The threat of violence always hangs over Romeo and Juliet. After the Prologue, the first characters, Sampson and Gregory, enter ‘with swords and bucklers’ (1.1.0). A buckler is a small kind of shield, so these men are prepared to defend themselves, and with the swords, of course, they are ready to attack. This they do, insulting Abram and Balthasar who are from a different group than them, and then fighting them. Benvolio attempts to ‘keep the peace’ but this is short lived, as Tybalt appears and says ‘talk of peace? I hate the word’, and they also fight (1.167-9). More people get involved in the violence, until even the heads of the two families, Capulet and Montague, have their swords drawn. For the Verona of Romeo and Juliet, violence is a way of life, the natural reaction to the slightest provocation. No explanation is needed.
The first fight of the play is stopped before it turns fatal, but that can’t last in a community which is sustained by violence. Romeo does not come to kill Tybalt, and he says this when they meet in Act 3, Scene 1: ‘Tybalt, the reason that I have to love thee | Doth much excuse the appertaining rage’ (3.1.61-2). This ‘reason’ is Romeo’s recent marriage to Juliet, which makes him and Tybalt cousins. Romeo wants to believe that such new family ties are more important than the old feud that has divided the Montagues and the Capulets. Perhaps that might even be the case, but his marriage is a secret and Tybalt wants to fight, because there is no alternative way of living available to him. Ironically, the attempt of Romeo to make peace results in the death of his friend. He tries to offer a new vision of the world, but it simply makes the current one worse.
What happens to Romeo after Mercutio is killed? He learns to rely on violence as a solution to his problems. His immediate problem is the anger he feels over the death of his friend. He deals with this by killing Tybalt. Later in the play, when Paris threatens him, Romeo responds in the same way as he did to Tybalt, to try to make peace: ‘I love thee better than myself’, he says (5.3.64). When this does not work, he is quicker to violence than he was before, and kills Paris. Ultimately, of course, he turns this violent hand on himself.
What do you think about violence in the play? In what ways is it similar to violence today? How is it different? Does the play offer alternatives to a cycle of violence?