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William Shakespeare 's Romeo And Juliet

Decent Essays

Love and hate have been long-standing rivals since the dawn of time. People will often say ‘love conquers all.’ However, in Shakespeare’s fictitious play, Romeo and Juliet, that is, unfortunately, far from the actual case. In Verona, Italy, the Capulets and the Montagues have a deep-seated hatred, however, the prologue tells the reader that from these two families full of bitter hate, a pair of lovers will come. But it is also already foretold that they were not destined to survive. Hate can be an all-consuming force, and that is not only true, but very evident throughout the play. The rancorous family feud develops much of the action and manifests more feuds as the plot continues on, these being the quarrel between the two families’ servants, Mercutio against Tybalt, and Romeo against Tybalt. The act one prologue tells that, “From ancient grudge break to new mutiny” (I, Prologue, 3) and in the very beginning of act one, the reader sees exactly what that new mutiny is: a strange, vaguely humorous bickering between servants. After some idle chatter about the hatred of Montagues, one servant of the Capulets’ exclaims, “This is a quarrel between our masters and us their men!”(I.i.18) This line, spoken by Gregory, induces a fight between Montague servants that revives the old bickering between the Capulets and the Montagues to a greater extent, reigniting the embers of cruel hate. This conflict not only branches from the original conflict, but drives the rest of the feuds in

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