Romeo, Juliet, and I

When and why do you start arguments and fights?

Conflict is a tool in order to obtain what you desire, whether it be a tangible item or a psychological need. Fighting can be intensified by passion or different personalities, but it is still usually intended as a means to accomplish a goal. While I don’t engage in physical fights, I do fight over political issues when I’m confronted with someone who holds beliefs that are drastically different from my own. In this way, I am fighting for psychological, or ideological reasons. In Romeo and Juliet, much of the plot is centered around the longstanding conflict between two families, the Montagues and Capulets. Romeo, a Montague, is driven by blind passion and falls in love with Juliet, a Capulet, without considering the consequences this romance on their families. Tybalt, a prominent figure in the Capulet family, is portrayed as the embodiment of the families’ feud. He is largely a one-dimensional character who is intensely focused on enacting his family’s revenge against the Montague family. He often acts without thinking and is quick to anger. While Romeo and Tybalt are on opposite sides of this feud, their characters are more alike than they think. Both Romeo and Tybalt have been pressured by their families’ feud to fight against each other without really knowing why they’re fighting, leading to a desire to ensure their dominance over the other despite the tragic consequences.

Both Romeo and Tybalt fight throughout the play with blind anger stemming from their families’ feud, yet they never stop to question why the feud exists or why it is their duty to carry on the fight. The passion and loyalty they feel towards their families contributes to the intensity with which they fight. Tybalt is constantly haunted and threatened by the divide between the Capulets and Montagues right from the first scene: “What, drawn and talk of peace? I hate the word / As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee. / Have at thee coward!” (13). Tybalt is full of rage for the Montagues, but he never makes it clear why he hates them so much, though it is clear that he feels that the Montague family poses a threat to his family simply by existing. As such, he feels justified in his rage and hatred because he is fighting to protect his family from the Montague threat, real or imagined. Through violent language and violent actions, Tybalt pressures those associated with the Montagues to draw their swords and fight for the feud. The threat of the Montagues seems to large and too close to home for Tybalt, who continues to lash out against them until his last breath. Romeo is one of those called upon by Tybalt. Both constantly feel compelled to defeat the other because of the past feud, but Romeo’s motivations are now more complicated, for he is now thinking about his future. Romeo had been searching for love, which he didn’t find with Rosaline, his prior lover. Finally when he meets Juliet, his objective changes. Instead of fighting to find love, now that he and Juliet have professed their love for each other, he is fighting to keep this love. He uses this passion to fight against Tybalt, who threatens to destroy the relationship he has with Juliet. I often times use my passion or even my opponent’s weakness to convince them of my point when talking about political issues to someone whose ideals differ from my own. These political discussions become more heated because I feel threatened during them. A lot of my political ideas and values have been shaped by my family environment and developed throughout my lifetime, so when someone tries to disprove my ideas, I feel like they are threatening my family as well as my worldview. I continue fighting because now I feel like I am also fighting to preserve my own identity and belief system.

Romeo and Tybalt’s similar motives for fighting are also, ironically, their differences. Both fight with blind anger and passion, yet their objectives are completely different. Romeo is fighting for love,while Tybalt is fighting for hate. Tybalt, whose need for revenge and power always gets the best of him, fights for what solely seems to be the feud. Romeo, on the other hand, is fighting to keep the love he has for Juliet. Because their motivations are so different, it appears that Romeo has more at stake in this fight: he is fighting to live the life he chooses (and love the woman he loves), whereas Tybalt is just fighting to fulfill an abstract duty to his family. The cause isn’t as personal to Tybalt as it is to Romeo. Tybalt hatred towards the Montagues concludes that his hatred would also apply to Romeo. As seen when Benvolio, Mercutio, and Romeo come across Tybalt and his men, the tensions between the two parties exelate when around each other, “Romeo, the love I bear thee can afford / No better term than this: thou art a villain.” (119). To which Romeo replies, “Tybalt, the reason that I have to love thee / Doth much excuse the appertaining rage / To such a greeting. Villain am I none. / Therefore farewell. I see thou knowest me not.” (119). Tybalt is trying to force a reaction out of Romeo because he feels as though Romeo has caused him pain and dishonor, which causes Tybalt, who wants to prove himself to Romeo, to first murder Mercutio and finally his own death. When I fight for what I believe in, different to both Romeo and Tybalt, I fight with knowledge and expression, which includes facts and interpretations. Romeo and Tybalt fight with little to no knowledge of what they originally are fighting for, the feud. In order to challenge someone else's idea or belief there has to be evidence to support your claim, which I use to my advantage, while Romeo and Tybalt don’t use it at all. What I do similarly is get overly passionate about a topic, but what is different is I had researched or thought about it before.

In the end, conflict is unavoidable, a natural part of life. However, you have to know what you’re really fighting for and be willing to sacrifice for the cause. Fighting is a tool, a means to an end, but you need to have a clear vision of what you hope to receive at the end of the fight. The true tragedy in Romeo and Juliet is the fact that the characters lack insight into why they’re really fighting and what they’re fighting for. Tybalt and Romeo are victims of their own families, doomed to be used as pawns to continue this ridiculous and destructive feud that no one really understands or can remember the causes of. They are fighting to the death, but there isn’t really a clear objective for either of them. Do they want the complete destruction of the rivaling family?