Romeo And Juliet Conflicts

Initially, there are mainly two aspects of literature put into stories that are by far are the most important in influencing story plots and most importantly conflicts and resolutions in such stories. In William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Yukio Mishima’s The Sound of Waves, and Authur Laurent’s West Side Story there are many similarities between these stories amongst the central conflict. For example, in all three stories there are two different groups resembling different sides of a rivalry or different social classes, and from each of these groups there is one lover,who falls in love with a member of the opposing crowd. There is a conflict due to the fact that the lovers both fell into forbidden love with people from the opposing side
or class, and illogical. Throughout the stories miscommunication initiates more conflict between the lovers. Regardless, eventually each of the stories conflicts resolve with the understanding and agreement of both groups. Moreover, William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Yukio Mishima’s The Sound of Waves, and Authur Laurent’s West Side Story all have different cultures which influence the changes in the central conflict and resolution of each story. Predominantly, in William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, the way time period and culture influence the changes in central conflict, but mainly the resolution of the story compared to the other works is much more clear.
In Romeo and Juliet the novel’s setting is Verona, Italy in the 1600’s . During this time period there were great battles and rivalries for things such as thoughts, opinions, and much more. Also, many “Territories competed for resources” (Historical Context 3) creating even more competition. This addition to the historical culture of the story plays an immense role in constructing the conflict. Since territories competed for resources in this time period in Italy, this started the competition and rivalry between the Montagues and the Capulets who are, “two households, both alike in dignity” (Shakespeare prologue.1) who formed a rivalry, where their “ancient grudge break to new mutiny, where civil blood makes civil hands unclean” (Prologue.3-4). This shows that the two families argue for dignity and pride, so much that they turn into rivals. Many years after this rivalry had begun, Romeo from the Montagues and Juliet from the Capulets fall in love and want to marry each other. The conflict begins when they find out they can’t marry each other because their families are rivals, due to the competition for resources. The fact that there was so much competition for resources, made these two families become rivals, and so when children from each of the rival
families want to marry each other, their forbidden love does in fact create the major conflict in this story.
After that, when Romeo and Juliet decide to secretly see and marry each other, once married, Romeo and Juliet constantly experience obstacles in their way. They feel as is in their culture that, “God and Fortune as figures that work together to control the fate of human beings”
(Historical Context 8). This affects the resolution because when Romeo and Juliet are in any type of situation where they are being challenged, they see it as a sign that their fortune does not want them to be together. Even Friar Lawrence discusses of how humans don’t have control of their fate, only God and fortune decide as he says he sees that, “‘A greater power than we can contradict Hath thwarted our intents’” (Shakespeare 5.3.58-59). This is crucial when Romeo thinks he knows Juliet is dead and has lost all hope because he thinks he knows that it is in his fortune that he should not be with Juliet. He tries to defy his fortune, by taking his own life to be with Juliet in heaven. When he tries to do so, it turns out that Juliet is not actually dead and Romeo ends up dying for no reason which is a motivator for Juliet to take her own life for the same reason. This is the ending that shows both families that their feud is useless and unnecessary. The families find this out only because the two lovers took their own lives, because they believed in the theory that God and fortune decide their fate. This plays a crucial part in the conflict of the story and an even bigger part of the resolution. Furthermore, in Yukio Mishima’s The Sound of Waves the time period as well as the culture of the novel also influences the changes in the central conflict and resolution between this novel and the other works. The novel, set in the 1940’s on an island called Uta-Jima but mainly the culture of the setting comes from the country Uta-Jima is in, Japan. A main aspect of the culture at the time the novel took place in is the cultural custom of arranged marriage, which shows throughout the text the effect it has on the conflict and resolution . Arranged marriage, in the setting of the text in the only accepted form of marriage in Japanese culture. Whereas, at the time of this novel, many people saw that, “The once-usual custom of arranged marriages is rapidly changing” (scholastic.com). Some people were starting to begin to see love marriages as somewhat acceptable. This plays a great role in influencing the conflict and resolution of the story because in the text, when Hatsue wanted to marry Shinji, they could not because “Yasuo Kawamoto’s to marry Hatsue.”