Death And Conflict In Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet

“From forth the fatal loins of these two foes,/A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life.” (Romeo and Juliet 1.1.5-6). From the beginning of Romeo and Juliet, we know exactly how the story is going to end: with a double suicide. Nobody is surprised that the theme of this play is death and conflict, and we go about the play having this thought in the back of our minds. However, Act 2, scene 2 of Romeo and Juliet opens with a lengthy monologue by Friar Laurence representing a rhetorical shift in the play. This causes us to reassess our preconceived ideas of the narrative frame of this play and how events are going to develop. In the monologue, Laurence is seen harvesting both weeds for poison and flowers for medicine. Drawing from his apothecarian knowledge, he talks of the earth and its bounty, but primarily, Friar Laurence is the first character in the play who directly acknowledges the theme that we already know: death and conflict. Likewise, the Friar makes us aware of the family argument through his very peculiar use of language in his speech. This discourse from the storyline is crucial in order …show more content…
In fact, later in the monologue, Friar Laurence speaks to some extent of a battle between the contradictory forces. Lines 21-22 of the monologue state, “Virtue itself turns vice, being misapplied;/And vice sometimes by action dignified.” Once more, this battle between virtues and vices is representative of the family feud. Neither side can see beyond the seemingly bad practices of the other, and because of this, they cannot see the good in the other. Friar Laurence means that virtue turns to vice when virtue is exploited, and vice sometimes becomes virtue through the right exertions. The families are stuck in a mindset that restricts them from seeing the good intentions of the others. Friar Laurence highlights this aspect of the feud in this