In William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, the banishment of Romeo from the city of Verona is unjust because the Capulets were acquitted from any variety of punishment. During the play Romeo, a Montague, is to be banished due to the deaths of both Mercutio and Tybalt. Although the Capulets’ have lost Tybalt, the Montagues’ have lost their friend, Mercutio. The Montagues’, however, must also suffer through Romeo’s banishment. In the opening conflict of Romeo and Juliet the prince states, “If ever you disturb our streets again,/ Your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace” (I.i.98-99). This statement provides evidence of the Prince being unequal to the two households because he’s being inconsiderate of the other side's argument. Although Romeo
Romeo was a Montague and Juliet was a Capulet and the families’ feud meant that the two could never be together. This is shown in this quote, “My only love sprung from my only hate! / Too early seen unknown, and known too late!’ (5.3.295-299). In this scene, Juliet complains about Romeo being a Montague. She wishes that he wasn’t so that they could freely be together. Also, both families and their servants would always pick fights on the streets of Verona. One of these fights would result in Romeo being banished from Verona. In a scene of the play, Tybalt, Juliet’s cousin decides to pick a fight with Romeo and his friend Mercutio in the middle of the street. Romeo tries to stop the fight because he is now related to Tybalt through his marriage to Juliet. This is shown in the following quote where Romeo tries to keep the peace, “Draw Benvolio, beat down their weapons. / Gentlemen, for shame! / ... / Forbid this bandying in Verona’s streets” (3.1.381-384), but no one listens to him and Tybalt ends up killing Mercutio. Romeo has no choice but to kill Tybalt for revenge which leads to the Prince banishing Romeo. Without the feud, Romeo and Juliet would not have had to keep their love a secret and, the fight that resulted in Romeo’s banishment would never have happened. This is why the feud between the Capulets and the Montagues is responsible for Romeo
After a confrontation between Montagues and Capulets serving men the Prince is forced to put a limit to these incidents. He declares “If ever you disturb our streets again, your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace” (I. i. 98), meaning that if there is another conflict between both families they will pay the results with their lives. Romeo is confronted by Tybalt but he refuses, and instead Mercutio accepts the challenge but is injured. Benvolio shortly after informs Romeo about Mercutio’s death, “O Romeo, Romeo, brave Mercutio is dead” (III, i 2). Romeo is mad and goes to fight Tybalt but ends up killing him, and by doing that he breaks the Prince’s order of not fighting again. Another example of Romeo defying the authority is when he buys the illegal poison when he finds out about Juliet’s death. Romeo knows poison is illegal when he states “An if a man did need a posion now, Whose sale is present death in Mantua, here lives a caitiff wretch would sell it him”, but still decides to buy
Romeo and Juliet introduces us to a long lasting feud carried through many generations and brought upon two families children. “Two households, both alike in dignity / In fair Verona, where we lay our scene, / From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, / Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean” (Shakespeare Prologue.1-4). This feud the Capulets and Montagues have not only affected their children but the citizens of Verona. When two relatives of the different families start fighting against one another, the citizens start fighting against them and soon everyone is pulling out swords until the Prince comes to break up the quarrel in his city. If the Capulets and Montagues were not openly
Tybalt’s death caused a bigger hate between the two families, because as the paragraph above state, the Capulets think that Romeo is to blame for Tybalt’s death. People do not know that Tybalt was the cause of Mercutio’s death. The Capulets want to punish Romeo, because there is no other better chance for the Capulets to get their enemies than their only son. They end up going to the prince and lady Capulet say, “Of my dear kinsman! Prince, as thou art true, for blood of ours shed blood of Montague” (ROM. 3.1. 111). Lady Capulet is being combative here she is so sad about her cousin’s death, and she tells the prince with a very respectful and begging sound to shed the blood of one of the Montagues, like what happened to the Capulets. The prince’s reaction was so kind because he only orders a banishment for Romeo. When Romeo know he reacts badly and says, “Ha, banishment! Be merciful, say “death”” (ROM. 3. 3. 12). Romeo wishes if the prince orders of killing him. He would rather death than leaving juliet alone in Verona. Leaving juliet will result of her sadness and
The play, Romeo and Juliet, written by William Shakespeare, is about a tragedy of two star crossed lovers who want nothing more than to be together forever. “…Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, And I’ll no longer be a Capulet.” (2.2.35-36) Romeo, a Montague, who is young and passionate, meets Juliet at a Capulet party. When they meet, it’s love at first sight. Juliet, a Capulet, is a beautiful young lady tired of being controlled by her father, Lord Capulet. The two families are in a never ending feud that comes between Romeo and Juliet’s love. In the course of four and a half days, Romeo and Juliet plan their marriage with the help of Priest Friar Laurence and Juliet’s Nurse. After the couple is married,
“Capulet! Montague! See what a scourge is laid upon your hate, that heaven finds means to kill your joys with love!” (5.3.256). In this story, a feud of two families (the Montagues and the Capulets) will be ended by the deaths of their children Romeo and Juliet. During this chain of events, there are certain people who should be punished… and those who should be pardoned. In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Lord Montague and Benvolio should be pardoned, and Nurse should be punished.
