"I'll go along no such sight to be shown"
This just goes to show how more than coincidental it seems for Romeo and Juliet to meet. They met at the party and fell deeply in love with each other. Only later did they realize each other's identities, and by that time, they were so in love with each other they were not about to let their family names get in the way of their strong emotional bind.
The theme of love is the main focal issue in "Romeo and Juliet". Shakespeare shows the aspects of love that are commonly ignored in average love stories through the characters of Romeo and Juliet. He is able to portray the anguish, despair and heartbreaks that are associated with love; he does this through murder, death and hatred.
"If I profane with my unworthiness hand, this holy shrine."
Juliet could not tell her parents of her marriage because Romeo was a Montague, which illustrates why the feud was only partly responsible for the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet but not as much as fate, as it was fate that started the chain reaction, which caused the death of Tybalt. In my opinion if Juliet was never destined to meet and fall in love with Romeo, none of the tragedies that took place would have occurred. If Juliet never fell in love at first sight, she would have obeyed her fathers wish to marry Paris.
"From ancient grudge break to new mutiny." (Prologue)
The two families, the Montague's and Capulets, had many problems. There was hate between the two families so much so that even the servants hated each other. This feud would have caused many problems for Romeo and Juliet: These two young lovers knew this and this is why they kept their marriage a secret. If their parents discovered their secret, they would have made their children's lives miserable. Romeo and Juliet would not have been able to see each other. Both families were very stubborn and Shakespear made is seem impossible for both families to be friends, even the servants of each house hated each other. The feud between the two households underlined the entire tragedy and was only partly responsible for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. The feud was the setting of the tragedy. Without it, Romeo and Juliet would never have had to keep their marriage and love a secret.
"My only love sprung from my only hate!"
The feud only aggravated the characters to express anger towards their enemies, which resulted in fights that ended fatally. When Tybalt saw Romeo at the Capulet's party, he immediately wanted to kill him, and he did not stop to think that Romeo was not doing anything wrong. When Tybalt confronted Romeo and Romeo talked of peace, Tybalt could not accept peace. In his mind, Romeo was a Montague and a Montague was an enemy.
Act 3 scene 1 plays a very important part. In that part of the play Benvolio, Mercutio and Romeo boys are having a drink when they are approached by the Capulets. Mercutio and Tybalt start a slanging match in which Romeo gets involved. Benvolio want's to avoid fighting with the capulets, but Mercutio is fired up and want's a fight. This part of the play shows a childish side to the men they fight and argue like children.
Tybalt then want's a fight with Romeo after what happened at the party (Romeo gatecrashed the party and Tybalt was not happy about it). Romeo refuses Tybalt's challenge and basically says that he loves Tybalt.
“Tybalt, the reason that I love thee Doth much excuse the appertaining rage To such a greeting.”
“Villain am I none”
“Therefore, farewell; I see thou know'st me not'.”
This shows that Romeo is sensible and doesn't want another fight. He wants to bring a sense of peace rather than the conflict, I think that if he had of fought him this may have given Romeo a bad image as he would then be as bad as them in a childish way.
"What ,drawn and talk of peace? I hate the word. As I hate hell, all Montague's, and thee.”
“Have at thee, coward"
Tybalt says this, This sentence sums him up; he is not interested in peace all he wants is to fight. He is arrogant and conceited. Romeo could never confide in him. He is in the Capulet family. All Montague's hate the Capulet's; Tybalt would not be one who would listen to Romeo. All Tybalt would do is try and get Romeo in a fight. He hates Romeo purely for the name. He thinks he is so superior to Romeo he would laugh in the face of him. This again expresses the pure Hatred between the two families who have this ancient grudge against each other.
In Act 5 Scene 3 the scene opens with Juliet saying goodbye to Romeo, who must leave for Mantua. In the previous scene the audience has heard Capulet offer Juliet's hand in marriage to Paris. We understand why he does this, but we know many things he does not know.
We can tell that Juliet will not be happy about her father's decision. Once Romeo has gone, Lady Capulet tells Juliet she must marry. Juliet refuses, and her father angrily insists that she marries Paris or be turned out of the house. Alone with the Nurse, Juliet asks for advice. The nurse tells Juliet she should marry Paris. Juliet is shocked and upset, and pretends to agree to this advice, while deciding that the only person who can help her is Friar Lawrence. She wants him to marry her are Romeo, but doing this is like committing a sin, but this doesn’t hold them back, Juliet and Romeo want to be married so they can run off together and live happily ever after and avoid the feud which is occurring between the two families.
If Friar would conduct such a marriage ceremony, as he would be just as bad as Juliet, as he knows about it and he would have to leave the church. The Nurse must know this, too, but it seems that she does not really believe in sins, or care about, heaven and hell.
"And here I stand, both to impeach and purge, Myself condemned and myself excused."
This was said by the Friar to the Prince in act 5 scene 3, right after Romeo and Juliet are found dead. Throughout the play, Shakespeare has emphasized the importance of Friar Lawrence. He was the first to know that Romeo has fallen in love with Juliet, the first to know of their wedding, and the man who planned Juliet's 'death'. However, were Romeo and Juliet killed by his love? Or was it just the feud between the families? I think that although Friar masterminded the 'death', brought the two together in holy matrimony, I feel that the Friar was not responsible for the death of the two 'star crossed lovers'. I think that the death of Romeo and Juliet was caused by the constant feud between the two families.
