The Hostility Between the 'Montagues' and the 'Capulets' in Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare William Shakespeare’s play ‘Romeo and Juliet has a major theme of conflict. The main conflict in the play is the feud between the two wealthy families: the ‘Montagues’ and the ‘Capulets’. Shakespeare does not state the reason for the hostility between the two families. Shakespeare may have done this to indicate how long the feud has been going for. Shakespeare creates conflicts between characters in the play. One conflict is between ‘Tybalt’ and ‘Romeo’. This conflict is interesting because it is between two contrasting characters. Tybalt is very arrogant and has an aggressive attitude. While Romeo is quiet and quite peaceful. Another act of conflict between characters in the play is between Juliet and her father. This conflict engages the reader is because it is between the same family. This makes the conflict seem heartless. Conflict also occurs between individuals and authority. For example Romeo’s return to Verona causes confl...
He is prepared to duel, as he believes it is in “honor of my kin, / to strike him dead I hold not a sin” (I.v.58-59). His vicious behavior towards the Montague’s is due to the prolonged feud and not because of a dishonorable act directed towards him. Evidently, Tybalt respects Lord Capulet and the family name. When he goes to inform the Montague’s intrusion, Lord Capulet dismisses the enemy’s presence, ordering Tybalt to “be patient, take no note of him” (I.v.71). Despite Lord Capulet’s calm approach towards the appearance of Romeo, Tybalt`s mind is clouded with hatred and only views Romeo as a threat. Tybalt’s angered reaction at the sight of Romeo, as well as his impulsive decision to warn Lord Capulet in hopes of getting rid of the enemy, is due to the ongoing feud between the Montague’s and Capulet’s and not because of any harm directly caused by
First of all, The Montague’s and Capulet’s hatred for one another shows another depth about how human errors create the setting of Romeo and Juliet’s death. If only both families had gotten along from the beginning, the two star-crossed lovers could have had a friendship from the very start. If the families were close when they were young, they could have grown up to realize that the two were in love. Juliet would have been able to tell her parents, and that way, they would have been ecstatic about the engagement. The reason this is their fault is because if they had been on civil terms with each other, the deaths wouldn’t have occurred. Shakespeare almost made it appear like the parents did it on purpose for them to have to go behind their backs. Romeo and Tybalt’s battle to the death was also fault of the families disliking each other, and if this conflict had not taken place, the wedding wouldn’t have been forced upon Juliet. In this case, she ...
Prince Escalus of Verona plays an immense part in the effect of the Montagues’ and Capulets’ animosity towards each other. For the prince it is more of what he did not do than what he did. The prince lets the feuding families grow in enmity. He doesn’t take enough action to squash his rebellious subjects’ uproars, and when he does take action and punishes them, he is too lenient. The prince himself acknowledges his faults by saying, “And I for winking at your discords too. Have lost a brace of kinsmen. All are punished.”(Shakespeare Act. V: iii) And all are punished, but the ones who feel it the most are those who began the feud; the Capulets and the Montagues.
Tybalt is a Capulet and very passionate about hating the Montagues. In Act 1 Scene 5 when Romeo, Benvolio, and Mercutio sneak into Capulet’s party, Tybalt recognizes Romeo and begs Lord Capulet to kick him out. “Uncle, this is a Montague, our foe, / A villain that is hither come in spite / To scorn at our solemnity this night” (1. v. 69-71). Later, Tybalt sees Romeo on the street and tries to fight him, convinced that Romeo has done something to him. Romeo doesn’t want to fight, and Mercutio steps in. Benvolio and Romeo try to stop them, but Mercutio gets fatally wounded. Tybalt’s devotion to his family ended up killing Mercutio, and Tybalt himself later ends up dead because of
From the very beginning of the story, Shakespeare asserts us how much hate the two family have for each other. In the opening scene in Verona, the two servant of different families, the Montagues and Capulets, start a fight between each other. Talking to Gregory, Sampson announce how he “will bite [his] thumb at [the Montague’s servant]” (1.1.44-5). This tells the reader that because the Montagues and Capulets dislike each other, so will anyone close to them. The quote shows that when someone is a close friend to someone, the friend will hold the same grudge as a way to show their loyalty to their friends. Lord Capulet and Lord Montague decide to resolve their conflict my beginning a sword fight in the street of Verona. Power by
Shakespeare’s eminent play, Romeo and Juliet, depicts the journey of Romeo and Juliet until their tragic death. The idea of fate is displayed throughout the play through the use of foreshadowing, suggesting that the outcome is predetermined from the prologue. The rivalry between the Capulets and the Montagues influence the characters in the play deeply, creating peril in Verona. Furthermore, Romeo and Juliet’s excessive emotions cause the play to end in their inevitable deaths, which ends the “ancient grudge” between the “two households”. As the play progresses, the audience is presented with multiple possibilities as to how the unfortunate deaths of Romeo and Juliet are influenced.
