Shakespeare's play: 'Romeo and Juliet' is more about violence than love

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Ragulan Vijayakumar 10SC

Shakespeare’s play: ‘Romeo and Juliet’ is more about violence than love. With your knowledge of Shakespeare’s stagecraft and skills as a writer, discuss the above quotation.

          Even though Shakespeare’s play ‘Romeo and Juliet’ seems to be very romantic, he has interpreted a side of conflict and violence. The world that Shakespeare has decided to portray is violent and hate-filled right from the very beginning and in the play this is mainly due to the feuding families. The human emotions of hatred, passion, sacrifice and exhilaration converge in this play around two star-crossed lovers. The themes of death and violence permeate Romeo and Juliet, and they are always connected to passion, whether that passion is love or hate. It is not difficult to understand the connection between, hate, violence and death however it is harder to acknowledge the connection between love and violence. Shakespeare has chosen to depict the imagery of conflict and hatred alongside love in many ways. To an audience, the play may seem more violent than romantic because of Shakespeare’s stagecraft.

          Romeo and Juliet, the children of two wealthy families, are destined to become lovers. Set in Verona, Italy, the two families, the Capulets and Montagues, have always hated each other. Near the start of the play Paris has said he wants to marry Juliet and Romeo can’t stop thinking about Rosaline. Romeo then gatecrashes into a feast given by the Capulets, and it is here that he first sees Juliet. It is love at first sight and they both do not know they are members of rival families. They soon declare their love when Juliet is up on her balcony and Romeo is in the garden. They decide to get married and arrange to meet with Friar Lawrence at his cell. The next day they get married of by the Friar. As the play goes on Tybalt, a Capulet, kills Mercutio, who is Romeo’s best friend. Romeo vows to get revenge for his friend’s death and then kills Tybalt. Straight after this incidence Benvolio, who is a cousin, persuades Romeo to flee. Even so the Prince of Verona sentences him to banishment. Juliet’s parents want her to marry Paris, but in refusal she goes to Friar Lawrence for help. He gives her a drug that puts Juliet to sleep and at the same time makes her look dead. The Friar will then rescue her from the vault, where she will lay, and take her to Romeo in Mantua. Amidst great family grief Juliet is buried and Romeo fails to get the message from the Friar. Romeo gets the news of Juliet’s death and resolves to poison himself. He returns to Verona, to see Juliet, and he meets Paris. They fight and Paris gets killed. Romeo then takes the poison and dies beside Juliet. Juliet wakes up to find her lover dead. This is when Juliet decides to stab herself with a knife.

          To an Elizabethan audience it wouldn’t be surprising how harsh fathers were over the rest of the family although it is to say that theatre then was more symbolic than naturalistic. Women had no say in whom they wanted to marry and had to always obey their father. They were like a father’s property. In Elizabethan times marriage was sacred therefore divorce rarely occurred. With parental permission boys were legal to marry at the age of fourteen and girls at the age of twelve although this was not recommended. It is generally considered foolish to marry for love however love may occur in marriage. All couples expected to have children and children were properties of their parents.   

          A spirited exchange of vulgar jokes between servants opens the play and immediately links sex with conflict. Sampson and Gregory are two angry young men, working as servants for the Capulet family. To show how the play is violent, Shakespeare has started the first act with an angry note. Sampson says “Gregory, on my word we’ll not carry coals”, meaning that they will not be insulted, shows how much these loyal servants want to fight with the enemy. Even in the first scene, Shakespeare has decided to make the two servants say witty and ludicrous comments about the Montagues, as Sampson says “ Tis true, and therefore women being the weaker vessels are ever thrust to the wall. Therefore I will push Montague’s men from the wall, and thrust his maids to the wall”. In this quote Sampson says that the men of the Montagues are cowards and are ruled over by the women, therefore he is willing to take on any of the rivals whether it is male or female.

          In their bawdy quarrel, the servants' references to “tool” and “naked weapon,” together with repeated images of striking and thrusting, illustrate how images of love and sex are intertwined with violence and death. As all young men do, they continually make puns and in this case Sampson says “ Ay, the heads of the maids, or their maidenheads” where the word ‘maidenhead’ means virginity, so they will rape the women, and the word ‘head’, suggesting that the maids heads should be chopped off. The servants are very ruthless as one of them mentions “tis known I am a pretty piece of flesh” which suggests how they are talking in an unpleasant way about raping women, making them very arrogant men. To add to this Gregory says, “Draw thy tool” which means draw your sword at the same time meaning draw your penis. This double meaning quote is not only a pun but also a method of playing with words so that they will not get caught if they cause a fight.

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          Just by analysing the beginning of the play, we can assume that Shakespeare wanted his audience to realise the level of hatred the families had between one another. He has included puns to make certain insults harsher or more humorous. As soon as two servants from the Montagues enter there is a real sense of fear. As a joke Sampson says, “ My naked weapon is out”, which we know has two implications. This shows that young men continually make puns, even in a sticky situation. Both sides wish to fight, but neither wishes ...

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