Data Bases • Custom Term Papers • Free Term Papers • Free Research Papers • Free Essays • Free Book Reports • Plagiarism? Links • Top 100 Term Paper Sites • Top 25 Essay Sites • Top 50 Essay Sites • Search 97,000 Papers @ DirectEssays.com • Search 101,000 Papers @ ExampleEssays.com • Search 90,000 Papers @ MegaEssays.com Free Essays • Term Paper Sites • Chuck III's Free Essays • Free College Essays • TermPaperSites.com • My Term Papers • Get Free Essays • Essay World • Planet Papers	Search Lots of Essays Back to Subjects - Book Reports Romeo and Juliet Romeo and Juliet In Las Angeles in the 1980’s & 1990’s unjustified and irrational hatred was the cause of over one hundred thousand deaths. During the Blood-Cript gang war people were afraid to be on the streets, fearing they could be beaten or even killed for as little as wearing a red or blue shirt. Although this sounds atrocious the idea of hating a person you have never met is not a new concept to the world. In fact it has been the subject of countless books and movies through out the years. William Shakespeare told this tale in the play Romeo and Juliet. The theme or life lessons in this story are to judge a person not for who they are but for their actions and decisions, as well as to not impress your animosities on others, and finally to forgive. The idea of judging a person by their actions and not for whom they are seems relatively simple. But when a relationship between people is founded on hatred that is generations old it is a little more complicated, as is the case with the Montegues and Capulets. During Benvolio and Tibult’s first encounter Benvolio asks peace of Tibult, who responds, “Peace? Peace? I hate the word as I hate Hell, all Montegues and you.”(Act I scene I line 72) It can be assumed that Tibult and Benvolio knew nothing about each other, and that they had never met under circumstances other than of their incredible malice towards one another. What was the purpose of all this? What was the basis behind their antipathy? Undoubtedly it was not worth all that was sacrificed for the feud. This relates to all our lives in that often times people will dislike an entire group of people because of the things a few members of the group do. The principals being presented here are the same basic knowledge children are taught in pre-school. The second lesson in our story is another one commonly taught in pre-school. It is that one person’s animosities should not be impressed on another person. That is just because A dislikes B, whether the reason is justified or not, A should allow others to decide how they feel about B without influence. In the play everyone, even the lowliest servants, loathed the opposite family and everything associated. This is obviously not coincidence and it is not likely that every person in each family committed an act to every person in the other family so abominable as to earn their hatred. How then was this animosity able to spread as it did? The same way it does when the playground bully makes fun of some kid and soon there is a mob behind him blaming the child for all life’s problems. Along with the mentality that the enemy of a friend is an enemy, but standing behind your friends while right or wrong is not justice, it’s just an excuse to fight. The final, less prominent but no less meaningful message in the play is to forgive. If Capulet and Montegue could have resolved their conflict earlier the entire tragedy could have been avoided. They also could have made their children the happiest people on earth. It is said that the universe’s way of getting our attention is through pain. This was proved true throughout the tragedy. Many things were sacrificed at the expense of their feud before Capulet and Montegue decided to put aside their differences and attempt to get along. Mercutio, kinsman to Montegue and friend of Romeo, was slain. Whose death was avenged through Tibult’s murder, after which Romeo was banished and Juliet’s heart broken. Romeo later, thinking Juliet dead, killed the prince’s kinsman Paris before taking his own life and Juliet awakening to find her love dead takes her own. It is also said that through wisdom pain can be avoided. Perhaps this is why Shakespeare themed this play so well, to help others obtain the wisdom to avoid pain. The morals Shakespeare was implementing in this story are in my opinion excellent if not the perhaps the best messages he could have taught. Not limited only to his own time these have been being taught for over four hundred years now. These topics are still very pertinent to our lives. Almost everyone in today’s society will judge others by the way they look, talk, their race or religious background, their sexual orientation, their families or the people they associate themselves with. Also many people will dislike another with no basis other than it is an enemy of their friend, and other people can hold a grudge for so long they forget why they hate the person. Once our society can get past these barriers the world will be a greater place. And maybe, just maybe it will all start with the story of two star-crossed lovers who took their lives. For never was there a story of more woe than that of Juliet and her Romeo. Bibliography: Word Count: 837
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