Power Struggle In Romeo And Juliet

Power Struggle

“The ability or right to control people or things.” Merriam-Webster’s definition of power is in the top one percent of over 470,000 words that are looked up in their dictionary. Power is a highly pursued word, because it is a difficult concept to understand. The definition implies that to have power is to have a right. That isn’t the part of the elucidation that often stumps people, the question people really want the answer to, is “what gives someone that right?” The amount of power and money someone has, dictates the level of humanity they are treated with.
Children are born into the world already in a family with a certain class, and are treated as such without personal effort, or offense. The same goes for everyday people,

who just want to live in peace. Even though in actuality, living in unruffled harmony is unrealistic, if all people were looked at through the same lens, regardless of their ethnicity, class, etc., much conflict could be avoided. 1867 marks the beginning of the Mineral Revolution. Until then, the British and Boers coexisted in South Africa. After a change in government due to the 1899 Boer War and the infamous British Empire, 24,000 women and children were put in concentration camps and were killed. The different groups such as the British were born into their race, and they were taken more seriously, and treated with more respect because of it. Similarly, the 24,000 vulnerable women and children who were brutally murdered, were helpless and couldn’t control the life they had been given.
In Romeo and Juliet, there are two relevant families.

They were called the Capulets, and the Montagues. These two high class families were proclaimed rivals to one another, for reasons dating back long before any of them could remember. “Two households, both alike in dignity,” (1.1.1) Taken from the first line of the prologue, evidently this is a noteworthy thought, and a significant line to the overall piece. The ‘Two households’ mentioned, are the Capulets and the Montagues. The two families are said to be ‘both alike in dignity’. This compares the two as similar to each other, although they are rivals. Romeo and Juliet, who are both relatives of the opposing families, fall in love and elope. The quote explains that they are in a similar social class, so it is only fitting that they would be together, representing the equal dignity that they would share. In the time that Romeo and Juliet was set in, marriages would be arranged based on family stature, or class. Juliet Capulet was set to be married to a man named Paris. Paris is a kinsman of a the Prince, which Lord Capulet would believe to be a better fit for Juliet than Romeo. This shows that class is more important to Capulet than love or Juliet’s happiness. Romeo wasn’t given as much respect as Paris, and wasn’t treated with the same rights as he was, just because he wasn’t as rich and

important.
Some people are born with immediate potential for a life in which they can be treated with respect and have privileges. Others aren't so lucky. Even if a life is self made for a hard worker, people find it difficult to see past the surface if the cut and dry expectations aren’t flawlessly met. Diligence isn’t enough in some minds, and people are often misinterpreted, and given rights that are undeserved.