This hatred causes many brawls including one in Act 3 scene 1. This brawl is a pawn of fate that pulls Romeo further apart from Juliet. In this scene Tybalt is upset because he believes that Romeo had crashed the Capulet ball, though in reality he had no harmful intentions. He is blood thirsty and wants to battle Romeo. Romeo is Mad, passionate and hasty. He is already symbolically dead and Mercutio and Benvolio believe that he is in no state of mind to fight, and if he were to do so he would not stand a chance against Tybalt, the prince of cats. Mercutio Is worried about this so in his attempt to protect Romeo he fights Tybalt which unleashes a big fight. Tybalt kills Mercutio. This upsets Romeo so much that he kills Tybalt because he was overwhelmed with passion and makes a hasty decision. Now bringing things back to the Capulet ball. Fate begins with Tybalt hearing Romeo express his love for Juliets beauty aloud and becomes filled with anger because he believes that Romeo is there to crash party since he is a Montague. If Tybalt never heard that, he would have never instigated a fight and Romeo would not have been exiled. This is fate rearranging time and circumstance to pull Romeo farther away from
Both the Capulet and Montague’s families are wealthy, noble and even founding families of Verona. Evidence of the family’s wealth is displayed when the Capulet’s have a classy party and Romeo meets Juliet for the first time. Proof of the two rival families superiority is even shown in the opening Prologue where the families are described by the line “Two households, both alike in dignity.” In the Elizabethan Era the word “dignity” can be interpreted to “Elevated rank, office,” or “station”. Hence both families are of high social status and in a position of power. Additionally in the prologue the families are described as ancient with this line “From ancient grudge break to new munity”. We can then determine that the Montague and Capulet families were Ancient and influential and the upper class in the social hierarchy of Verona. The Montages and The Capulet’s reputation and high values were the only thing the families and the people working for the houses cared about and their servants would never consider betraying their masters, the house they worked in was like their family. Servants working in the houses were considered normal when Shakespeare wrote Romeo And Juliet, in the Elizabethan Era most powerful or rich people had people of a lesser class working for them. An example of hierarchy in Romeo and Juliet is the Nurse and Balthazar the servant
The Conflict Between Two Families in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet The play ‘Romeo And Juliet’ is a very dramatic one. The conflict between the two families is key to the play as a whole. If they’re where no. conflict. They would just be allowed to be together.
The Character Of Romeo Montague in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet Romeo is one of the main characters in Shakespeare’s play “Romeo and Juliet” and is portrayed as a tragic figure, who is guided by his destiny. Shakespeare initially introduces Romeo to be a romantic sentimentalist, who is over-obsessed with his own emotions. Romeo, however, loses these personality traits towards the end of the play, and becomes more mature after falling deeply in love with Juliet. His love for her is strong and over-whelming, and Shakespeare vividly represents this by dramatic visual moments throughout the play, culminating in the tragic climax of Romeo’s suicide, to join with his Juliet in death. Shakespeare introduces the audience to Romeo, a son of Lord Montague, whos House is involved in an ancient feud with the House of Capulet.
“This by his voice, should be a Montague. Fetch me my rapier, boy. What dares the slave” ( I.v.line 52-54). “Romeo and Juliet” by William Shakespeare is a tragedy that occurs to innocent characters who have not done anything wrong. In the play, the character that strongly opposes Romeo and the Montagues is Tybalt. Tybalt is Mr. Capulet’s nephew and Juliet’s older cousin. Tybalt plays an important role in Romeo and Juliet because of his aggressive, cocky, and self-centered personality leads to many catastrophes in the play.
Because of this conflict, confrontations occurred and insults were thrown. Hatred is bred which is evident when Tybalt, who is Lady Capulet's nephew, joins the fight against the Montague family. Tybalt hates Romeo and doesn't hesitate to let it be known.
Firstly, the Capulets and Montagues are at odds with each other. Members of each house and servants break into a sword fight, clashing with each other. Sampson says "Draw, if you be men. Gregory, remember thy swashing blow." (Act 1, Scene 1, Line 60). The feuding between the two families motivates Sampson to challenge the Capulets. Another example of how the two houses despise each other is what Romeo and his friends have to do to get into the Capulet feast. So they will not be recognized, Romeo, Mercutio, and Benvolio wear comic masks to hide their faces. Mercutio says, "Give me a case to put my visage in" (Act 1, Scene 4, Line 29). They do not want to be recognized because of the hatred between the two houses. Also, Romeo and Juliet are not supposed to be in love: "My only love sprung from my only hate! / Too early seen unknown, and known too late! / Prodigious birth of love it is to me, / That I must love a loathed enemy." says Juliet (Act 1, Scene 5, Lines 137-140). They are not supposed to love each other because it just so happens that each of their houses despise each other. It is unfortunate for Romeo and Juliet that their two families are against each other, because this means that they are not supposed to be married.
	A major dispute is going on between the Capulets and the Montagues. These two households, "both alike in dignity," (1.Prologue.1) have been feuding for so long that they even forget the reason they are feuding. Romeo and Juliet, "a pair of star-crossed lovers who take their life," (1.Prologue.6) are results of how tragedy can be caused when the rage of past generations carries over to a younger generation. Tybalt is also an example of the theme. At Capulet's party, he walks up to Lord Capulet and says "Tis he, that villain Romeo" (1.5.67). Tybalt learns this rage toward Romeo and all the other Montagues through past generations.
‘Romeo and Juliet’ by William Shakespeare incorporates the theme of conflict through many different characters and situations. The definition of conflict is “a fight, battle, or struggle; especially a prolonged struggle; strife” The play mainly focuses on the tragic lives of Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet; the two characters belong to the Montague and Capulet households respectively, which have held ongoing grudges against each other for years. The play ends with both main characters committing suicide, to be together in heaven. As with many of Shakespeare’s works, the theme of conflict is a strong one. For a start, there is the ongoing conflict between the two families; the Montagues and the Capulets. The audience is unsure how this grudge started; this reflects how tedious some ongoing grudges can be. This is a vital conflict to keep the structure of the story, as without this conflict Romeo and Juliet would not have encountered the problems they had with their marriage. However, there are different ways of putting this grudge across - through dialogue, such as Mercutio’s intell...