Romeo & Juliet Essay

Written by: William Shakespeare Victoria McQuiston Period 2 May 21, 2010

It is a fine line between love and hate. Sometimes it is love that causes hate or hate that causes love. A perfect example of this is The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, a drama written by William Shakespeare. This story took place during the Renascence period of Europe and is about a young girl, Juliet, who falls in love with and older boy, Romeo, and their failed attempt to be together because of their families hatred. Death takes the lives of many in order to end this feud between the Capulets and Montagues. This drama shows how hatred can cause many tragedies for the two people who are romantically involved and the people around them. The first case of hatred in the story was at the very beginning. There is a fight between the Montagues and Caplets that took place on the street. This is the first example of the hatred that the families have toward each other. All of the townspeople pick sides, so now they have become part of the hatred. This fight began when a servant to the House of Capulet, Sampson, says to a couple of servants to the House of Montague, I do bite my thumb, sir (I: i: 39). The cause of this was rather stupid, but understandable. The fight happened just because one group of servants was walking past another and made a gesture of disrespect. The second cause is in Act III of this drama. Romeo and Juliet have already fallen in love and now there is a huge fight when Tybalt challenges Romeo to a duel. Romeo does not want to fight Tybalt at all because he has no urge to, but he ends up killing Tybalt. Romeo kills him because he heard that Tybalt killed his best friend, Mercutio. Romeo got scared because he does not want Juliet to think badly of him. He says, Doth not she think me an old murderer? (III: iii: 93-94). If it was not about how

much Tybalt hated Romeo for being a Montague, then he would most likely still have been alive. The last but most extreme example of hatred is in the last scene, when Romeo and Juliet die. Romeo hears news that Juliet is dead so he goes and buys poison for himself. He arrives at her tomb where Juliet is sleeping but Paris comes and challenges him to a fight. They both fight and Romeo kills the innocent and clueless Paris. Romeo then drinks the poison and dies. His last, dying words were, Thus with a kiss I die. (V:iii:120). Juliet awakens and finds Romeo dead so she grabs Romeos dagger and kills herself. In the end, the families feud is over. The tragedy of losing two children brought both houses together. These were some of the important examples of hatred that took place in the story of Romeo and Juliet. People should learn that hatred is serious and cannot only affect them, but it also affects the people around them. There are similar situations today, like world wars and gang fights. Hatred is a sickness that is spreading and it is affecting new generations. Reading this story will remind people of similar situations in real life. William Shakespeare was brilliant at bringing out the meaning of his story.