How important is the theme of conflict in Romeo and Juliet?

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How important is the theme of conflict in the play Romeo and Juliet?

     Conflict is the struggle found in fiction. There are mainly two kinds internal and external, internal being a struggle that takes place in a characters mind. For example, a character may have to decide between right and wrong or between two solutions to a problem. External conflict is a struggle between another character, or maybe a struggle with nature. For example, the story may be the main character struggling against the artic cold. Conflict is used in all good dramas such as: Soaps, movies, books etc.

Conflict is necessary in every story. In short stories there is usually one major conflict. In longer stories, there could be several conflicts. Conflict adds excitement and suspense to a story. The conflict usually becomes clear to the beginning of a story. As the plot unfolds, the reader starts to wonder what will happen next and how the characters will handle the situation. Many readers enjoy trying to predict the final outcome. The excitement usually builds to a high point, or climax. The climax is the turning point of the story. Something has happened to resolve the conflict. Dramatists and script writers include conflicts in their dramas because they like to grip the audience, have them on the edge of there seats. They want them to watch more and continue having an interest in the play or drama.

I think conflict is important in Romeo and Juliet because that is the theme of the play. The whole play is a love struck tragedy. The scene we see first which contains conflict is the opening scene: Act I scene 1, where the two households fight. Putting conflict in the very first scene made us want to read on more deeply into the story to find out what happens. Which is what the script writer intended it to do.

 The conflict that appears in this play the most is external, such as sword fighting and abuse, but there is also a lot of internal, having to choose the wrong or right option in your mind. Like when Juliet needed to choose whether to go against her parents wishes and marry Romeo in a secret marriage or to wait and marry Paris as they had wanted her to do.

We are planning to discuss conflict in the prologue, act I scene 1 and act III scene 5 in more detail in further lessons.

     A prologue is an introduction to a play. It gives you an idea on what the play will be about. The prologue occurs at the beginning of a play, the start of a book etc. Romeo and Juliet opens with a prologue in sonnet form that highlights two key points: how Romeo is affected by meeting Juliet and the difficulties the lovers will face as members of two opposed families, The sonnet introduces the idea of conflict using words and phrases such as; ‘’Ancient Grudge’’, ‘’New Mutiny’’ ‘’Parents Strife’’. The opening lines of the Sonnet stress the speed with which Romeo and Juliet have fallen in love, while poking fun at the way Romeo has abandoned his pursuit of Rosaline. Nonetheless, this introductory material serves to distinguish between Romeo’s cold, miserable, unrequited love for Rosaline and his true, intensely mutual love with Juliet. In the line "A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life," Shakespeare informs his audience that the death of these young lovers was preordained, the deliberate act of malevolent fortune. But Shakespeare complicates the message by adding "Whose misadventured piteous overthrows/Do with their death bury their parents' strife." suggesting that the fate of Romeo and Juliet is due also to certain misadventurous acts of these two piteous characters. Despite the fact that they will die, the lovers try to control their own fate. They don’t listen to their parents and take absolute control of their life. Although they flee from their home that can lead them closer to happiness, fate intercepts it by their suicide. Ironically, the more they try to control their fate, the quicker they reach their destiny.

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     The Shakespearian prologues are commonly written in a sonnet with fourteen lines and with a regular rhyme scheme, it was a popular 16th century way of expressing love and conflict in a play. Two families, Capulet’s and Montague’s, are hostile to each other but their children, Romeo and Juliet, fall in love with each other. They try to escape from the conflict by death. That’s how death helps to mend the ancient quarrels between both families. Just before the end of the ancient quarrel, the feud between the families kills the lovers passively. In Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare writes in sonnet ...

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