Violence and conflict are central in Romeo and Juliet.Discuss this theme and its importance to the play as a whole.

    Aside from that idea, violence is also portrayed as universal.  In the very first scene of the play, there is a barroom brawl type of event, in which lowly peasants and soldiers get into a quarrel.  This whole fight starts from a mere mentioning of a few words, which sets off a large reaction between the characters, ending in a large collision.  As said by Samson, "a dog of the house of Montague moves me".  To portray the image of violence in the characters, Shakespeare has Prince Escalus recite a monologue to the brawlers...

 “...You men, you beasts,

 That quench the fire of your pernicious rage

 With purple fountains issuing from your veins,

 On pain of torture, from those bloody hands

 Throw your mistempered weapons to the ground

 And hear the sentence of your moved prince.

 Three civil brawls, bred of an airy word,

 By thee, old Capulet, and Montague,

 Have thrice disturbed the quiet of our streets

 And made Verona’s ancient citizens

 Cast by their grave-beseeming ornaments

 To wield old partisans, in hands as old,

 Cankered with peace, to part your cankered hate.”

The pure visual interpretation of the violent nature here shows exactly how the lower classmen, although not directly, truly involved in the Capulet/Montague rivalry are drawn into the violence among everyone else in the families.  The contrasting sides of society which higher level, somewhat noble characters such as Paris, Romeo and Tybalt represent also take part in this aggressive violence. This completes the universal image.  In this world, we therefore learn that every person can be affected by their violent nature no matter whom they are.  Shakespeare makes violent nature out to be a blanket over this world in the play, in which everything is underneath it and ruled by it.  No matter who one is, or what they believe, it is still impossible to escape the violence or at least be affected by it in some way.  Friar Laurence and The Nurse are not violent characters by nature--but they are still exposed to it and have to deal with it within the play as the events unfold around them.  To recap: the idea that violence is viewed as a universal, all-encompassing image is prominent in the play through the fact that each character in "Romeo and Juliet" is forced to deal with the violent world around them.

    Not only is the violent behavior universal and unfair, it is also very compelling and powerful.  Paris asks an interesting question--"Can vengeance be pursued further than death?” When Romeo tries to break up the brawl between Tybalt and Mercutio, it ends with the demise of his best friend, Mercutio, as stated before.  What was once a negotiator, an attempt at peace, Romeo now charges at Tybalt and takes his revenge not through a nonphysical method of justice brought on by so many violent acts in the past.  As Romeo stated, instead of rational thinking, “fire-eyed fury be my conduct now”.  As a result of this deed, the feud reigns still, and the battle continues.  This shows the audience how overpowering an image violence is, and how it can affect everyone so fluently.

    One final image that Shakespeare makes violence into is one of hope.  The world of Verona was trapped inside the bloody quarrel of the two families, and it seemed as if it had the continuous affect of a snowball, and that nothing was powerful enough to stop it.  Yet, in the end, the violent deaths of Romeo and Juliet is what opens up the eyes of their two fathers, as Lord Capulet looks at the two children as “poor sacrifices of our enmity”.  Thus the only way that they learn is through the horrible deaths of their children, which ultimately serves to end the feud.  This sickening and depressing image turns violence into a vision of hope almost--in that after war comes peace, and after violence comes rebirth.

    Without the unfairness, omnipresence, and power that Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet's violence incorporates, the play itself may had not as turned out so effective.  Imagine if diplomatic measures were taken to try and cease the feud between rival families, and the fuel behind the characters’ actions was just not as strong.  However, the conflict’s closure through the violent ends of Romeo and Juliet tie the play up well, in that it also shows that from all this violence it also serves as an image of hope and rebirth.  Shakespeare strengthens the intensity and interest we take in viewing or reading the work, and helps to portray the themes and lessons to be derived from doing so.