Disloyalty And Disobedience In Romeo And Juliet English Literature Essay

Disloyalty and disobedience have been causes for some of the largest events in history. Someone’s disobedience and disloyalty can cause confusion and breakdown of society and ultimately end up with death. In William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, almost every character was disobedient or disloyal at one point in the play. The characters in the play were disobedient and disloyal because of revenge, hate, and greed.

Greed is a major force that makes characters disobedient or disloyal in Romeo and Juliet. One incident is Paris’ disloyalty to Capulet. Capulet believed this arranged marriage would help Juliet overcome her grief for Tybalt. However, Paris’ plans were much different than Capulet’s. By marrying Juliet, Paris would gain a higher status. He would also inherit the whole Capulet estate. Paris is being disloyal to Capulet because he believes he likes Juliet but he truly doesn’t. He also spends more time talking to Capulet than he does talking to Juliet. Because of the benefits he will receive, Paris is interested in marrying Juliet before he even meets her. However, Juliet is able to determine Paris’ real reasons for wanting to marry her by taking her mother’s advice, “read o’er the volume of young Paris’ face, / And find delight writ there with beauty’s pen.” (I.iii.82-83) This greed contributes to his fated death in the catacombs. Another incident of someone’s greed causing them to be disobedient is the apothecary’s disobedience towards Mantua’s laws. After learning of Juliet’s presumed death, Romeo goes to the apothecary to purchase poison that will kill him. The selling of these poisons are against Mantua’s laws and are punishable with death. Originally, the apothecary refuses to sell Romeo the poison, but after Romeo offers him a larger amount of money, he accepts. The apothecary’s choice to sell Romeo the poison is punishing himself. “I sell thee poison; thou hast sold me none.” (V.i.83) The poison Romeo sold to the apothecary is his greed for money. He only sold the poison to Romeo after agreeing to a larger pay. The apothecary hasn’t sold poison to Romeo because the poison he has will give him freedom.

Those are two examples of how greed makes characters in Romeo and Juliet disobedient and disloyal. However, there are many more motives for this.

Hate is another motive that makes characters in Romeo and Juliet become disobedient and disloyal. Although hate is largely seen between the Montagues and Capulets, there is also hate between individual characters. Mercutio’s hate for Tybalt is shown from the beginning of the play to his death. He hates him because of he is vain, easily insulted, and fashionable. His hate is shown throughout the play by his reference to Tybalt as a cat, “Good king of cats,” (III.i.76) and “Ay, ay, a scratch, a scratch.” (III.i.92) The term scratch refers to Mercutio’s wound after he was stabbed by Tybalt. Mercutio’s hate for him grows as Tybalt continues to insult the Montagues. His hate for him grows to its peak when he decides to fight Tybalt because Romeo wouldn’t. Mercutio’s hate for Tybalt causes him to be disobedient towards the Prince’s orders not to fight in the streets. His hate for Tybalt is a cause of his death. Another example of this is Juliet’s hate for Paris. Although Juliet promises she will try to like Paris, she is able to determine Paris’ real reasons for wanting to marry her: a higher social status and to inherit the Capulet estate. When Juliet is told of Capulet’s plan to have her marry Paris, Juliet rejects it because she’s already married Romeo and knows about Paris’ plan. After seeking Friar Laurence’s advice, she returns home and tells her father that she has agreed to the marriage. Juliet is being disloyal and disobedient to her parents because she isn’t following her parents’ wishes. Then, she tricks them into believing that she has changed her mind. Her hate for Paris and rejection of the planned marriage contributes to her fated death in the catacombs. Those are two examples of how hate makes characters in Romeo and Juliet disobedient and disloyal. However, hate can turn into revenge.

Revenge is another motive that makes characters disobedient and disloyal in Romeo and Juliet. One incident is when Romeo kills Tybalt. Tybalt challenges Romeo to a duel, but he refuses because they are relatives since he married Juliet. Mercutio decides to fight Tybalt instead because Romeo won’t. Romeo attempts to stop the fight but Tybalt stabs Mercutio under his arm, thus killing him. Romeo in seek of revenge, duels with Tybalt and kills him. Romeo is being disobedient towards the Prince’s orders to stop fighting in the streets of Verona. However, the state would have sentenced Tybalt to death if Romeo hadn’t killed him first. Romeo’s anger over what occurred took over his mind, thus, clouding his judgement. All he wanted to do was kill Tybalt for killing Mercutio. However, Romeo is exiled for his actions and thus making the plot more complicated. Another incident is when Paris wants revenge on Romeo. Romeo arrives at the Capulets’ tomb after learning of Juliet’s presumed death. Paris sees him and realizes he was the one who killed Tybalt, indirectly killing Juliet because of her grief for her cousin. He thinks he has come to deface the Capulet’s tomb because he hates the Capulets for getting him exiled. “Stop thy unhallowed toil, vile Montague! / Can vengeance be pursued further than death?” (V.iii.54-5) Paris tells Romeo to leave because there’s enough shame here and he should leave them alone. Romeo refuses and they duel resulting in Paris’ death. Paris’ greed and sense of ownership over Juliet and the Capulet’s compels him to protect the tomb from Romeo. Paris wanted revenge on Romeo for indirectly killing Juliet. His urge for revenge results in his disobedience towards the Prince’s orders to stop fighting in the streets and his death. Those are two examples of how revenge made characters in Romeo and Juliet disobedient and disloyal.

A character’s greed for money, hate for another character, and urge to seek revenge because of death causes characters in Romeo and Juliet to be disobedient and disloyal. This behaviour is what allows the plot to move along. Without this, there would be no conflicts or problems for characters to overcome and solve. All the characters in the play had motive to act disobediently and disloyally. Disobedience and disloyalty occurs in everyday life from politics to friendships, it’s needed for life to proceed and for people to grow throughout the world.