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Violence and Conflict in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet

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Violence and Conflict in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet Romeo and Juliet, a story set in Verona Italy, tells the story of “two star crossed lovers” from two feuding families, the Capulets and Montagues. There is much violence and conflict in the play and this in the main, stems from the feud. The plays themes are punishment, revenge, supernatural fate, lies, deceit, and conflict. After a while, Romeo and Juliet secretly marry behind their parents backs, perhaps hoping that their true love would end the feud. But it only gets worse. There is a lot more violence, including the deaths of Mercutio, the ‘joker’, and Tybalt, Juliet’s cousin. Then finally in the last scenes, the deaths of …show more content…

The most obvious way is in the actual physical fighting, which results in two deaths. The scene starts off with Mercutio and Benvolio being confronted by Tybalt, who is prejudice against the Montagues. Benvolio is a friend of Romeo. Mercutio is also a friend of Romeo, and is the town comedian and he jokes till his death. Mercutio and Tybalt quarrel between each other and begin to fight. Romeo then arrives and tries to stop the argument. Tybalt draws his sword on Romeo and challenges him. Romeo refuses to fight, as he knows that the violence will not solve anything, so Mercutio steps in to meet Tybalt’s challenge. Romeo tries to break up the fight but is unsuccessful. Romeo again steps in to stop the fight, but Tybalt thrusts the sword at Romeo, which stabs Mercutio under Romeo’s arm. Tybalt and the Capulet’s flee, but the Montagues do not realise how bad Mercutio is wounded because he is still making jokes. “They have made worms meat out of me,” The Montagues just laugh, not realising that Mercutio meant he is going to die, and be buried under the ground. When Mercutio finally drops down, Romeo, who at first refuses to fight, swears to avenge him. He runs through the streets, chasing down Tybalt, he finds him, and slays him. Realising that he has just murdered his wife’s cousin, he runs, leaving the body with his friends. When the prince finds out about

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