Gregory and Sampson, in their previous discussions have built up their rage towards the Montagues. Along side this inspired rage is the need for each of them to prove themselves manly, as they have both spent the first minutes of Act One Scene One trying to lower each others ego whilst boasting about their own manhood. So when they are interrupted by two servants from the Montague household it’s a case of proving that they could support their boasts. Gregory is quick to change his tune, his character is cowardly and this shows as he exclaims ‘No marry! I fear thee!’ He does not wish to get involved in a fight. In comparison Sampson is quite the opposite, he is definitely not “just bragging”. He sees “a dog of Montague” and it does move him to fight. His intention is to engage in a fight but not to start it as that will mean he is breaking the law. Instead he provokes the fight. “I will bite my thumb at them, which is a disgrace to them if they bear it” In the time of Shakespeare biting one’s thumb was a provocative gesture, as bad as giving someone the finger in this day and age. Sampson knows that the Montagues will be disgraced if they do not retaliate in some way. The Montagues appear calmer and less tyrannous then the Capulets. The two servants Abram and the other unnamed react to what is happening but do not violently retaliate, they handle the situation in such a way that it is hard for the Capulets to encourage a fight. The opposing servants settle by agreeing that each of their masters is as good as the other. The argument is resolved, but begins again as Gregory notices Benvolio approaching. He means to impress and so tells Sampson to say that Capulet is better. This triggers some anger and the servants of Montague and Capulet decide to physically attack one another. It does not however have the effect intended by Gregory. Benvolio’s character is a rare one within this tragedy. He is one of few who does not want to fight. “I do but keep the peace”. As he enters the scene he is genuinely appalled at the violence that is being displayed before him, he tells the men to ‘put up their swords’. Benvolio is of the Montague household and his peaceful character helps portray the Montagues as the least violent and the least aggressive of the two families. His name, showing reference to the word ‘benevolent’ meaning ‘well meaning and kindly’, is one more of the many devices that Shakespeare used to make this character well liked by the audience. Despite his peaceful nature Benvolio will fight when he has to, and is in fact provoked into a brawl with the character Tybalt, who enters the scene soon after he does. Tybalt’s character only speaks five lines in Act one Scene one, but these lines tell us a great deal about him. He is depicted as an aggressive person, who is quick to draw his sword when he feels his pride has been injured. The way his lines are written and the tone in which they are to be spoken suggest that a sense of danger follows him around. I get the feel that people of Verona are cautious of him, and that they would fear for themselves if they were to get on the wrong side of him. Tybalt’s name, like Benvolio’s shows some symbolism. His name can me related to the word ‘tyrant’ meaning ‘a cruel and arbitrary exercise of power or control’. Tybalt’s character is used to place a negative light on the Capulets, his tyrannous attitude builds a dislike for the Capulet family and also a dislike for himself, which later contributes to the lack of sympathy the audience feels when he is killed by Romeo in Act three. As Tybalt enters Act one Scene one he immediately begins to cause trouble his first action is to threaten Benvolio, ‘Turn thee, Benvolio, look upon thy death’. He then engages in a brawl with him after letting it be known that he hates peace as much as he hates the Montagues. ‘What, drawn and talk of peace? I hate the word, as I hate hell, all Montagues’. From this we learn of the deep loathing Tybalt feels for the Montagues and also his belief that the way to resolve the feud is through violence and conflict not forgiveness or reconciliation.
The Prince’s speech in Act One is another way in which William Shakespeare has emphasised the ever-running theme of conflict. The conflict has disrupted the peace in the city, and in fact holds dominion over everyone existent in Verona. It is implied that every citizen in Verona is either allied to the Capulets, the Montagues or to the law. “And made Verona's ancient citizens cast by their grave-beseeming ornaments, to wield old partisans in hands as old” literally translates in modern English to mean “and Verona's old citizens have had to take off their dress clothes and pick up rusty old spears to part you” and is evidence of the effect the feud has on the citizens of Verona. Prince Escalus is the Prince of Verona, he is the seat of political power in the city and is concerned about maintaining the public peace at all costs. In Act one scene one he gives a speech to Lord and Lady of both households as well as a handful of other members from each family. The prince is the first truly neutral character that we are introduced to and his speech gives the audience the chance to view the feud and each family from an unbiased perspective. The prince’s speech is spoken in an angry tone. It is clear that he is outraged that yet again he has to stop a fight of the two families. An evident theme in Romeo and Juliet is the idea of violence and hate being born from its opposite, love. In this opening scene the hate that is being demonstrated is the hate that each Capulet and Montague has for the opposing family, the love from which it has derived is the love that each Capulet and Montague has for their own family. The prince, who is of neither household nor family, is unable to truly understand the purpose of the fighting and the reason for the feud. He is an outsider and therefore sees the dispute as pointless, he sees the families as ‘rebellious subjects’ and ‘enemies of the peace’. He refers to them directly as ‘beasts’. He uses callous imagery to describe their behaviour ‘That quench the fire of your pernicious rage with purple fountains issuing from your veins’ meaning that they satisfy their anger with fountains of each others blood. The word purple in this quote is used to describe blood; it is merely referring to the association of the colour purple to royalty and nobility, showing that the families, in their own way are similar to royalty, in the sense of wealth and power. The prince thinks little of the two households and from the way he publicly performs his speech he doesn’t care who knows it. He tries to point out to each family how futile their constant brawling is, as if it is often started by no more than ‘an airy word’. He as a citizen of Verona has been exposed to the conflict of the two households from the moment he entered the city and like so many of the other people of Verona he is fed up; he tries to put an end to the violence by ruling that ‘If ever you disturb our streets again, your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace’. He hopes that this ultimate penalty will stop the constant violence.
