In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, violence, prejudice and hatred interfere with love and happiness. This is brought about through as love as a cause of violence, the conflict between this individual and society and the idea of fate this shown in the ballroom scene and the fight scene.
A scene that explores the idea of how violence, prejudice and hatred interfere with the ability for the main characters of Romeo and Juliet is Act 1, Scene 5, The Ballroom Scene. Violence, prejudice and hatred is shown mostly in this scene by Tybalt anger for the Montague’s. Just as Romeo saw Juliet and he was amazed by her beauty, Tybalt saw Romeo in anger an, prejudice was introduced by the words of “Come hither, covered with an antic face, to fleer and scorn at our solemnity?” This quote made me feel that Tybalt dislikes Romeo and Tybalt believes Romeo is there to ruin the Capulet celebration, also Tybalt is trying to show family honour. This uses the Shakespearian language technique of oxymoron’s with fleer and scorn. Also in Act 1, Scene 5 prejudice is also explored through the dialogue between Lord Capulet and Tybalt. Furthermore it’s explained the prejudice that Tybalt has to the Montague. “Uncle, this is a Montague, our foe, a villain that is hither come in spite to scorn at our solemnity.” Consequently, Tybalt’s prejudice systematically puts a obstacle in the way of Romeo’s natural love for Juliet. This is linked to the theme of the Individual vs Society. Romeo’s natural instincts are to follow his natural feelings but his societal ideals are that he must hate Juliet as she is a Capulet an vice versa for Tybalt. His natural instincts are to strike at Romeo but this would be poor in front of the crowd at the party. The other act that explores
A scene that highlights the idea inevitability of fate is the fight scene illustrating that the natural tendencies of violence overcome Romeo’s love and happiness. In Act 3, Scene 1 the fight amongst