Have you ever wondered how far hatred can push a person? In the play, Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, the central theme of the story is the power of hatred because in the story line the Montagues and Capulets have a feud, there is much violence between the families, and they both are unwilling to make peace with each other. In the prologue of Act I the chorus explains that there is an ongoing feud between the families. A line from the prologue states “From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,” this tells the readers that the “grudge” or feud, has been going on for quite some time. The prologue also states “Doth with their death bury their parents’ strife.” The word strife means angry or bitter conflict. This piece of text indicates …show more content…
In addition to the feuding, there is also a considerable amount of violence between the Capulet and Montague families. Within the first few lines of Act I scene I, two Capulet servants get into an altercation with two Montague servants. At first the Capulet servants are just talking about how they dislike the Montagues, but ultimately they start a fight. The text states “ ‘Do you bite your thumb at us, sir?’ ‘I do bite my thumb sir.’ ‘Do you bite your thumb at us, sir?’ ” When the Capulet servant gives his answer to the question, the fight breaks out. Because all of the servants are out in public, people are watching them, and eventually Benvolio and Tybalt come into the scene. Just eight lines later, the fighting continues once more. Finally, the Prince gets involved, and temporarily resolves the issue. He states “ ‘By thee old Capulet, and Montague, have thrice disturbed the quiet of our streets.’ ... ‘If you ever disturb our streets again, your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace.’ ” This explains that the Montagues and Capulets have fought three times out in public, and if they continue to do so, the punishment will be death. On top of the