Most would agree that Romeo and Juliet most definitely holds the theme of conflict, but saying this alone is a very vague analysis. Romeo and Juliet plays host to many different types of conflict. I have so far only explored one type. After the Prince’s public display we witness a conversation between Benvolio and Lord and Lady Montague, Romeo’s parents. The Montagues ask Benvolio if he has seen Romeo, he replies by telling that them that he had seen Romeo earlier that morning ‘an hour before the worshipped sun’ walking through a grove of sycamore trees outside the city. He tells them that he made to approach Romeo but did not as he seemed troubled. The Montagues tell Benvolio that lately Romeo has been the often victim sorrow, and that they have tried to discover what upsets him, but have had no success. The conflict that this dialogue shows is the conflict between Romeo and his parents as Romeo does not want to confide in them. Lord and Lady Montague try everything to find out what is wrong with their beloved son. When asked if they have made any attempt to find out what is wrong with Romeo, Montague answers; ‘Both myself and many other friends, but he, his own affections’ counsellor’. The extent to which the Montagues go to find out the troubles of their son is evidence of the concern and love that they have for Romeo. It is another method used by Shakespeare to create a sense of sympathy and love for the Montagues over the Capulets. After this conversation Benvolio sees Romeo approaching and assures the Montagues he will find out what troubles their son. The Montagues who are deeply grateful hastily leave the scene.
Another example of conflict is the conflict every teenager faces against themselves; being one’s own worst enemy. This is shown impeccably by the mood that Romeo is in as we hear of him for the first time. Lord Montague uses a short passage filled with metaphors to beautifully describe the solemn mood and behaviour of his son: ‘With tears augmenting the fresh mornings dew, adding to clouds more clouds with his deep sighs’ These lines portray to the audience the way in which teenagers are overrun with emotions. They show the childish ways that teenagers react to what they see as adult situations. It is the first point in the play where the ever changing moods of teenagers are explored. The rest of the passage is Lord Montague explaining the more physical behaviour that goes with Romeo’s emotions ‘but all so soon as the all-cheering sun should in the farthest east begin to draw the shady curtains from Aurora’s bed, away from light steals home my heavy son and private in his chambers pens himself, shuts up his windows, locks fair daylight out and makes himself an artificial night’. We see the typical teenage refuge of locking oneself into ones room, along side the fake belief that there is no one to turn and that no one could possibly understand their feelings. It is pure irony the immaturity shown by Romeo compared to the Moral of this tragedy that children know what is best for themselves, and that parents should listen to the children.
After the departure of Lord and Lady Montague from Act one Scene one Benvolio is left with Romeo to discover the true reason behind his recent melancholy. The two evidently have a close relationship as we know from Lord Montague that everyone has had a hard time discovering the reason behind Romeo’s current sadness, and yet Benvolio hardly has to ask twice. Romeo tells his cousin that he is sad because he loves a woman who does return the favour. The two discuss love in the sense of a man and a woman, Benvolio describes loves as ‘so gentle in his view, should be so tyrannous and rough in proof’. They move on to discuss the previous fight. Romeo, who was not aware of happenings, sees blood and it is this that brings him to knowledge of the brawl. Romeo, like Benvolio, is a peaceful character. He asks to be spared the details of the happenings, though he does not hold back on his opinions of the matter. They resume their conversation about love, but this time about a different kind of love, Romeo expresses to Benvolio his feelings about the fight. He sees the hate that has caused the fight, but he sees and says that love is just as much to blame ’Here’s much to do with hate, but more with love’. He uses oxymorons to emphasise this thought. ‘O brawling love, O loving hate’. An oxymoron is phrase that contradicts itself and in these cases it is used to describe the pain and hardships of love and the idea that hate can be derived from love. As Romeo continues to speak he reveals a series of oxymorons ‘O heavy lightness… feather of lead… cold fire…sick health’ as he lists them their relevance to the situation they are discussing becomes less and less obvious. I feel that the listing of these oxymorons build a depressing aura that resides around Romeo for this first scene. An oxymoron is a conflict with itself and I believe the conflict shown between the contradicting words in an oxymoron are used to represent the internal emotional conflict from which Romeo suffers.
I think that Shakespeare successfully managed to reveal the theme of conflict to his audience. He used various devices in different ways to show many different types of conflict. I feel that the opening dialogue; from the two Capulet servants boasting to the brawl with the two servants of Montague was where Shakespeare showed conflict best. The purpose of Act one scene one is to build up the theme of conflict so that the audience is able to understand the events that occur in later scenes and the reason behind the final fatal conclusion.
