The Consequences of Pride in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet

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What is the effect of having too much pride? Can different forms of pride such as familial and social have different consequences? Pride is usually considered to be a positive aspect in one’s life, but too much of it can have adverse results. By observing today’s society, as well as Shakespearean society, it is clear that too much pride in any form can inhibit the ability to accept differences in people and oneself.

In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, the audience witnesses a great amount of familial pride when Tybalt shouts to an opposing family member, “What, drawn, and talk of peace? I hate the word, as I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee. Have at thee, coward,” (Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, Act 1.1 pg 12). In the play Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare depicts two feuding families who once had a legitimate reason to be mad at one another, but now continuously fight each other fueled purely by family pride. This everlasting conflict between the Montagues and the Capulets illustrate to the audience how having too much family pride places a restriction on familial unity.

While having too much family pride can be harmful, having too much social pride can result in a lack of conversing between different groups of people. When looking at statistics, one can see that residents in the extremely diverse city of Los Angeles have managed to segregate themselves from others of different wealth and race. This type of segregation in which people prefer to live among others who are similar confirms that humanity has too much pride to place themselves with others who are different. Similar to this, in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet Lord Capulet shouts to his daughter, “Hang thee, young baggage! Disobedient wretch! I tell thee what: get thee to church o' Thursday, Or never after look me in the face,” (Act 3.5 pg 200) clearly portraying to the audience that his social pride is too great for he would rather rid himself of his own daughter than to have a daughter who refuses to marry.

Since my first report card, I have always taken pride in having high grades. It was not until freshman year in high school that I started to receive undesirable grades by my standards. While most students would not mind having my report card, those few letters had deteriorated my emotional state because I felt as if I was no longer part of the intellectuals.

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