he is submitting to Tybalt's insults in a shameful and undignified way. Mercutio isn't a member of the Montague house but takes sides with the Montagues, and has a notable bond with Romeo. So, when Mercutio is disgusted at Romeo's submission of fighting and his `dishonourable, vile submission,' Mercutio states that Romeo has let down his family's pride. Mercutio is so disgusted at Romeo's lack of pride and cowardice that he takes it upon himself to fight Tybalt and withstand the name of Montague. “Tybalt, you rat-catcher, will you walk?” Mercutio calls Tybalt `a rat-catcher,' a derogative term, to aggravate Tybalt, just like Tybalt insulting Romeo. Mercutio looks down on Tybalt and asks him `to walk' showing that this fight will be a calm fight for Mercutio against the weak Tybalt. Shakespeare adopts this attitude for Mercutio so that that audience get scared at Tybalt getting frustrated, and therefore more blood-thirsty and war-like.

Mercutio fights with Tybalt but is fatally wounded as Romeo steps between them to try to stop them. Shakespeare uses Romeo's actions to represent the downfall of the fight so that Romeo will feel bad with himself thinking that he accidentally helped the death of his best friend. This image also shows how Romeo is now part of both families, and neutral, but it also shows the trouble and agony in being in them both. Shakespeare has the opportunity to show Romeo's intense, manic personality and show what he is capable of. Shakespeare needs to show Romeo's intense, frenzy personality to prove that he isn't just an effeminate lover. Shakespeare needs to show these emotions so that the audience can feel a greater connection towards him. When the audience witness evil, in the form of Tybalt, overthrowing goodness, in the form of Romeo, the audience have a yearning to fight back. Romeo does this, and in doing so grows more bonds with the audience. If Shakespeare created an effeminate lover, the audience would not connect to him, because Romeo should earn justice. Also, in Shakespearean times, it would have been harder for the audience to relate to an effeminate lover in such a male superior society.

Mercutio's insults to Tybalt revolve around his name. The bestial imagery of `rat catcher' and `king of cats' is continued as Mercutio threatens to take one of Tybalt's `nine lives', and becomes ironic as he describes his fatal wound as `a scratch'. Even as he lies fatally wounded, Mercutio's language is full of humour. He says his wound is neither as `deep as a well' nor as `wide as a church door', but it is enough. He is also talking about his own funeral and his burial. He wittedly tells Romeo that if he asks for him tomorrow he will find him `a grave man', meaning he will not be making any more jokes because he will be in his grave. Shakespeare gives the audience the idea that the play would be a more darker, harsher, sinister world. Mercutio leaves the scene, cursing both `houses' and wishing a `plague' on both Capulets and Montagues. He is truthful and is not biased as he takes no side. When Mercutio says `Help me into some house,' we are unsure that he means he wants a sanctuary to look after him, or he means let him into the Montague or Capulet house, as he feels insecure and alone with Romeo not listening to him to fight Tybalt and in doing so killed him.

Romeo blames himself for his friend's death, so when Tybalt returns he vows to show `fire-ey'd fury' towards him. This shows how violent Tybalt is, as he wants to fight with someone who distraught after the death of his close friend. After much tension Romeo and Tybalt finally fight, and Tybalt is killed, showing that the greater passion will always be stronger against anything else. Benvolio reminds the audience and Romeo that there will be a death penalty that Prince Escalus declared at the beginning of the play. Romeo exclaims he is `fortune's fool', then leaves. The expression `fortune's fool' relates to the principle of karma, and Shakespeare reminds the audience of karma because he wants to make it seem as an overhanging principle throughout the book, and does not want to us to forget that in the end, the characters will pay for their actions. Romeo is caught in a trap, and heightens the audience's attention, as they know, according to the Prologue, that `their death-marked love' will be more tantalizing to watch as the highly respected Prince is now going to punish him with death. Fundamentally, Shakespeare presentation of violence illustrates that good does overcome evil. However Shakespeare also illustrates that everything comes at a price, and even the good characters, such as Romeo is `fortune's fool' and everyone pays in the end.

