Romeo's Internal Conflicts
Summative Project, By Aaron Fuller
Introduction
In Romeo and Juliet, internal conflict among Romeo effects the outcome of many events in several major ways. Romeo is a bit impatient, and can sometimes cause problems with the different things he does in response to his being upset. One can see that a theme can be drawn from this story; people should not kill themselves because of their conflicts, but wait for the conflicts to be resolved, and can be backed with the examples of whenever Romeo feels like dying after realizing that Rosaline doesn't like him, whenever Romeo hurriedly gets married to Juliet and causes a problem with Paris, whenever Romeo tried to break up the "fight" between Tybalt and Mercutio, getting Mercutio stabbed, and when Romeo hurries off to find Juliet "dead" because that is what his servant told him.
Act 1, Scene 1
The following quote helps to show how impatient Romeo feels whenever it comes to his being with the love of his life, Rosaline. "Why, such is loves transgression. Griefs of mine own lie heavy in my breast, / Which thou wilt propagate, to have it prest with more of thine. This love that thou hast shown / Doth add more grief to too much of mine own / Love is a smoke raised with the fume of sighs; / Being purged, a fire sparkling in lovers' eyes;" (999, l. 197-203) The internal conflict seen inside this quote is how Romeo talks out loud, with much drama, about his personal problems revolving around finding his lovely Rosaline. One could see this happening in real life whenever students in a classroom complain about assignments they have to complete. The internal conflict may not be the exact same, but it is close in the way that students will "mumble" or talk aloud about nothing that is really important, but about how their life is terrible, similar to what Romeo is doing. This relates to the theme because Romeo is having many problems in his life that are troubling him. He later says he would die because of how horrible he feels, but just shortly later, he finds the, supposedly, real "girl of his dreams" and falls in love. This proves if people just wait a little bit longer, things will get better.
Act 2, Scene 3
Later, Romeo decides that he wants to marry this "girl of his dreams," named Juliet, and finds it to be more difficult than he had thought. Romeo is a Montague, while Juliet is a Capulet, two families that hate each other enough to fight to the death. Romeo often finds ways to see Juliet, and in the next quote, ponders with his internal conflicts revolving around their marriage. "...Know my heart's dear love is set / On the fair daughter of rich Capulet; / As mine, on hers, so hers is set on mine, / And all combines, save what thou must combine / By holy marriage. Why, and where, and how / We met, we wooed, and made exchange of vow..." (1030, l. 62-67) Within this quote, Romeo is speaking out his internal conflicts to Friar Laurence, whom he wants to marry the two of them. One can see a relation to real life within this quote and situation, being similar to a child asking their parents to get something from the store. They speak their problems and the necessity for the item out loud, and do in such a way as to convince their parents to buy it for them, like Romeo is trying to convince Friar Laurence to help with his marriage. This can relate to having patience, a key part of the theme rendered in this paper, because of how hurriedly Romeo pushed for this wedding. He is internally conflicted with what he should be doing in order to get married, and doesn't know how he should prevent problems. He doesn't realize that waiting would have been better, which would have prevented the problems he caused Juliet further in the story, causing the issues that will eventually lead to the death of both of them.
Act 3, Scene 1
After Romeo causes all of his problems by marrying Juliet, he causes an issue trying to be the hero between Tybalt and Mercutio. In the next quote, Romeo is internally conflicted, trying to solve his own problems by preventing a fight between his brother-in-law and his best friend. "Draw, Benvolio; beat down their weapons. / Gentlemen, for shame! / Forbear this outrage! / ...Hold, Tybalt! Good Mercutio!" (1046, l. 89-93) This can be related to the theme by seeing that, once again, Romeo's internal conflict caused death with his impatience. He didn't want this fight to continue, and tried to break it up to solve his internal conflicts, and while doing so, accidentally got Mercutio stabbed. If he has just been receptive to Mercutio's denials he would not have caused a death. We can see this on a smaller scale in today's society when we look to the fighting that occurs between siblings. The parent's don't want their siblings fighting, and try to break them up to prevent their own internal conflicts that relate to the situation. This is like what Romeo is doing, here.
Act 5, Scene 1
Of course, there can never be enough death when it comes to Romeo and his impatience. Romeo hears from his servant, Balthasar, that Juliet is dead, and jumps to a conclusion much too fast. The following quote can show this. "Well, Juliet, I will lie with thee tonight. / Lets see for means. O mischief, thou art swift / To enter in the thoughts of desperate men!" (1088, l. 37-39) Romeo is speaking right after Balthasar left, trying to make his thoughts and internal conflicts on the situation more clear. People do this in present life all the time. Anytime you talk aloud to try to solve a problem, you are doing the same thing Romeo is doing in this scene. You can also see a relation between the impatience of many authority figures and their jumping to a conclusion before all sides of the situation have presented themselves. This related because it shows how impatience with conflicts is absolutely not how you should handle them. Romeo takes the word from one person without trying to figure out what was happening, and does not wait at all, but, rather abruptly, kills himself with poison. The conflicts would have resolved themselves if only he had waiting for somebody else to confirm what the servant was saying, something that would never have happened because Friar Laurence would have had his means of communication figured out by that time.