William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet

662 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: death in Romeo and Juliet

Romeo & Juliet Essay
Conflict, Suicide, and Love

In amongst all of the love in Romeo & Juliet, there are a lot of themes relating Conflict & Suicide. I will be discussing the conflict between the Montagues and Capulets, how Romeo and Juliet committed suicide, their reasoning for it, and the forbidden love between Romeo and Juliet.

The Montagues and Capulets are feuding, and everyone one in the family, and their servants are involved in this feud. Even whilst they are in the streets of Verona they keep up this fight. In Act 1, Scene 1, two of the Capulet’s servants are in the streets of Verona, and two of the Montague servants come along. Sampson, a Capulet Servant, bites his thumb at Abram, a Montague Servant. When they bit their thumb in the Shakespearian time, it was considered a rude gesture. This incident sparked a fight, in which another from each side joined, and fought. Between the two families, there was a lot of hostility, in which most of the people involved really didn’t have to be.

The Capulets later on held a party, in which everyone but Montagues were invited. Romeo & his friends went as gatecrashers to the party, and there he saw Juliet, she is what I like to call, his “forbidden love”. Their parents want all of the children, relatives, and servants to display hatred towards the other families. This must be very hard for Romeo and Juliet, especially since they are in love with each other. In Act 1, Scene 5, Juliet says the following about R...

Show More
Related

  • Responsibility In Shakespeare's The Tragedy Of Romeo And Juliet

    729 Words  | 2 Pages

    The house of the Capulets invites loyalty among the people but also hot tempers. Through the inability to understand Juliet and put aside their anger they may have been the cause for the events that transpired during the story. Lord Capulet, patriarch of the Capulets, is a man that demands respect and has quite the temper. When his character is introduced he is a reasonable father, taking Juliet’s age into consideration the first time he is approached by Paris about marriage. He allows Romeo to take part of his party after Tybalt discovers him. This seems to take a complete 180 later on when Juliet disobeys her father, after her cousin’s death, he threatens to hurt her. “I tell thee what: get thee to church o' Thursday, or never after look me in the face. Speak not. Reply not. Do not answer me. My fingers itch.” Act 3, scene 5,

    Read More

  • Romeo and Juliet

    1106 Words  | 3 Pages

    Romeo and Juliet is known as one of the greatest love stories, but it has its fair share of tragedy as well. The story riddles with themes throughout. Love is the first theme and there is no greater love than the love Romeo and Juliet share. Shakespeare offers his audiences just as much hate as love in Romeo and Juliet. The families of both Romeo and Juliet involve themselves in centuries of feuding. The ongoing feud between the Montagues and Capulets drives Romeo and Juliet into a life of secrecy, which ultimately causes their deaths. Youth is another theme and ties directly to how young both Romeo and Juliet are both in their age and their relationship. The story of Romeo and Juliet uses sex as a theme as well although not in the intimate details of more modern stories. The two lovers concerns are not with the wishes of their warring families, they just want to be together “Deny thy father and refuse thy name / Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn by my love / And I’ll no longer be a Capulet” (2.2.34-36). Love is the first theme Shakespeare displays in this play.

    Read More

  • Romeo And Juliet Hate Quotes

    674 Words  | 2 Pages

    Talking to Gregory, Sampson explained 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 by beginning a sword fight in the streets of Verona. Powered by their hate, Lord Capulet and Lord Montague begin to fight in the street.

    Read More

  • Romeo And Hyde Duality Essay

    1230 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the prologue of the play, it is said, “From ancient grudge break to new mutiny” (I i 3) which means that the the two families, the Capulets and the Montagues, have been in a feud for an extremely long time, and the feud has recently caused fights and deaths. This is important because Romeo, a Montague, and Juliet, a Capulet, fall in love that is destined to end tragically. Their love contends with the hatred that their families share towards one another. They knew that the were not to see each other and that if their parents or families found out that it would not have ended good and the consequences would be

    Read More

  • William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet

    1285 Words  | 3 Pages

    William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. In the age of Rome and Juliet’s creation, many values of society were. different from those we observe in modern day life. Women did not have equal rights, fathers had a lot more authority over their children and arranged marriages were still practiced.

    Read More

  • William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet

    1033 Words  | 3 Pages

    Romeo and Juliet Although Romeo and Juliet become inextricably smitten with one another, they both enter into the relationship from different perspectives. Their love is strong, but each has their reasons for the intensity of their love. Romeo has just come out of another ?crush?. He has liked Rosaline for quite awhile, but things do not work out because the feelings are not mutual. Romeo sees that Juliet is a beautiful lady that he falls in love with right away, while he attends the Capulet Party. Juliet also instantly falls in love with Romeo, but it could be more of an escape for her.

