Violence and Conflict is a central to

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Violence and Conflict is a central to “Romeo and Juliet”. Discuss this theme with reference to at least three scenes in the play.

“Romeo and Juliet” is a tragic play, which is about a feud between two families, Capulet’s and Montague. Although it is about love, there are many scenes that contain violence and conflict. The play opens with a fight and ends with death. The violence in the play happens because of an ancient grudge between two families, which leads to the emotional and innocent deaths of Romeo and Juliet.

In this essay I will discuss the themes of violence and conflict, and refer to at least three scenes in the play.

“Romeo and Juliet” was written by William Shakespeare and first performed in 1590. It is set in the 16th century. When Shakespeare wrote this astonishing play, Elizabeth I ruled England. She loved the theatre. People in the 16th century were fond of any sort of entertainment. They liked watching tragedies with lots of action, such as violence and fierce sword fights. It was extremely important for Shakespeare to make his play as exciting as possible, because the audience needed entertaining. An audience in the 16th century would have liked “Romeo and Juliet” because it is a quick story line to get into, and attracts the attention fast, of the young lovers who are doomed from the start.      

The first scene: Act 1, scene 1, opens with a fight in a public place in Verona between servants from the Montague and Capulet households. This starts by Sampson and Gregory, servants of the house of Capulet, going out looking for trouble. They later find that they are in luck, as they see Abraham and Balthasar, servants of the house of Montague. Sampson then says to Gregory, “Quarrel, I will back thee” what he is saying is that he will back Gregory “up”; in over words he wants Gregory to go first. Gregory then asks if Sampson is going to “back” him by turning his back and running away. Sampson answers, “Fear me not”, meaning “have no fears about me”; Gregory replies. “No, marry; I fear thee!” meaning “no chance I would ever be afraid of you”. Not only does Sampson want Gregory to go first, he’s worried about getting in trouble with the law that he suggests they let Abraham and Balthasar start the fight. Gregory says he’ll frown as they walk by the other two, Sampson has a better idea: he’ll bite his thumb at Abraham and Balthasar. Biting the thumb is a very insulting gesture. Sampson then follows through on what he says and begins to bite his thumb as they walk by. Abraham then asks, “Do you bite your thumb at us, sir?” Sampson, looking pretty stupid with his thumb in his mouth, says “I do bite my thumb, sir”. and Abraham asks again, “Do you bite your thumb at us, sir?”. Sampson still worried about getting in trouble, asks Gregory if the law will be on their side if he says “yes”. Gregory tells him it won’t, so all Sampson dares do is tell Abraham that he is not biting his thumb at him, but that he is biting his thumb. This is poor, and Gregory’s next attempt to get the Montague’s to start the fight is pretty weak, as well. He asks Abraham if he is quarrelling with him. Abraham says he is not, and Sampson says, “If you do, sir, I am for you: I serve as good a man as you”. Abraham asks, “No better?”.

Abraham sees that Sampson doesn’t have the guts to say that Capulet is better than Montague. To avoid having to walk away with his thumb in his mouth, Sampson mutters, saying “Well, sir”. For a moment, it looks like nothing is going to happen after all, but suddenly Gregory sees a kinsman of Capulet, and tells Sampson “Say ‘better,’ here comes one of my master’s kinsman”, this is what he is saying to Abraham because Abraham has dared Sampson to say Capulets is better than Montague, however Sampson doesn’t say this until obviously Gregory spots a Capulets kinsman. It seems that Sampson and Gregory believe that their master Capulet wants them to fight Montagues, so when they see that a Capulet kinsman is watching, they begin to fight.

Very quickly, the fight escalates in to a riot. Benvolio appears and tries to stop the fight. Crying “Put up your swords; you know not what you do”, Benvolio draws his sword to beat down the swords of the four men. But Benvolio has hardly got his sword out of his scabbard before Tybalt shows up and calls out “”What art, thou drawn among these heartless hinds? / Turn thee, Benvolio, look up thy death”. “Heartless hinds” are cowardly servants, and Tybalt thinks that Benvolio should be disappointed to have drawn his sword among such poor creatures. Benvolio asks Tybalt to help him keep the peace, but Tybalt answers “What, drawn, and talk of peace! I hate the word, / As I hate hell, all Montague’s, and thee: / Have at thee, coward!”. “Have at thee” is what you say as you attack, and Tybalt attacks Benvolio. Instead of stopping the fight, Benvolio has no choice but to join in. As soon as Tybalt and Benvolio begin to fight, some of the general public, who are sick of both the Capulets and Montagues, decide to join in as well. This is when the town of Verona, gets extremely out of hand, and objects of all kinds are being thrown around from all directions.

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Both old men want to go out and join the fight. Montague is admiring his sword, and Capulet is calling for his. These old men might be frightening if they weren’t so silly. Montague cant get to the fight because his wife is holding on to him and wont let go. And when Capulet calls for his sword, his wife says sarcastically, “A crutch, a crutch! Why call you for a sword?.” In the middle of all this mess comes the ruler of Verona: Prince Escalus, with his followers. Prince Escalus’s followers, immediately separates the extreme fight, whilst the prince ...

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