(Mishima 37). The marriage, arranged by Terukichi, Hatsue’s father caused the conflict of not being able to let Shinji and Hatsue marry with ease because not many love marriages were preferred, especially over arranged marriages. This is the main conflict in the novel, but the time period of the novel was the time when marriages that were love-based were viewed as more and more common. This aspect of the time period of the setting affects the resolution in the novel by showing both parents that love marriage isn't so uncommon, thus eventually allowing the parents from both sides of this apposed love to accept the marriage of their children. Another aspect of this Japanese culture that affects the conflict in this story is how “One's rank is strictly observed in business (marriage arrangements, business deals, etc.)” (scholastic.com). This contributes to the conflict in the story because Hatsue and Shinji’s marriage in the time period of the novel, is uncommon in Japan, because Hatsue’s family was sufficiently wealthy, whereas Shinji’s family had low income and were a lower social class than Hatsue’s family. This provides another reason for the two children to not get married because typically in this time period of Japanese culture, the marriage of people from different social class was very uncommon. As Shinji contemplates, as to why Hatsue won’t can’t marry him, he comes to the conclusion that “‘It’s all because I’m (Shinji is) poor’” (Mishima 113). As a result the conflict of Shinji and Hatsue not being able to wed each other because they were in different social classes began because of the cultural point of view that people from different social classes and ranks should not marry each other. In addition, Authur Laurent’s West Side Story similarly provides many examples as to how the time period and culture that the story takes place in are able to influence the changes in the central conflict and resolution between this story and the other works. West Side Story takes place on the West Side of Manhattan, New York City in the year 1958. At this time, many immigrants came from Puerto Rico, due to the fact that “The economic situation on the island of Puerto Rico went from bad to worse.” (Varahidis 8) and “Many puerto Rican families migrated to New York seeking a better life”(Varahidis 8), but when they arrived “They faced the same hardships and discrimination experienced by earlier groups of immigrants” (Varahidis 8). During this time, immigrants came and occupied space in America, mainly New York, that Americans wanted, and so the Americans did not like it. As a result of this the conflict in the play begins with racism and prejudice thrown at the Puerto Ricans which initiates the return of hostile attitudes. As said by the Puerto Rican men in the song ‘America” life is all right in America only “as long as you're white in America” (Laurent), in America as immigrants they face racism and hostility towards them because they are immigrants.This makes the gangs of the Puerto Ricans and the American feud with each other and forbid the love of Maria from the Puerto Rican group and Tony from the American group, which is the main conflict in the play. Another way the setting and historical culture of the play influences the conflict is the fact that during the time period in which the play takes place throughout New York, there were multiple gangs who fought with each other. When asked, an actor who acted in the actual play said that the gangs who acted in the play were not to even socialize together because the director forbade it because he wanted their acting to really resemble how New York gangs in 1958 acted towards each other, with great tension. The director wanted to show that “‘in the fifties that tension was real’” (Fishko).This affected the story’s conflict, because since the gangs in the play did not even socialize with each other on a high level, then it would be forbidden to have a marriage of members of two different gangs who are rivals. This made the gangs forbid the marriage, which is basically the main conflict in the play. Even when Maria tells her sister-in-law, Anita, that she loves and wants to marry tony a man from the rival gang, then Anita responds harshly by saying, “‘you can’t love him he is one of them’” (Laurent). The play, based off an era with rivalries and gangs, exemplifies how the conflict was made. In essence, William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Yukio Mishima’s The Sound of Waves, and Authur Laurent’s West Side Story all incorporate details from the historical cultures and time periods of the setting of the stories, which influence the changes in the central conflict and resolution of each story. In these stories introduced was the culture of Italy in the 1600’s and how territories fought over resources and how there was the belief present that God and fortune decide the fate of all humans. Also displayed is the culture of Japan in the 1940’s and the uncommonality of love marriages and the view that rank decided who should marry whom. Finally, depicted is the culture of New York, in Manhattan and how there was prejudice and racist towards new immigrants and how there were multiple gangs whom had rivalries and feuds. In all three works, historical culture and time periods influence how each story plays out with different conflicts and resolutions. The authors of these works add these aspects of culture and time period of the setting of their stories to further connect the stories to real life in order to further enhance an understanding of that story’s culture and time period.