William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet

William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet

First of all, the main people that had a powerful effect on the fight

are the friends of Romeo, Mercutio and Benvolio. These two are

slightly to blame. Mercutio's attitude towards the quarrels and

fighting made the situation worse. He saw the feud as a game and that

led to his death and Romeo's banishment. We know that he saw the feud

as a game because he was always trying to wind up Tybalt. In the main

center of Verona, where Tybalt and Mercutio were tragically killed,

Mercutio shows no fear at all! He says to Tybalt "Could you not take

some occasion without giving?" This shows that Mercutio is trying to

wind up Tybalt. Mercutio shouldn't have done this as it would

definitely aggravated Tybalt.

Benvolio is a peacemaker, who wasn't really to blame at all. He told

Mercutio and Tybalt "We talk here in the public haunt of men. Either

withdraw into some private place, And reason coldly". He just tried to

keep the peace and left all the talking to Mercutio.

Mercutio is very spontaneous and doesn't think before he does

something, he will just do it. We know this because when he meets

Tybalt in the center of Verona he says to Tybalt "make it a word and a

blow." Mercutio should have thought about what he was saying before he

said it! What he said in my opinion means, be prepared to fight. He

obviously has no fear of Tybalt unlike the smart and perceptive

Benvolio. He keeps his mouth tightly shut, knowing that being witty,

joking and showing no fear would just anger Tybalt and provoke the

feud between the two families.

Romeo and Juliet are also partly responsible for the feud. Before the

Ball starts Juliet's Mother Lady Capulet tells her that "The valiant

Paris seeks you for his love." As Juliet knew she was to be married to

Paris and that this was her families desire. When she met Romeo, even

though she has no idea that he was a Montague, told him she was to be