Romeo And Juliet Rhetorical Analysis

In the play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, he tells the story of two people who fall in love, Romeo, a Montague, and Juliet, a Capulet. Their families have been feuding for as long as they can remember, making their love for one another very dangerous. The two go to extreme lengths to be with each other, but this eventually results in both of them losing their lives. Throughout this story, Shakespeare conveys through his use of syntax and diction with wrathful tone that hatred can make people act irrationally loyal, and this hatred can cloud one’s morals. We first see Shakespeare demonstrate the dangers that come from fighting without proper reason in the very beginning between the characters Tybalt and Benvolio. Benvolio tells Tybalt that he doesn’t want to fight, and that they should put an end to it. Instead of heading Benvolio’s words, Tybalt responds saying,“What, drawn and talk of peace? I hate the word/As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee,”(1.1.71-72). From

Tybalt tells Romeo to fight him, but since Romeo is now married to Juliet, he says that he can’t. To this, Mercutio responds with,“O calm, dishonorable, vile submission!”(3.1.74), and then proceeds to fight Tybalt on Romeo’s behalf in defense of the Montague name. It’s clear through Mercutio’s rage felt diction towards Romeo such as “dishonorable” and “vile” that he believes Romeo’s efforts to make peace are acts of betrayal to his own family. Because of Mercutio’s brash actions in the act of defending his family’s honor, he ends up being injured and killed by Tybalt, all because he felt so much hate that he couldn’t stand down like Romeo had. Mercutio’s death made Romeo blindly angry to the point where he killed Tybalt, who was technically a part of his family. Two lives were lost over the matter of a feud that no one seems to recall the reason