/ If you ever disturb our streets again,/Your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace” (Shakespeare.1.1.91-99). Ignoring the Capulets and Montagues desire to bicker, Prince Escalus puts his own expectations of a peaceful town over their desires and tells them that if they ever fight again, they will pay with their lives. Prince Escalus expects that the houses hold their peace, despite both families having a tendency to take their temper out on one another. Additionally, in the aftermath of Romeo and Juliet’s death, when Prince Escalus directly addresses Lord Capulet and Lord Montague, he shames them for their feud, saying “Where be these enemies? - Capulet, Montague, / See what a scourge is laid upon your hate, / That heaven finds means to kill your joys with love, / And I, for winking at your discords too, / Have lost a brace of kinsmen. All are punished” (5.3.301-305). By ignoring Prince Escalus’s expectations, Lord Capulet and Lord Montague indirectly played a hand in their children's death.In addition to the Prince’s peace of mind, his expectation of the
My first reason why I believe that the ruling that the Prince gave Romeo was appropriate, was because we had already warned him. The last time that the Prince saw the Montague's and the Capulet's fighting he was mad. He said that they were not to be fighting. He told them that he does not want to see anyone fighting anymore. Then he said that the next time they disturb the streets, they will be killed. Even though Romeo was not there during the fight, I know that he still knew he wasn’t supposed to fight. I think that this gives the Prince every
The Dead Proclamation The penalty of death in The Tragedy Of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare is a method in which Prince Escalus used in order to stop further violence between the Montagues and Capulets in the street of Verona and preserve the peace. During the play, the death penalty goes unused whereas the violence still continues between both households, thus proving the death threat was ineffective. In the Prince monologue, he proclaimed that: “If ever you disturb our streets again, Your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace” (1.1.85-86). In those words, the Prince just invoked a death penalty on both the Montagues and Capulets, which he does not respect by not convicting Romeo to dead not just because of disrupting
Secondly, the ‘ancient grudge’ between the two household is an aspect of fate that can be deemed responsible for the lovers’ deaths. Shakespeare describes the feud between the Montagues and Capulets as ancient, meaning it has been going on for a very long time. Consequently, there were ongoing brawls occurring in the streets of Verona and as a result of this feud many characters are driven to extreme behaviours, including Tybalt and Mercutio. If this ancient grudge had not existed then there would be no reason for them to have a duel, however, as it did exist they had no other choice. Tybalt is furious that Romeo, a Montague, had come into the Capulet household and wanted to take action. He decided to duel with Romeo but as he didn’t want to Mercutio accepted the offer. This specific duel between Tybalt and Mercutio was the undoing of the lovers’ lives. After Tybalt had killed Mercutio, Romeo felt pity and sought revenge and ended up killing Tybalt
As a friend of Romeo’s, Mercutio supports the Montague’s in the ancient feud. An example of Mercutio defending the Montague’s is when Tybalt, a member of the loathed Capulet family, abuses Romeo and Mercutio intervenes on Romeo’s behalf. Attempting to restore peace, Romeo gets between the two combatants and Mercutio “hath got his mortal hurt” (Page 149; Act 3, Scene 1) on Romeo’s account. In spite of his “life shall pay the forfeit of peace” (page 17; Act 1, Scene 1), Romeo seeks revenge on Tybalt as he loves his murdered friend. As Romeo kills Tybalt out of love for Mercutio, Shakespeare suggests that love conquered the thought of being penalized with death.
The want for revenge leads many of the characters in Romeo and Juliet into murderous acts which eventually leads to severe punishments and a further need for revenge. The everlasting revenge in Romeo and Juliet is first born from ancient grudge between the Capulets and the Montagues, which is ultimately settled with the tragic, abrupt unifying factor of both Romeo and Juliet's death. Several instances within the interactions of the characters suggests that vengeance is driving force of the plot, and that consequently, there must ultimately be an end to the feuding and recoil, due to the fact that there must be a resolution after the thrilling climax..
Romeo had announced that he did not wish to take part in the fight. It may have looked as though he was part of the fight, but he only fought Tybalt to defend himself and his friends. Furthermore, Romeo was punished even though he was just protecting himself. Not only that, Romeo also tried to stop Mercutio and Tybalt from fighting many times throughout the scene. These actions Romeo completed makes the Prince’s decision unjust, for Romeo was doing the correct thing for himself and the others around him, making him innocent. Throughout act three scene one of Romeo and Juliet, many actions were made that confirm the decisions made by the Prince did not achieve justice. However, the question is, can justice really be achieved? As mentioned above, justice is equality, but there is no way for something to be perfectly equal. In society today, cases are known to have achieved justice, or not achieved justice, yet there are so many pieces to a conflict that are able turn around the conclusion of the conflict. At this time in society there is no single thing that is absolutely equal, and if justice can be defined as equal, can justice really be
“I would rather die a meaningful death than to live a meaningless life” (Corazon Aquino). At the beginning of Act Three, Scene Three of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, Friar Laurence informs Romeo that he is going to be exiled from Verona for killing Juliet’s cousin, Tybalt, in a duel. In the monologue, Romeo worries that the banishment from Verona is going to ruin his life.
Before the palace Escala, both clan and their associates, ponёsshie loss of loved ones, demand a fair trial. Capulet want Romeo paid with his life for the death of Tybalt, and Montague cry for mercy of the Duke,