Romeo And Juliet Individual Vs Society Essay

In Shakespeare’s tragic play, Romeo and Juliet, he thrusts the reader into late 1500s Verona, Italy. In Verona, there is a long, ongoing feud between the Montague and Capulet families. Both sides hate each other except for Romeo and Juliet–two star-crossed young lovers split apart by their families. Throughout the story, Romeo and Juliet portrays the theme of the individual vs. society, with the desires of those two aforementioned values warring against each other throughout the story.

Despite the demands of her family, Juliet’s love for Romeo propels her to refuse to be wed with anyone else at the demands of her parents, despite Romeo being despised by them. Juliet would rather commit suicide in many gruesome, painful ways than to be without Romeo, her love for him combating with her family’s hate. Quoting Juliet in the play, “O, bid me leap, rather than marry Paris, from off the battlements of any tower. Or walk in thievish ways, or bid me lurk where serpents are. Chain me with roaring bears” (Shakespeare, 4.1.78). Upon observation, this quote clearly supports the point of the theme of individual vs. society by showing Juliet’s refusal to back down from a larger society’s commands.

society, after Juliet fakes her death, Romeo joins her in death by killing himself–a last stand against society’s wishes. Deciding to break into the tomb of her burial, Romeo arrives to mourn his wife and die alongside her. In the tomb, Romeo drinks a vial of poison so his death will be beside Juliet. After Juliet’s waking, she finds Romeo dead alongside her and, despite the cries from Father Lawrence to leave; she kills herself – not wanting to live a life without her Romeo. This paraphrase presents an example of individual vs. society because if society wouldn’t allow Romeo and Juliet to be with each other in life, they would be together in