    Read More

  • William Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet

    922 Words  | 2 Pages

    “He who falls in love meets a worse fate than he who falls from a

    Read More

  • William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet

    841 Words  | 2 Pages

    such a love can arise out of hatred and then triumph over it in death,

    Read More

  • William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet

    1858 Words  | 4 Pages

    "What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would

    Read More

  • William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet

    693 Words  | 2 Pages

    “Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health, still-waking sleep, that is not what this is” (Shakespeare 1.1. 179-180). A string of contradictions explain the love story of Romeo and Juliet, a contradiction. Some critics consider this story a tragedy because Shakespeare once wrote; “the fault is not in our stars but in ourselves”. While others say it does not follow the standard Aristotelian form of tragedy (Krims 1). Romeo and Juliet can not be a tragedy because no flaw causes them to fall, the lovers, could not have controlled fate, and family and friends assisted them to their deaths.

    Read More

  • Loyalty In Romeo And Juliet

    650 Words  | 2 Pages

    Firstly, the Capulets’ and Montagues’ servants are very loyal to their masters. In the opening scene of the play, two of Capulet’s servants, Sampson and Gregory, are walking in Verona and talking bad about the Montagues. They see Abraham and another Montague servant and proceed to “bite their thumbs” at them. “‘Do you bite your thumb at us sir?’ / ‘I do bite my thumb, sir’”

    Read More

  • Romeo And Juliet Parenting Quotes

    901 Words  | 2 Pages

    Romeo and Juliet is set in an Italian city named Verona. Romeo is the son of of Montague, a powerful family patriarch, and Juliet is the daughter of Capulet, another powerful patriarch. There’s one problem with this. Capulet and Montague hate each other. There’s another problem. The story was set in a time where men were thought of as superior to women. It was not unusual for a father to marry his daughter to another man just for the political status. This makes it impossible for Romeo to marry Juliet peacefully. In today’s world, Capulet’s actions would not be regarded as good parenting, so that is why, in our eyes, Capulet seems like a bad father, but there is more to his bad side. He tried to marry Juliet off to a kinsman of the prince just for the political status, but his bad parenting also harmed Juliet in another way. He let his anger get the best of him in most cases, and by doing this, it made Juliet keep secret from him. So, by being stubborn, self-absorbed, and hot-tempered, he influenced Romeo and Juliet to kill themselves.

    Read More

  • Romeo And Juliet Sacrifice Analysis

    1176 Words  | 3 Pages

    Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet’s love for each other causes them to sacrifice their family, although their families have always had great gravity over the lovers. After the party where the lovers first meet, Juliet stands on her balcony and promises herself to Romeo: “be but sworn my love, and I’ll no longer be a Capulet” [2.2.37-39]. In this case, “sworn my love” can be rearranged to mean “my sworn love,” which refers to Romeo as the one that she will always love. For Juliet to become a Montague-- her family’s rivals-- would mean that she would give up many things she and her family value. In their fight over her refusal to marry Paris, Juliet’s parents threaten to not “acknowledge [her]” as their daughter, even if “[she]...hang, beg, starve, die in the streets” [4.1.192-193]. “Hanging,” “begging,” “starving,” “dying” are all very extreme ramifications that Juliet’s parents will give to her if she does not

    Read More

  • Love In Romeo And Juliet Essay

    1486 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the play of Romeo and Juliet the main characters are a young teenage boy named Romeo and the only daughter of his family’s enemies, named Juliet. These two teenagers fall in love with one another but their love is strictly forbidden by fate. There are two families in the story; the Montagues and the Capulets, who had been rivals for many years. As two servants of the Romeo’s household walk, they see two servants of Juliet’s household biting their thumbs towards them. The two argue in public then fight. After a public fight between two servants and one kinsman from each family, the Prince of Verona tells both heads of the families that whoever disturbs the peace because of the feud between the families, will be punished by death. After

    Read More

  • Directing William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet

    1458 Words  | 3 Pages

    The hatred between the Montagues’ and the Capulates’ are also working against the couple. While Romeo and Juliet are seemingly deeply in love, the rest of their families were continually battling it out, with death usually being the end result. How could two lovers keep a relationship together with so much violence and hated without totally abandoning their families? I feel that this is another example that the couple wasn’t deeply in love. This hate is shown with several “battle” scenes between the two families.

    Read More

More about William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet

Open Document