Loyalty In Romeo And Juliet

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Loyalty is usually considered an important quality for someone to have, but, as shown in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, loyalty can have some bad outcomes. Many of the characters in Romeo and Juliet are loyal to each other, particularly the servants of the Capulets and Montagues, Tybalt, and Romeo and Juliet themselves. Sometimes this loyalty can cause unwanted problems.
Firstly, the Capulets’ and Montagues’ servants are very loyal to their masters. In the opening scene of the play, two of Capulet’s servants, Sampson and Gregory, are walking in Verona and talking bad about the Montagues. They see Abraham and another Montague servant and proceed to “bite their thumbs” at them. “‘Do you bite your thumb at us sir?’ / ‘I do bite my thumb, sir’” …show more content…

Tybalt is a Capulet and very passionate about hating the Montagues. In Act 1 Scene 5 when Romeo, Benvolio, and Mercutio sneak into Capulet’s party, Tybalt recognizes Romeo and begs Lord Capulet to kick him out. “Uncle, this is a Montague, our foe, / A villain that is hither come in spite / To scorn at our solemnity this night” (1. v. 69-71). Later, Tybalt sees Romeo on the street and tries to fight him, convinced that Romeo has done something to him. Romeo doesn’t want to fight, and Mercutio steps in. Benvolio and Romeo try to stop them, but Mercutio gets fatally wounded. Tybalt’s devotion to his family ended up killing Mercutio, and Tybalt himself later ends up dead because of …show more content…

The main way they show loyalty is by going against their families and getting married. After they are married, Romeo kills Tybalt in another fight as revenge for killing Mercutio. When Juliet hears this, she is devastated, but still loves Romeo. She gets mad at the nurse for calling Romeo shameful, and refuses to speak of him badly. “‘Shall you speak well of him that killed your cousin?’ / ‘Shall I speak ill of him that is my husband?’” (III. ii. 105-106). Later, Lord Capulet wants Juliet to marry Count Paris. She refuses because she is already married to Romeo and loves him (even though he’s banished from Verona). After her father threatens to disown her if she doesn’t marry Paris, she decides to agree, but then fake her death so that she and Romeo can be together and she doesn’t have to marry Paris. Unfortunately, Romeo and Juliet’s loyalty to each other ends badly. They are so in love that they both kill themselves to be with each other. When Romeo hears that Juliet is “dead”, he goes to buy poison to drink because he would rather be dead than without her. After Romeo goes to Juliet’s tomb and drinks the poison, she wakes up and sees him dead. Juliet is so upset she then takes Romeo’s dagger and stabs herself.
Numerous characters in Romeo and Juliet show great loyalty, but the outcome of this loyalty isn’t always good. All three of these examples of loyalty with the servants, Tybalt, and Romeo

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