Romeo And Juliet Internal Conflict

Having finally met Juliet at the ball, and on learning that she is, in fact, the daughter of Capulet, Romeo finds himself faced with fresh emotional conflict: ‘Is she a Capulet? O dear account! My life is my foe’s debt.’ Shakespeare uses an ‘aside’ here, in order for the audience to share the agitated thoughts of Romeo, who realises that his death is what is sought by the young men of the Capulet family. Then, in response to Benvolio’s pleas for him to join his departing friends and leave the party, Romeo continues with, ‘Ay, so I fear. The more is my unrest.’ This ‘unrest’ shows the internal conflict that disturbs Romeo, and is also used here as a metaphor for the trouble he now perceives himself to be in.

Romeo’s turmoil here is mirrored …show more content…
Previously, Capulet had shown care for his young daughter, asking Paris to wait for two summers while Juliet matured, and to use this time to win her affections properly. However, here we see none of that same consideration, and the clash to come between Juliet and Lord Capulet may well have shocked the Elizabethan audience who would have shared the cultural belief that a daughter’s place was to obey her father in all things. The dispute that is presented in this scene is a combination of verbal opposition and emotional distress (anger and fear) with Capulet resorting to the threat of physical force unless Juliet complies in marrying Paris, saying ‘…go with Paris to Saint Peter’s Church, or I will drag thee on a hurdle thither.’ The violent verb ‘drag’ implies his intention to force and dominate his daughter, and this is accompanied by the threat of Juliet being tied to a ‘hurdle’ – a cart on which Elizabethan prisoners were taken to their execution. This threat implies Capulet’s opinion of his daughter now, which can be supposed to be that to him, she will be no better than a criminal if she continues to refuse the …show more content…
Shakespeare uses violent language and imagery to convey the conflict from the stage to the audience. He makes reference to social and legal threats – for example, the death penalty - with which the Elizabethan audience of the time would have been entirely familiar. Social codes of behaviour such as the expected obedience of a daughter to her father would have added tension and drama to the play for the audience which would have understood this as an expected societal norm. Not only have we seen conflict on the stage between the characters, but have commented on how the audience itself may well have experienced a sense of disquiet from their established knowledge of how the play will end in the death of Romeo and Juliet. The structure of the play’s plotline is, from the start, informed by the revelations of the Prologue: Romeo and Juliet will die. In doing so, they will reunite their families in the greatest dramatic of ironies. As they take their last breaths, as the curtain falls across the stage, their deaths will bring peace to the Montagues and Capulets at