Violence And Vengeance In Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet

In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, violence and vengeance are a part of the characters’ day-to-day life. Through this play, Shakespeare presents a common human tendency sprung from hatred, leading to destruction. He uses the feud between the Montagues and Capulets to portray this inclination, which results in brawls, threats from the Prince, banishment, and ultimately, death. The first scene in the play starts with a street brawl, between the servants of Capulet and Montague. The fight was “bred of an airy word” (1.1.91), and the precedent two fights similarly. These people want to fight and so find even the smallest trigger to add fuel to the fire, often neglecting the consequences they might face. Combat becomes a source of entertainment

Tybalt, Mercutio, and Romeo have a fight where Tybalt kills Mercutio, and Romeo kills Tybalt to avenge his friend (3.1.127-139). Even though Romeo has a peaceful mind usually, his grief over the loss of his friend causes him to slay Tybalt in the swing of his outrage. This is a very unexpected and naïve decision he makes which shows how violence can change a person completely, even for a short period of time. As the play progresses, a pattern that can be observed is that one violent act succeeds another just like this fight. Even though the characters show initial satisfaction for the results of such brutal outbreaks, their thirst is never remedied. Once the Prince is notified about this violation of the law he says, “And for that offense/Immediately we do exile him hence (3.2.196-197). Romeo’s hasty decisions during his outrage fall heavily on him. His life is destroyed because he decides to react to violence with violence, which is unusual for him. His outburst on Tybalt leads him to lose his love and happiness, Juliet forever as they never meet again. The happiness is sucked out from him, anybody who loves him, and the victims in this clash because everyone lost something. Thus, violence is destructive, with the capability to deprive people’s peace and jubilation.

Shakespeare uses this theme in his play to show his disapproval of violence based on family name,