violence and conflict

• Romeo and Juliet


  • It is a tragedy
  • Includes a substantial amount of conflict
• Conflict


  The mental struggle characters may feel towards their feelings and what is happening to them
• Types of conflict


  • External (dispute and fighting between the Montagues and the Capulets)
  • Internal (mental struggle characters may feel)
• Conflict building tension and releasing tension

  1. Possibility of conflict builds tension

  2. Violence ensues and releases the tension
• Conflict in the Capulet household

  • Tybalt vs Lord Capulet in Act 1 Scene 5
  • Juliet disobeys her father and refuses to marry Paris in Act 3 Scene 5
• When someone threatens Lord Capulet's authority

  Conflict arises in the Capulet household
• External conflict


  The conflict between the two opposing households, the Capulets and Montagues
• The prologue sets the scene of the conflict, it tells us that their "ancient grudge" makes "civil hands unclean"
• Shakespeare starts the play in media res to immerse the audience in the action and the fast-moving pace earlier on in the storyline
• Conflict between Montague and Capulet servants in Act 1 Scene 1


  • Starts from a small insult "Do you bite your thumb at us, sir?" and the resulting arguing builds dramatic tension
  • The quick transition between comedy and violence demonstrates the rapid pace that later dictates the play
• The Prince's speech


  • Explains the effects of the Montague and Capulet conflict on the people of Verona
  • Foreshadows later events in the play as the audience know that members of the family will die
• Violence as a manifestation of conflict

  1. One of the biggest accumulations of conflict occurs in Act 3 Scene 1 where fighting between Mercutio, Romeo and Tybalt results in the deaths of Mercutio and Tybalt

  2. This scene acts as a catalyst for the events that come
• Romeo and Juliet follows a clear structure in which the climax occurs right in the middle of the storyline which is the traditional structure for stories following Freytag's Pyramid
• Mercutio's last words "A plague o' both your houses!" foreshadows events which come later in the play
• After Mercutio's death, Romeo becomes filled with a murderous rage and kills Tybalt. Due to his actions Romeo is banished from Verona, which sets in motion the tragic ending of Romeo and Juliet
• Internal conflict


  The mental struggle characters may feel towards their feelings and what is happening to them
• Juliet's internal conflict


  • She struggles between her love for Romeo and her loyalty to her family
• Juliet: '"Deny thy father and refuse thy name / Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, / And I'll no longer be a Capulet."'
• Juliet: '"What's Montague? It is nor hand, / nor foot, / Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part"'
• Juliet: '"That which we call a rose / By any other word would smell as sweet. / So Romeo would, were he not Romeo called, / Retain that dear perfection which he owes"'
• After Juliet finds out that Romeo has killed her cousin Tybalt, she is conflicted and doesn't know what to think
• The sequential use of oxymorons "serpent heart" and "beautiful tyrant" help to portray Juliet's conflict between seeing Romeo as the gentle man she loves, and him as a murderer
• The Prince: '"Never was there a story of more woe than Juliet and her Romeo"'
• Shakespeare illustrates to the audience that conflict will lead to pain and "woe"