Romeo And Juliet Competitive Habits Essay

For the Win: The Negative Effects of a Competitive Mindset

Ask any businessman or woman about what annoys him in his job, and (s)he will usually include coworkers, bosses, and CEOs so full of ambitious slime that they would cook their families on a spit if it meant getting to the top. Such people have existed in our lives since our species began to compete, and writers from across all eras have commented on what a life centered around competition and winning does to oneself and one’s relationships. In fact, the effects of excessive competition are shown in many different ways throughout Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens, a self-help book about overcoming personal shortcomings to lead a better life, two quotes from black

Mention is made throughout the entire play of the feud between the Capulet and Montague houses, and all of the tragic events are set in motion because of the feud. When Romeo and Juliet initially fall in love, Juliet is dismayed to hear from her Nurse that “His name is Romeo, and a Montague / the only son of your great enemy” (I, V). Nurse understands that in the world of competing aristocrats they live in, Juliet’s love will be secondary to the long-standing feud between their two families that has been going on for generations. The tragic events of the play are set in motion because of this feud; without it, Romeo would not have been banished, Juliet would not have needed to pretend she was dead for two days, Romeo would not have seen her, thought she was dead, and committed suicide, and Juliet would not have killed herself as well upon realizing Romeo’s fate. In the play’s final scene, Act V scene III, Prince Escalus sums this up very well: “See, what a scourge is laid upon your hate / that heaven finds means to kill your joys with love / And I for winking at your discords too / have lost a brace of kinsmen: all are punish'd.” The Prince recognizes that because of the hate between these families, they have both lost a family member. Shakespeare never tells the reader how the feud started, but it was perpetuated by a sense of competition; once the negative feelings were there, the desire to show more dislike increased, since the weak family would be the one that forgave and asked