Most of Romeo And Juliet is not written in Shakespeare's traditional character of language and rhyme. Traditionally, depending on the character's language depended on the character's status. Mercutio who revels in puns and witty language that sets the audience thinking about the puns' the double meanings, speaks prose throughout the play. When Mercutio is introduced in Act 1 Scene IV, he makes jokes about love and the audience are introduced to a `joker'. `If love be rough with you, be rough with love: / Prick love for pricking, and you beat love down. / Give me a case to put my visage in, / A visor for a visor! What care I / What curious eye doth cote deformities? / Here are the beetle brows shall blush for me.' Mercutio is seen as a best-friend figure towards Romeo, and he has lots of guidance to him. When he states `if love be rough with you, be rough with love' we notice that Mercutio is mentioning fate and karma. He is seen as a reasoning voice throughout the play, so when he does die, the audience become sad at the fact that from now on there will be no help or guidance for Romeo and the play will turn into an abysmal end. In Act III Scene I, when Mercutio dies, he speaks in prose to explicitly highlight his thoughts. Moreover, he speaks in clear prose to show that it was not a dignified death.

When Romeo cries `O, I am fortune's fool!' he refers to his bad luck in that he was provoked to kill his wife's cousin, and later getting himself banished. It also has reference to the fate that hangs over the play. Mercutio's response to his consequences is somewhat different to that of Romeo's. Instead of fate, Mercutio blames the Montagues and Capulets; he recognizes people as the cause of death, and gives no recognition to a larger force. Shakespeare debates fate and the supernatural power that hangs over the entire play against personal control in which you can shape your own destiny. Shakespeare also debates this argument and synopsis in Macbeth. However, in Romeo And Juliet he implicitly explains the argument because it was seen as blasphemy at the time to condemn religion, but in Macbeth he is more thorough in his argument because Macbeth was written about twenty years later and he felt that it was more acceptable to write at the time and that he wanted to prove a personal point when writing Macbeth in that several of Shakespeare's family members died and he wanted to open his own private debate to public.

Perhaps Romeo is bewildered and `he's some other where,' but in Elizabethan society they believed that if a man was `lost in love' he had become `effeminate', and Romeo acknowledges this idea. We notice again how Shakespeare creates a little, private world of love and the public world of honour and masculinity. In the play we see two Romeos; when he duels with Tybalt, he is Mercutio's `true' Romeo. The Romeo, who backs down from fighting, is Juliet's `true' Romeo. Violence is seen as proving masculinity and love is showing effeminacy. Love and hate are two different things but always come together. Oxymorons that bring like with unlike show that there is a blurring between them. They show that the character speaking them is showing tension in bringing them together. In Act 1 Scene 1, when we first meet Romeo he is confused with feeling love for Rosaline and hate that he can't have her love. “Why then, O brawling love, O loving hate.” Together the words are quiet strong sounding, and they are grouped together and they are all blurred together.

The previous scene, Act 2 Scene 6 is the marriage of Romeo and Juliet. To highlight the two principle themes, Shakespeare puts them both together, like an oxymoron, so they are more explicit, stronger and it's also easier to notice the differences and similarities between them. Shakespeare also creates them together to show that where there is love there is always hatred somewhere nearby. `In fair Verona,' there is not just hatred or not just love but qualities of both and they are brought together to give a `fair' city. Shakespeare does present this conflict as consequence of a passionate, adolescent love. In Act 5 Scene 3, Romeo says `O my love, my wife, / Death that hath the honey of thy breath, / Hath had no power yet upon thy beauty.' Here, Shakespeare combines imagery of death and love to show that they are always present together. He states that even when Juliet has encountered `death' she still remains to have `beauty'. This clearly shows how deep their love is, and how death `hath had no power' to split them up.

As the action focuses even more strongly on the tragic love story, comedy virtually disappears from the play. Mercutio is dead and, after her betrayal of Juliet later in the act, the Nurse plays a much less important role. Tybalt is now dead and Benvolio disappears from the action. In this scene the reliable Benvolio acts as a Chorus to clarify matters, in this action packed scene.

Love is a central concern of Romeo and Juliet, but death is equally important in the play. Five characters die in the course of the action, but the preoccupation with death runs through much of the language of the play. At several points Juliet is presented as `Death's bride', for example when she hears of Romeo's banishment, she says that `death not Romeo, take my maidenhead.'(Act 3 Sc2), and later, when Juliet refuses to marry Paris, her mother says to her, `I would the fool were married to her grave.'(Act3 Sc5) When it appears that Juliet is dead, Capulet remarks, `Death is my son-in-law, Death is my heir, / My daughter he hath wedded.'(Act 4 Sc 5). When Romeo finds Juliet's body in the Capulet vault, he too uses the personification of death to describe her: `Death that hath sucked the honey of thy breath, /Hath had no power yet upon thy beauty…'(Act5 Sc3), and he goes on, `Shall I believe / That unsubstantial Death is amorous, / And that the lean abhorred monster keeps / Thee here in the dark to be his paramour?' This may seem a morbid fascination to a modern audience, but the Elizabethans, with and average life expectancy much lower than that of today, were much more conscious of their mortality. Shakespeare weaves the implicit remarks of death, to cast a dark shadow of death over everything and to constantly remind the audience of the harsh and sinister consequences. By weaving implications of death into matters of love, a sinister, unjust society is formed, which saddens the audience because it is nobody's fault that love and evil are combined.

