Conflict is displayed throughout the play, by Shakespeare, as something which is very much destroying the city and society of Verona, and by doing this, Shakespeare is trying to teach the audience some lessons; lessons which in turn are learnt by characters within the play (for example, the Capulet and Montague households loose their dearest possessions, Romeo and Juliet, due to conflict). This could be explained as Shakespeare trying to relate to the very society which he lived in. Shakespeare himself lived in the late 16th, early 17th century, where conflict was common, and a part of society. Shakespeare was perhaps trying to relate the situation in Verona to a situation he was indeed familiar with.
If conflict is seen as a problem within Verona, and something that is destroying the society, then it would seem logical to question the role of the head of that society, whose duty it is to protect his/her citizens and prevent conflict from taking place domestically. The head of the Verona society is of course Prince Escalus and he ultimately fails in preventing major losses to conflict, loosing a statesman in Mercutio and several other citizens under his reign, even though he does attempt to crack down on conflict early in the play by issuing a death penalty warning:
“If you ever disturb our streets again,
Your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace.”
(Lines 94-95, Act I, Scene I)
Other types of conflict are explored by Shakespeare, similar to the way in which he explores different types of love. He looks at conflict between characters in great depth, and immediately, when thinking along the lines of this topic, the reader is brought to Act III, Scene I. This scene is a most perfect scene for displaying the many conflicts setup by Shakespeare between the characters. Firstly, there is the obvious conflict between Mercutio and his wit, who openly mocks the pompous and arrogant Tybalt, using lines such as “Come sir, your passado!” (Line 84, Act III, Scene I). This conflict between the two characters develops into a physical one, and eventually a fatal one, when Benvolio enters saying “O Romeo, Romeo! Brave Mercutio is dead!” (Line 116, Act III, Scene I). There is of course also the conflict between Romeo and Tybalt, when Tybalt rushes in at the start of the scene calling Romeo a villain (line 60); this conflict also is ultimately fatal, leading to the death of Tybalt. A pattern seems to emerge here between love and conflict, as there are several instances of conflict which lead to fatalities, as there are with love, throughout the play. Conflict is indeed explored by Shakespeare in equal measure to love.
Conflict also occurs in a less or even non-violent way. Conflict occurs between age and youth, best displayed in the large and explosive argument between Capulet and his daughter Juliet in Act III, Scene V. Capulet quite literally explodes in this instance, shouting insults including “young baggage” and “disobedient wretch” (Line 160, Act III, Scene V). A non-violent example of conflict occurring in the play would be between Romeo and fate, where Romeo actively attempts to counter and engage in conflict with fate (“Is it e’en so? Then I defy you, stars!” (Line 24, Act V, Scene I)).
However, having explored these different types of conflict, it would be wrong to ignore the obvious conflict between the Capulet family and the Montague family. This is the only type of conflict which is recognized by almost every version of the play, whether it is a dramatic version or the text, which comes out in a very simple and truly violent form. This conflict is possibly used by Shakespeare, to teach another lesson, in that the conflict between the Capulets and the Montagues, which leads to so many deaths, is in fact pointless, due to the lack of reasoning behind it. Not once in the play is the reason behind this ancient battle stated or even suggested, and Shakespeare may well be teaching the lesson that conflict, especially conflict with no obvious meaning, is wrong and damaging, which may in turn be describing his feelings to the violent society he himself lived in.
This could therefore be described as the moral of the play, certainly from the conflict side at least. And so, if the exploration of conflict by Shakespeare throughout Romeo and Juliet leads to a very intelligent and important moral, just like the one provided by his exploration of love (an example being that violent love and passion leads to a violent end), then it would be fair to say that violence and conflict is accentuated throughout the play on as many occasions as love, if not more, and thus is dealt with by Shakespeare in an at least equal measure.
