ROMEO AND JULIET

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How does Shakespeare present the theme of conflict in Romeo and Juliet, (with particular references to scenes 1.1, 3.1 and 3.5)?

The play starts with Act 1 Scene 1 where the people from the house of Capulet and Montague start arguing in the streets of Verona (where the scene is set.) This argument hopefully draws the audience’s attention.  After this is the party where Romeo and Juliet meet and in this scene all the other characters are introduced.  Almost immediately after is the wedding of Romeo and Juliet, where Romeo goes straight to the public place to meet his friends, but also meets Tybalt and his fellow house mates.  Tybalt wants a fight but Romeo doesn’t because he wants to resolve the conflict but Tybalt doesn’t want to resolve anything he likes the conflict.  A fight takes place and Tybalt kills Mercutio (Romeo’s very close friend) and so Romeo kills Tybalt in order to satisfy his honour and from this point on everything that happens in the rest of the play sets of a chain of events and is inevitable.

In this play there are lots of different character relationships and conflicts, the first are the two main characters Romeo and Juliet.  Everything they do is in opposition to everybody else in their family, because they are in love.  “More light and light; more dark and dark our woes!”  They got married in hope that their family would stop fighting, but Romeo killed Tybalt (Juliet’s cousin) and is banished.  “I will not marry yet; and, when I do, I swear, it shall be Romeo, whom you know I hate...” this is when she is talking to her mother about her hate for Romeo who killed her cousin Tybalt, but we know that she is in love and married to Romeo.  Her mother thinks she wants revenge but most of the things she says have a double meaning. “…to wreak the love I bore my cousin upon his body that slaughter’d him!”  She is saying that the love she has for her cousin is now with the person who slaughtered him.

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Benvolio and Tybalt are always in conflict because Benvolio (Romeo’s cousin) always wants peace but Tybalt hates peace “…as I hate hell, all Montague’s…” They are total opposites it’s as if Benvolio is the Good Angel and Tybalt is the Bad Angel.

Romeo and Tybalt are also in conflict this starts when Romeo gate crashes the Capulet’s party, Tybalt is angry; he feels insulted and wants revenge. But he seeks for it at the wrong time right after Romeo has married Juliet. Tybalt calls him “… a villain.” but Romeo says “Tybalt… I have to love thee… villain ...

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