In conclusion, Shakespeare's repetition to emphasise the thesis that we are `fortune's fool' and that all our actions have karmic consequences. In such case, Shakespeare expresses that with love, evil must follow. The fact that this play contains so much conflict and violence and is such a moving tragedy is because the audience feel a great feeling of sympathy to Romeo and Juliet, who must `pay the price' for their love. The audience recognise that it is unjust that this `death marked love' can cause so much violence. The fact that they are young, passionate lovers saddens the audience even more because it shows how much they love each other to throw away their lives for this love. We see a male dominated, unjust society that dwells upon family feuds, and does not respect the future generation's needs, and in many ways, Shakespeare is speaking out for his society in general to say that we should respect and allow our `childrens' desires, whatever they may be, and in doing so, lose family pride if needed.

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Theme Of Violence In Romeo And Juliet Essay

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‘Romeo and Juliet’, is a tragic love story, by William Shakespeare written in the year 1954. The play is set in the town of Verona in Italy and is concentrated on two characters in which the title is named from ‘Romeo and Juliet’. The story commences with the conflict between the Capulet’s and the Montague’s Prologue – “Two households, both alike in dignity, in Fair Verona, from ancient grudge break to new mutiny, where civil blood makes civil hands unclean” The immense grudge between both households is apparent straight from the beginning.

Although violence is very apparent throughout Romeo and Juliet, violence is shown in also a subtle and unspoken way. In the opening scene it starts off with Sampson and Gregory who are from the Capulet household using violent words in a sexual way, speaking amongst each other, Sampson replies to Gregory ‘Ay, the heads of the maids, or their maidenheads’ meaning taking the Montague’s maids virginity. Still in act1 scene1 Tybalt says a very important line which is ‘What, drawn, and talk of peace! I hate the word, as I hate hell, all Montague’s, and thee: Have at thee, coward!

I think it gives the audience the right prospective of Tybalt as he is a violent, non-negotiable character and as hell is portrayed as a sinful, abominable, place, so therefore Tybalt is basically saying he would never be civil with a member of the Montague’s for they are the enemy. In act1 scene5, lines 53-91, the ballroom scene. Capulet is angry at Tybalt for wanting to fight with Romeo. This part of the scene is not immensely violent but brings out more of Tybalts angry character. For example Tybalt says ‘Tis he, that villain Romeo. To which Capulet replies ‘Content thee, gentle coz, let him alone.

Which shows that Capulet is trying to keep the peace at the party by letting Romeo stay, as it was an open invite party to which certain Capulet’s could come. Tybalt is so angry but must do as Capulet says so their family doesn’t fall out, even if that means going against his strong hate towards Romeo and other Montague’s. In act3 scene1, the street fight in Verona, there is no intention of having a fight with the Capulet’s as Benvolio quotes ‘I pray thee, good Mercutio, let’s retire. The day is hot, the Capulets abroad, and, if we meet, we shall not scape a brawl; for now, these hot days, is the mad blood stirring.

Benvolio is obviously worried that there is going to be a fight and he tries to persuade Mercutio to get away from the streets, saying in these hot days people will become angry and hot-blooded and not back down. Mercutio accuses Benvolio of being scared to fight. ‘Thou art like one of these fellows that, when he enters the confines of a tavern, claps me his sword upon the table, and says ‘god send me no need of thee’; and by the operation of the second cup draws him on the drawer, when indeed there is no need.

By saying this Mercutio means that Benvolio is like the type of men that slam their swords down on the table and pray to never use it in a violent manner. Soon Benvolio is feeling highly irate and soon spots the capulets ‘By my head, here comes the Capulets. ‘ Tybalt comes looking for Romeo and soon Mercutio starts taunting Tybalt, at first Tybalt tries to ignore Mercutio as it is Romeo he is looking for. Benvolio tries telling them to get out of sight of people as they’ll all be punished if anything was to commence.

