ROMEO AND JULIET REACTION

I enjoyed reading the play Romeo and Juliet. It was hard to understand reading it through for the first
time, but once we read it and watched both versions of the movie, it was fun to make the connections
and comprehend the book. From reading the play, I learned how diverse writing can be, and I found it
very interesting the way that Shakespeare made connections, and the way that he said things was
amazing. The first thing that I did when writing my paper was I found all ten of my ten references for the
book. Once I found the references, it was easy for me to put them in an order, and write about the
references. I liked my paper because I felt like I did a good job making it clear that the hate between the
two households was the cause of the tragedy between Romeo and Juliet. I could have improved my
paper by making it flow better when you read it, and maybe edited my grammar and punctuation better
before I turned it in. Over all, I enjoyed the play, and am proud of my paper.

Hate is destructive, and because of the hate between the Montagues and the Capulets, many lives were
lost. Their hatred is the cause of the tragedy that took place between Romeo and Juliet. Not only were
Romeo and Juliet killed, but many people along with them, and this all could have been avoided if the
two families were civil with each other. If they did not hate each other, the love between Romeo and
Juliet would have been a pleasant thing for the families to celebrate instead of celebrating the lives of
the lost ones.

The hate between the two households is one of the first things mentioned in the prologue. As there are
many factors that lead to the tragedy between Romeo and Juliet, hate is something that was a major
concern from the beginning. The story opens with the servants of the Capulet biting their thumb at the
Montagues, a symbol of disrespect that starts a fight. It is one of the many fights between the families
that ends with no major injury. There are so many fights that go on, but they do not give a second
thought at the possibility of someone getting hurt (Shakespeare 6).

Juliet is told that she is expected to marry Paris, a wealthy gentleman. Juliet does not like the idea, but
she is being forced by her parents to marry him. She has no choice to whom she will marry, and her
having to marry Paris later interferes with her love for Romeo (Shakespeare 21). The Capulets hold a
masquerade party where Juliet will meet Paris so that she may fall in love. Romeo sneaks into the party
with his friend and is spotted by Tybalt, Juliet's cousin. Tybalt wants to fight with Romeo because he
should not be in the house of the Capulets, but Capulet does not want to make a scene and does not let
Tybalt confront him. Later Tybalt spots Romeo interacting with Juliet and his rage makes him want
revenge (Shakespeare 31). At the masquerade party, Juliet has a good time with Romeo, and is starting
to fall in love with him until her nurse warns her that he is a Montague. Juliet knows better than to be
messing around with a Montague, but she was having such a good time that she wants to see him again.
She is upset because she realizes that the person she is falling in love with is the person that she cannot
be with (Shakespeare 33).

Juliet knows that she should not continue talking to Romeo because it could lead to him getting hurt,
but she had such strong feeling for him and found out that he had the same for her. They confessed
their love for each other once the party ended, and they are willing to discard the hate of their families
and try to make sacrifices for their love. They decide that their love is so strong that they want to get
married the next day (Shakespeare 39-43). They knew that they could not tell their families for fear that
they would not let them be married, and Juliet knew that her parents were planning on her marrying
Paris, so they would not let them get married. There were only few people that Romeo and Juliet could
trust, one having to be Friar Lawrence, who they wished would marry them. Romeo had just confessed
his love to Friar Lawrence for another woman, so telling him that he was in love again, especially with a
Capulet, was not something that Friar Lawrence wanted to hear. After some begging, Friar Lawrence
made an agreement with Romeo that he would wed the two on the next day, but only if they settled the
hate between the two households (Shakespeare 45).

Romeo and Juliet married without many people knowing, and soon after they were married, another
fight broke out. Tybalt was furious with Romeo for the way that he showed up at the party. He
suspected that there was something going on between Romeo and Juliet which made him even more
mad. Tybalt wanted to fight with Romeo, but Romeo knew that he could not fight him because he
promised Friar Lawrence to keep peace between the two households. Mercutio, Romeo’s friend was not
afraid to step in and fight for Romeo, so he does, but it only leads to the devastating ending of him being
stabbed and killed. Romeo was so furious at the moment that he cannot control himself as he killed
Juliet’s cousin, Tybalt (Shakespeare 61). If there had not been hatred between the two households,
there would have been no reason for Tybalt to confront Romeo, and there would not have been the loss
of two lives, and there would have been no reason for Romeo to escape to Mantua.

Juliet was devastated hearing the news of her cousin’s death, but the thing that upset her the most,
was that her family was out to get Romeo because he was the one who killed Tybalt. As Juliet was
grieving over the loss of husband being banned, her mother gave her the news that she was going to
marry Paris later on that week. She tried her hardest to persuade them into her not having to marry
him, but Capulet just thought that she is an ungrateful child. She could not tell them about Romeo, but
she could talk about her problem with the Nurse who was the one person on her side. Shockingly, the
nurse turned against her, and encouraged marrying Paris. Juliet did not know what to do because she
could not marry Paris, but she also could not tell her family about Romeo because of how much they
hated him. Because she could not tell her family about Romeo the story ended the way it did with their
deaths (Shakespeare 83).

Juliet went to Friar Lawrence for one last chance if help before she took her own life. Her only option
was to take a poison that would resemble death on the day of her wedding, but she would wake up and
be able to escape to Mantua with Romeo. This was a plan that no one could find out about, but if they
wanted her to live happily without the hate between the two households getting in the way, risks had to
be taken (Shakespeare 92). A letter was sent to Romeo, informing him of the plan, but he did not receive
the note, instead he received the news that his wife had died (Shakespeare 105). Romeo was so upset
that he would rather die than live without Juliet. Romeo wanted to be in a place where they did not
have to worry about what their families thought. Once Romeo was gone, Juliet awakened to find her
husband dead, and she wanted just what he wanted, so she too killed herself. (Shakespeare 115) If there
had not been hate between the two households, there would have been no reason for Juliet to have to
poison herself. She could have told her family that she was in love with Romeo, and if there wasn’t hate
between the families, hopefully they would let her be with whom she chose.

The hate between the Montagues and the Capulets lead to Romeo and Juliet not having the option to be
together on earth, but their love took them to a place where they could be happy, not having to worry
about how hate separated them. The families will have to suffer the loss of many just because they
could not keep peace with each other.