Romeo And Juliet Conflict Essay

As human beings, we create so many conflicts in the world today that could be resolved with just a little bit of extra thought and communication. Often conflicts arise when people do not stop to think about their actions and their consequences. In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, we see this common theme frequently when there are unnecessary or exaggerated conflicts between our characters. More often than not, these major conflicts can be dodged or avoided with just a bit of extra thought, and less acting on impulse or out of spite and revenge. Character vs. Character conflict is a major form of conflict in our play, and tends to snowball into more conflicts that create a cycle of conflict, when it can be easily avoided.

An example

the Montegues,) is another example of Character vs. Character conflict specifically with Tybalt, Mercutio, and Romeo. After Tynalt accidentally stabbed Mercutio in the duel, Romeo states, “Gentlemen, for shame forbear this outrage! Tybalt, Mercurio, the Prince expressly hath forbid this handling in the Verona streets” (3, 1, 88-90). This is complicated because Romeo was just trying to break apart the duel and resolve conflict, but it resulted in the death of Mercutio and the death of Tybalt soon after. This shows the consequences of the duel in the first place, and Romeo just trying to interfere and stop the fighting caused an even greater conflict that could've been non-existent if Mercutio and Tybalt stopped insulting each other and the duel never happened in the first place, or if Romeo didn't interfere. After Mercutio’s death, Romeo got so angry and enraged at Tybalt that he set out for revenge, “Now Tybalt, take the ‘villain’ back again that late thou gavest me, for Mercutio’s soul is but a little way above our heads, staying for thine to keep him company. Either thou or I, or both, must go with him” (3, 1, 130-134). Because of what Tybalt did to Mercutio even though it was accidental, Romeo out of pure rage, creates a new direct conflict with Tybalt, which results in killing Tybalt, and later Romeo’s Exile. This then leads to the Capulets and Montegues having even more conflict than before, and could have been avoided if our characters stopped to think about the consequences of their actions. Character vs. Character conflict can have a snowball effect leading from one conflict to another, which is why small quarrels can lead to bigger fights, or in our case, the death of Mercutio and Tybalt, and the exile of