“Talk of peace? I hate the word, as I hate hell, all Montagues.”
The audience instantly become aware that the feud will be kept alive with his attitude. Tybalt being a very unreasonable and a stubborn character always depends on physical skills and strength to get him out of certain situations. He is extremely bitter and deeply shows disrespect to the Montagues, he insults the servants of both families, by referring to them as “heartless hinds.” Another major character to enter the scene is Benvolio, he is a crucial character, as he is usually available to explain situations and provide guidance. Benvolio acts as the peacemaker in the scene. His entry shows a strong side of his character, as he discourages the servants from quarrelling, and calls them “fools” for fighting without cause.
“Part, fools! Put up your swords, you know what you do.”
His name means "good will" in Italian, and illustrates how his character differs from the fiery Tybalt, who wishes to fight and is filled with hatred. Benvolio and Tybalt detest each other but Benvolio still does not desire to fight, in contrast to Tybalts’ intentions. Tybalt adds flames to the fire, seizing the opportunity to create conflict; he calls Benvolio a “wuss”, which begins the mockery to Benvolio for stopping the servants from fighting. Therefore, his efforts to stop the violence become futile; and as the brawl continues, most of the males of the society also join in, even Old Capulet and Lord Montague. Instead of stopping the violence, the head of each feuding families, enter both wanting to join the fight. Montague, flourishing his sword, is prevented by his wife who is holding him back. As for Capulet, when he calls for his sword, his wife replies sarcastically, "A crutch, a crutch! Why call you for a sword?"
The rioting stops with the arrival of Prince Escalus, and the scene ends emphasising the fact the conflict is so extreme that only the supreme authority in the land is able to control it.
Additionally honour is also significant to the conflict of the feuding families, many of the violence that occurs is due to the members of both families seeking vengeance as a result of feeling dishonoured. This is clearly shown in Act 1, Scene III, where there is an excessive amount of violence and bloody battles. It is a dramatic and powerful scene, which witnesses the death of two prevalent characters in the play. The scene unfolds in an unexpected manner providing excitement and a tense atmosphere, making the audience in suspense of a “blood stirring” brawl. The heat of the day and Benvolios’ worry that violence will break out creates more tension, and makes the audience expectant.
“And if we meet, we shall not escape a brawl, for now, these hot days, is the mad blood stirring.”
The scene is positioned near the middle of the play; this one point alone contributes to its importance, as all the events subsequent to it will be affected by the events that occur in this scene. Similar to Act 1 scene I, another duel between the two feuding families start up again in the streets of Verona, when Mercutio and Benvolio friends of Romeo, are confronted by Tybalt, who is prejudiced against the Montagues for gate-crashing their ball. The atmosphere is tense, as Tybalt appears to be eager to fight Romeo, since Lord Capulet prevented him to proceed with it during the ball. The arrival of Tybalt brings a great agitation to the atmosphere, when he approaches, hoping to find Romeo, Mercutio still in a quarrelsome mood provokes Tybalt.
"And but one word with one of us? Couple it with something; make it a word and a blow."
Mercutio continues with this behaviour, by drawing his sword and claims it will be “the fiddlestick” to which Tybalt “will dance.” There is a sense that once again the tension is building towards violence, as Mercutio is acting very condescendingly towards Tybalt and is looking for a fight. On the other hand, Benvolio seems to realise the potential dangers, and tries to discourage Mercutio from starting another street brawl. Benvolio acting as the peacemaker brings a contrast to the scene, by opposing to all their views; he decreases the tension by acting reasonable. He reminds them of Prince Escalus’ threat and logically advises them to go to a “private place” to settle this, “or else depart” away. In contrast Mercutio raises the tension by being very determined not to “budge for no man’s pleasure”. To an audience these radically contrasted characters create huge tension and anticipation, as their conflicting ideas of both love and hate clash with terrific dramatic effect, also giving distressing suggestions of Romeo and Juliet's fated tragedy. Romeo’s entrance at this point increases the suspense considerably as Tybalt makes it clear whom he wishes to fight with, stating, “here comes my man.” Romeo, just coming from his marriage to Juliet is reluctant to fight; therefore he offers friendship, which Tybalt rejects. Romeo responds to the insults very calmly, and not considering his honour and pride he tries to avoid conflict. Honour being very important to Elizabethan society would have shocked the audience as Romeo was at his failure to draw. Mercutio, being a loyal friend to Romeo intervenes outrageously; "O calm dishonourable vile submission" draws his sword, provoking Tybalt. A fight breaks out, which Tybalt accepts. Desperately trying to stop the fight, Romeo comes between the duel, at which point Mercutio is stabbed. This short action filled scene provides the turning point in the play. The violence here is relieved by Mercutio’s humour, and the fighting is briefly stopped as he jokes with bitter irony.
“Ay, ay, a scratch; marry, ‘tis enough”
Reality though, intrudes into his jokes as he dies, and he realise that neither the Montague nor the Capulet household were worth dying for. He curses both families.
