Violence and Conflict are central to Romeo and Juliet. Discuss this theme with reference to act 1, scene 1 and act, 3 scene 1 and how you would bring out all of the tensions if you were directing the scenes.
By Charlie THOMAS
In the play Romeo and Juliet, the main characters; “two star-crossed lovers”, called Romeo and Juliet, are victims of a fierce battle between the warring families of Montague and Capulet. These Italian families have a strong sense of family respect, dignity and standards and refuse to adopt or accept one another’s power and presence in order to achieve peace in “fair Verona”. The scenes I will be focusing on are Act 1 Scene 1 and Act 3 Scenes 1, these scenes both contain similar situations that both feature direct conflict where characters of opposing families come into physical contact and see each other in the flesh. In both these scenes the servants from each family act rudely and aggressively towards each other, and are thus both as bad as each other in the way they torment and aggravate and provoke one another’s feelings and emotions. There is also a great tension between both sides, which more often than not ends in violent confrontation, (i.e. aggressive gestures, sarcastic remarks and offensive language).
Shakespeare roughly based his version of Romeo and Juliet on a love poem published in 1562 called The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet, by Arthur Brooke, perhaps which inspired him to recreate it into a dramatic tragedy/love story. In the play, set in Verona, Italy, two large and wealthy families (Montague and Capulet) had for decades quarrelled and disagreed with one another. Shakespeare maybe thought that despite the disagreements and hate for one another, a member from both families had a ‘star-crossd’ love that had to continue even if it meant death. This made me think that an Elizabethan audience would find that the story, that not only included the journey of two romantic and spontaneous lovers but the battle of their antagonistic parents that both oppose one another an exciting plot. Not forgetting the play is set in a distant country, Shakespeare’s content also had rude and violent scenes that I imagine would have all been appealing to an Elizabethan audience.
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Act 1 Scene 1 is the opening scene that jumps more or less straight into violence and conflict; Sampson and Gregory start off by speaking contemptuously of the Montagues, and how ‘a dog of the house of Montague moves (them)” depicting their deep hate and disgust for them and then later how “(they) will be civil with the maids (of Montague) and cut of their heads” suggesting they would not treat their enemies, including their women with respect. Possibly Shakespeare used the hateful and vulgar conversation of members of the house of Capulet to illustrate what the families really felt about each other. He then used the fact they bumped into enemy Montague’s to give the audience a taste of what violent confrontations between the families was like-in other words Shakespeare wanted to establish the conflict and hatred between the Montague’s and Capulet’s at the very beginning as it is central throughout. The scene is also important as it sets off the strong state of tension for further scenes to build on.
Carry on
Act 3 scene 1 is important as it begins the descent of general physical violence in the play but is the start of a greater and more vicious grudge between families. Benvolio opens the scene by expressing his thoughts to Mercutio; “I pray thee good Mercutio let’s retire, the day is hot the Capulets abroad: and if we meet we shall not ‘scrape a brawl for now these hot days, is the mad blood stirring.” The word “pray” suggests to me Benvolio desperately wants to avoid any trouble and “we shall not scrape a brawl” also suggests he fears they might not be able to avoid a fight with the Capulets if they don’t go home. Another importance of this scene is Romeo’s tense conversation with Tybalt. It strikes me as important as it contains moments of distinct dramatic irony – and it is this dramatic irony that perhaps produced feelings of ‘dramatic tension’ by putting the audience in a position where they feel responsible for having witnessed Romeo’s forbidden romance with Tybalt’s cousin, Juliet. For example, Romeo’s words to Tybalt; “I do protest I never injur’d thee But love thee better than thou canst devise Till thou shalt know the reason of my love” is the cause of the dramatic tension because we (the audience) know that Romeo is being friendly with Tybalt because he is in love with his cousin and is desperate for his recognition, forgiveness and acceptance, however Tybalt is not aware of this. Romeo is therefore anxious around Tybalt as he feels as if he owes him something. Tybalt then feels confused, and interprets Romeos bizarre behaviour as a threat and then, when Mercutio mocks and questions him in saying “good king of cats, nothing but one of your nine lives, that I mean to make bold withal, and as you shall use me hereafter dry-beat the rest of the eight” generates anger in Tybalt, as mercuitio outlines his ‘nine lives’ and effectively how he will ‘dry-beat’ the rest of his eight, meaning he’ll beat the rest of his lives dry. This in turn and how he will where after Romeo unexpectedly orders Mercutio and Benvolio to ‘beat down their weapons’ but then complains the families are forbidden to brawl in the streets. Then, just as Romeo is telling Mercutio and Tybalt to hold down their weapons, Tybalt slyly lunges for Mercutio under Romeo’s arm and severely injures him. Romeo later realizes he will be blamed for Mercutio’s death.
