Romeo And Juliet: Confliction Or Conviction?

Confliction or Conviction?

After learning of Tybalt’s death and Romeo’s exile, Juliet feels conflicted about her loyalties, which reveals her internal struggle. Romeo and Juliet are two star-crossed lovers, but their love is forbidden because their families have a lasting feud. In a heat of a moment instance, Romeo kills Juliet’s cousin because he, Tybalt, had killed Romeo’s best friend. Romeo is exiled and Juliet discovers Romeo’s actions, but without learning of Romeo’s motive. She says, “O serpent heart, hid with a flow’ring face!/ Did ever dragon keep so fair a cave?/ Beautiful tyrant, fiend angelical!” (3.2.73-75) Juliet speaks of R’s contrasting sides: his heart versus his appearance. By saying “Serpent heart,” she exclaims about how

She is looking for a justification as to why Romeo killed Tybalt, and convinces herself that there is good in Romeo. Juliet is apologetic to Romeo when she says, “Ah, my poor lord, what tongue shall smooth thy name,/ When I, thy three-hours wife, have mangl’d it?” because she tells Romeo that she’s sorry that she ruined his image in Verona, the place in which they reside. She blames herself for involving him with her family, which led to his exile. She asks herself who will love Romeo after his exile, and figures that it must be herself becuase nobody else will. She calls Romeo her “poor lord,” which shows that she pities Romeo and yearns for him, which conveys that she wants to love him. By wanting an explanation from Romeo reveals her inner struggle because her mind can’t go against her heart’s true love. By saying, “But wherefore, villain, didst thou kill my cousin?” she suggests that she wants Romeo to give her a reason to make her believe in and be loyal to him without falter. While she speaks, Juliet switches the “villain” from Romeo to her cousin when she says, “that villain cousin would have kill’d my husband.” This suggests that Juliet views her cousin (her family) as someone standing in betwen her relationship with Romeo and that it’s harming both sides of the conflict. She asserts that Romeo’s actions were justified to protect himself and his relationship with Juliet, making her loyal to him after convincing herself that her cousin’s death is