“A plague o’both your houses! I am sped”
Romeo in distress blames Mercutio’s death upon himself and Juliet, suggesting that his “friend” got “hurt” on his “behalf”. Blinded by the rage he feels of Mercutio’s death, challenges Tybalt, and they fight. Romeo, guided by his hot anger, tells Tybalt that Mercutio’s soul is waiting above their heads for his. Romeo succeeds avenging Mercutio's death by killing Tybalt thereby adding more fuel to the simmering conflict between the families. Only after the death does Romeo realise that tragedy is inevitable, and that he is “Fortunes fool.” The end result is that he is "banished", from Verona. This scene is important for the reason that instead of the Romeo trying to make peace happen the end consequence is the growth of hatred between the families. This scenario creates a tremendous amount of tension despite the prologue’s premonition; the audience is left with the desire for Romeo and Juliet’s romance to prevail over the conflict. The scene ends like before with a speech from the Prince, comparable to the first violent scene. The prince continues to warn, threaten and punish the two families, but still the “grudge” remains, as even a death in each household does not help them realise the truth Mercutio is able see about the whole situation.
Shakespeare also uses the historical context of the time in which the play is set to create yet more conflict and violence within the play. An example of this is the arranged marriage of Juliet and Paris. As the impending tragedy unfolds, conflict arises within the Capulet household, between Juliet and her father, in Act 3 scene V. Ignorant to his daughter’s romance with Romeo, Lord Capulet initially shows fatherly concern by arranging Juliet’s marriage. Juliet's rebelliousness over her father's firm course of action of arranging her marriage leads to a ferocious scolding. Juliet’s rejection, instantly leads to her father losing his temper. His fury begins with a series of rhetorical questions, which reflect his sheer disbelief as he struggles to understand his daughter’s refusal. He also speaks very sarcastically in order to make Juliet feel guilt for her decision. As he stutters, “How, how, how, how, chopt-logic,” and repeatedly asks the same questions the escalation of his anger is evidently shown. Moreover, the historical context of the play introduces another subject of opposition, this being male against female. At the time in which the play is set it was common for the males to be head of the house, and rich families to arrange marriages. Also it was expected for children to be dutiful to their parents and obey their commands. The fact that in Act 3 scene V Juliet does not want to marry the man of her parent’s choice and is not willing to do what they want her to do, cause a scene of great conflict. The sudden change in tone is dramatic and the actions of the scenes create fear and suspense. Lord Capulet being a powerful man feels dishonoured and insulted by his daughter for not obeying his “decree”, therefore he uses language of hatred towards Juliet, referring to her as a “Mistress minion”, “green sickness carrion”, “tallow face”. As the insults continue and increasingly become more degrading, the emphasis of conflict between the father and daughter are shown. Lord Capulet even becomes tempted to physically abuse Juliet as his states that his “fingers itch” which he has to refrain from hitting her. Tension is gradually built as Capulet’s unrestrained anger and cruelty seems to be unleashed, he shows more resentment by implying that Juliet is a “curse” to the family. Juliet equally retaliates to her full potential, resulting in her father making threats to disown and throw her out, if she does not agree. He does not respond kindly to her retaliating especially with her being a girl. As in Elizabethan times the daughter was owned firstly by her father and then her husband, woman were therefore looked upon as being a lower class to men. The nurse is very brave to step in at this point on Juliet's behalf, but she is no use as she is insulted in the same way and pushed off by Capulet's overwhelming presence. In utter desperation and despair Juliet turns to her mother for comfort and reassurance, help, and pleads her to “delay” the “marriage”. However, Lady Capulet’s reaction to the full-blown family argument is to “take the back seat” and she makes no noticeable attempt to save her daughter and allows Lord Capulet throw insults at their only child. The only feeble attempt she makes is to Lord Capulet by suggested that he is “too hot”, which is implied at Lord Capulet’s hot temperament. Likewise, she even disowns Juliet and provides her with no help.
“do as thou wilt, for I have done with thee”
The nurse on the other hand, playing a relatively important role and sharing a close bond with Juliet tries to defend her. Being the mother figure of Juliet, she chooses to intervene. Her advice comes after Capulet's outburst and although it is obvious that the nurse cares, she is worried for Juliet's future and urges her to obey her father for peace's sake.
"I think its best you married the county"
At the end of this scene Juliet feels isolated as she has no one, since everyone has turned on her. The harsh duels of words and angry exchange of feelings and thoughts, Juliet is left shattered and exhausted weeping in despair. All in all the relationship between Juliet and her father completely disintegrate as a consequence of her forbidden love. The atmosphere changes to bewilderment and sorrow, due to the news and anger expressed by all the parties involved. This scene is vital and an interesting part of the play, as the climax is being built up towards. The scene also shows the change of personality of the characters, especially the aggressiveness of Capulet. Violence is effected primarily in the language and throughout the scene, the dramatic irony of Juliet’s secret marriage to Romeo, has the audience gripped in the action.
In conclusion violence and conflict are central theme to “Romeo and Juliet” and if it were not for this theme the play would be a romance and not a tragedy. It is only due to the feud between the two families that there is such a problem with the romance between Romeo and Juliet. As they are of equal standing and if it were not for the conflicts their marriage would have been perfectly acceptable. The fact that the Capulets and Montague’s despise each other, and all the characters are very influenced by their loyalties, conflict and violence arise. William Shakespeare uses many devices, physical, emotional, imagery to make the conflict into a major part of the play, which turns it from being a romance, into a tragedy and leads to the inevitable result of the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. Romance is found at the heart as well due to “Romeo and Juliet’s” love for each other; breaking all traditions and discreetly having a hidden relationship behind their families’ backs. Both topics go perfectly together creating an exciting and entreating play. The audiences’ attention is attracted as using two families being rebellious against each other provide a good base for two lovers to be getting entangled between. The play also reflects Elizabethan society but this does not reduce its appeal because it is to some extent still occurring in some cultures around the world today. This gives this play an eternal appeal that will not die out.