Conflict As A Theme In Romeo & Juliet And Connection To "Shrek"

Conflict is an extended struggle that usually represents a shared disagreement. A lot of this is represented in many different forms and presented throughout the Romeo and Juliet play. A movie that is fairly similar to and whose topics relate in many ways to Shakespeare's play is "Shrek". An ogre, whose name happens to be Shrek, and a princess, Fiona, fall in love with each other. Fiona's family does not approve of this since the humans are in war with the fairy tale creatures and also because princesses are supposed to be with princes, not with ogres. It is similar to the play because Juliet's family does not think Capulet's are supposed to marry Montague's because of their differences. It is almost like an analogy; ogres do not go with princesses as Capulet's do not go with Montague's. Just as friction is evident in movies like "Shrek", so it is in literature. In "Romeo and Juliet", Shakespeare's famous love story, conflict is the dominant theme. It exists in the story by examples of Romeo's struggles with Tybalt and himself, Mercutio fighting with Tybalt and Juliet's nurse, and by Juliet's troubles with her nurse and her father.

Plenty of conflicts are present in Verona, Italy. Most of them are caused by the feud between two families, the Montague's and the Capulet's. Even though there are a lot of disputes going on, the two that stand out the most are the one between Romeo and himself and the one between Romeo and Tybalt. The first one is Romeo's strife with himself. He falls in love with Juliet almost instantly at the Capulet feast, which indicated disaster right away, since Romeo is a Montague and Juliet a Capulet; however Romeo did not realize she was a Capulet until it was too late. "Is she [Juliet] a Capulet? O dear account! My life is my foe's debt!"(III.i.57). Since the Montague's and the Capulet's are in a feud, Romeo is very worried that he might not be able to date Juliet because of their surnames. He fears his life because it is literally at the mercy of his family's enemies. The second most important friction in Verona is the one between Romeo and Tybalt. They just do not get along at all. Romeo does make an attempt at making peace, since they are now technically related because of Romeo and Juliet's marriage, but Tybalt does not give in. He decides to be callous towards Romeo's efforts and insults him. "No better term than this: thou art a villain."(II.i.57). Tybalt sees Romeo as a low, vulgar person, probably because he is a Montague. It was a big discord that was faced in this city. Summing this up, the two biggest conflicts were the one between Romeo and himself, because he keeps getting himself into sticky situations, and the one between Romeo and Tybalt, because of Tybalt's hatred towards the Montague's. Conflict just follows Romeo Montague.

In the city of Verona, Italy, there are even more numerous conflicts going around, two others that are important to the love story are the ones between Mercutio and Juliet's nurse and the one between Mercutio and Tybalt. These, too, are mostly caused by the families' dispute. The first conflict is between Mercutio and Juliet's nurse. They do not get along well, and it is mainly Mercutio's fault. He is a big jokester, and brings comic relief to this great play, but sometimes he takes his jokes too far and starts acting in a malicious manner, not in a humorous one. He decides to be mean to Juliet's nurse and she gets annoyed at him. "What saucy merchant was his that was so full of ropery?"(II.iv.135-136). She gets really frustrated and mad that Mercutio is asking like such a rascal and making fun of her. The nurse is also shocked that someone who acts like such a scamp. The next disagreement is the one between Mercutio and Tybalt. They fight in many occasions, so it is no surprise, but it is also because of their last names. They insult each other a lot while they're at it also. "Good King of Cats, nothing but one of your nine lives."(II.i.73). Tybalt annoys Mercutio too much and Mercutio decides to insult him. He is taunting