Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet is mainly a story of "two star crossed lovers" and is

often dismissed as a love story; however there is an underlying theme

of hatred, tragedy and conflict which is delicately woven into the

story to make Romeo and Juliet one of histories greatest plays ever

written.

The first scene opens with two servants of the Capulet family. Sampson

and Gregory. They are using fighting talk and we see the contempt they

have for the Montague's "a dog of that house shall move me to stand"

However when the Montague's arrive on the scene the men who were

before very bold in their insults become less entertained by the idea

of a fight "let us take the law of our side let them begin" Sampson

then bites his thumb at Abram, this was a great insult and was

Sampson's way of starting a quarrel. However when he is asked who he

bites his thumb at, he loses his courage. "No sir I do not bite my

thumb at you sir, but I do bite my thumb, sir"

Abram keeps calm until, Sampson says his master is better, this leads

to a fight. Benvolio tries to stop the fight "part fools, put up your

swords you know not what you do" Benvolio doesn't want a fight but

then Tybalt arrives, Tybalt is a mean man who loves to fight, as soon

as he arrives he helps to worsen the situation by adding to the

fighting "turn thee Benvolio look upon thy death"

Benvolio still refuses to fight and talks of peace but Tybalt is not

listening he tries further to insult Benvolio into fighting. "I hate

the word as I hate hell, all montagues and thee".

When Capulet and Montague hear the fighting they want to join in, even

though they are portrayed as being fairly old men. It is the prince

who stops the fighting and he threatens the two houses with a penalty

of death if they are caught fighting again.

This scene shows the conflict very well, it shows how the quarrel is