Soon Romeo is spotted and yet refuses to fight Tybalt because they are officially family because of his marriage to Juliet. Romeo shows us in this scene that his love for Juliet is so strong he is even willing to love his enemy Tybalt. Because of this Mercutio says to Romeo and then Tybalt ‘O calm dishonourable, vile submission! ‘Alla stoccata’ carries it away. Tybalt, you rat catcher, will you walk with me? ‘ This shows us that Mercutio seems to want to fight with Tybalt. They draw. And as Romeo tries to break them up, Tybalt reaches under Romeo’s arm and stabs Mercutio. Mercutio is dead.

In this part of the scene, you see Romeo’s violent, vicious side of him as he starts fighting with Tybalt even though he is family and knowing that his actions will hurt Juliet, rage and anger takes over him and at full force Romeo beats down and kills Tybalt. In Friar Lawrence’s cell. Romeo finds out that he is to be banished for killing Tybalt. He is distraught at this thought and tells the friar that being banished is the same as death to him. Without Juliet he is nothing. ‘There is no world without the Verona walls. ‘ By saying this he is telling us he would use violence on himself if he had to go without his beloved Juliet.

This may not be interoperated as violence as such, but maybe violent love, as we witness now that Romeo would do anything and everything for Juliet even die for his love for her. In act3 scene 5, lines 103 – end, Juliet’s bedroom. When Juliet’s mother enters the room and sees her tears she assumes they are for the deceased Tybalt. But little does Lady Capulet know that Romeo has just bidding farewell to his sweet wife. So she tells Juliet to stop grieving the most important feature of Juliet’s speech in this scene is ambiguity or double meanings.

When Lady Capulet says that Romeo; by killing Tybalt, has caused Juliet’s grief, she agrees that Romeo has made her sad, and that she would like to get her hands on him. By placing one word – “dead” – between two sentences, Juliet makes her mother think she wants Romeo dead, while really saying that her heart is dead because of him. .Then lady Capulet says ‘we will have vengeance for it, fear thou not:’ so here Lady Capulet is showing the rivalry and hatred between the Montague’s and Capulets. Showing that just because one of the Capulets has been murdered there has to be revenge on the Montague’s.

By this we can tell that the Capulet’s think they have to be even with the Montague’s so if violence is forced upon them they must fight back and not sort it out civilly. They must get even through violence. Capulet contrasts Paris’s merits as a husband with Juliet’s immature objections. He says that Paris is “Of fair demesnes, youthful and nobly lined” and “stuffed… with honourable parts”. He calls his daughter a “wretched puling fool” and a “whining mammet”, before sarcastically mimicking her objections to the match: “I cannot love… I am too young”.

The audience knows of course that she can and does love, but it is Romeo she loves and cannot be forced to love another. Also, when Capulet becomes angry, he uses language inventively – so the adjective proud becomes both verb and noun: “proud me no prouds”. And finally, he reminds us of his power over Juliet by speaking of her as if she were a thoroughbred horse, which he can sell at will – “fettle your fine joints”, he says, meaning that she must prepare herself for marriage. claims that Juliet is proud: she insists that she is not, and Capulet repeats the word as evidence of her “chopt-logic” or splitting hairs.

These insults may seem mild or funny today, but were far more forceful in the 16th Century: “green-sickness carrion”, “tallow-face”, “baggage… wretch” and “hilding”. The grave yard in Verona. At the start of this scene Paris is visiting Juliet’s grave. At this time Romeo enters the graveyard, Paris hears him coming and hides in the darkness. After Romeo has started to open the coffin of Juliet Paris pops out and blames Romeo for killing Juliet’ cousin and that he shouldn’t be here because he is banished. Paris shows violence towards Romeo by calling him a ‘vile Montague.

This shows that Paris shows Romeo no mercy because he is a Montague. Romeo says to Paris ‘put not another sin on my head, by urging me to fury: O be gone! ‘ By this he means that he doesn’t want Paris to temp him to commit another crime. Or in other words, killing him. But Paris still encourages him, so he and Romeo fight a pointless fight. Showing the audience that they still have a lot hate for each other’s families even after Juliet, the girl who they both loved had just ‘died. ‘ When Romeo eventually kills Paris, Paris says that he wants die next to Juliet.

This shows the audience that Paris actually did have a heart and may have even loved Juliet as much as Romeo did. So Romeo then laid Paris next to Juliet and then begins to make a long speech for Juliet. In this he apologises to the deceased Tybalt. Now he is starting to realise just what he has done because it’s resulted in his only love being ‘dead. ‘ So he drinks the poison and lies next to Juliet and dies. This self-inflicted violence shocks the audience and shows that Romeo acted very dramatically to Juliet’s death. He didn’t think about any consequences of his violent actions throughout the whole play including this one.

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Gang Violence in Romeo and Juliet, a Play by William Shakespeare

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