External Conflict In Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet

Romeo and Juliet Essay
In the play, Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare there are other deaths besides Romeo and Juliet. These deaths caused a lot of sadness and conflicts. Two of the deaths, Mercutio and Tybalt, were caused by external forces. External conflict is when a character has conflict with outside forces such as the society they were living in. Conflict with the people in their lives is also external.
In the time of Romeo and Juliet, men were expected to be masculine and were supposed to fight; honor and family name was very important. Tybalt was the same age as Romeo, but Tybalt would call him a boy or use words to say that Romeo was little. Tybalt would try and act like he was older or higher ranked than Romeo even though they were in the same social class. In the play, Tybalt said to Romeo “This, by his voice, should be a Montague.— (to his PAGE) Fetch me my rapier, boy”(Shakespeare 1. 5. 676-677). This shows how little respect Tybalt had for Romeo. Romeo does not worry about Tybalt and doesn’t care what Tybalt says; Tybalt tries to cause problems but Romeo does not care. Tybalt then keeps on deriding Romeo,

Throughout the play, Mercutio mocks the other characters. Mercutio was never serious until right before he died when he wanted to kill Tybalt for making fun of Romeo; as Romeo wouldn’t defend his own honor. Mercutio told Romeo that if Romeo doesn’t step up to Tybalt then he would. “O calm dishonourable, vile submission! Alla stoccata carries it away. (draws his sword) Tybalt, you ratcatcher, will you walk?”(Shakespeare, 3. 1. 44-46). This is when Mercutio drew his sword to fight Tybalt. As Mercutio and Tybalt are fighting Romeo tries to stop Mercutio because he knows that he can’t stop Tybalt. As Romeo is talking to Mercutio Tybalt goes under Romeo’s arm and stabs Mercutio. Mercutio then curses both houses while he is