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Jillian Berry
Mrs. King
English 9
27 May 2015
Literary Analysis: Theme
In William Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet passion is shown love or hate the
passion caused tragedy. This all sprouted from the Capulets and the Montagues having
a strong hatred towards one another that blossomed into many other reasons for love
and hate. This play that takes place in Verona, Italy with Juliet, a Capulet, who fell in
love with her arch enemy, Romeo, who was a Montague. Through this unlikely romance,
deaths occur often. As shown in Romeo and Juliet being overly passionate and not
thinking causes tragedy.

The Capulets and the Montagues did not think about their children as they
feuded, they were selfish. Romeo and Juliet ended up paying for it. Where be these
enemies Capulet, Montague see what as courage is laid upon your hate That heaven
finds means to kill your joys with love!(V.3.315-319) The Capulets and Montagues
ended up stopping their feud and realizing they were selfish. The heads of the families
were too passionate in hate to realize it was hurting their children. Because of that the
children had to suffer.

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Juliet shows her passion for Romeo by drinking the potion from Friar Laurence
because she desperately wants to run away with Romeo to be with him forever. Romeo
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come! This do I drink I thee.(IV.3.3) This is important to the play because it shows how
serious and pure Juliet and Romeos love is. Romeo and Juliet have just met, yet they
are madly in love with one another. They would do anything to be with each other and
that included taking a potion.

Romeo and Juliets love got Tybalt very angry and caused the death of Mercutio.
My very friend, hath got this moral hurt in my behalf- my reputation staind with Tybalt's
slander.(III. 1) This passion was not a good passion. It was a hatred between the
Montagues and the Capulets. Tybalt killed Mercutio because of their deep and long
history of hating each other. Romeos love for his cousin Mercutio is what caused
Romeo to kill Tybalt. This caused a lot of tragedy in the play. Tybalt and Mercutios
death and the banishing of Romeo from Verona.

As shown in Romeo and Juliet being overly passionate and thinking causes
tragedy. If it's the death of a loved one, the taking of a potion or just killing yourself to be
with your true love is displayed often in Romeo and Juliet. For this alliance may so
happy prove to turn your households rancor to pure love.(II. 1) We had hoped that their

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love for one another would bring the Montagues and Capulets together. Friar Laurence
was hoping that by marrying young Romeo and Juliet it would change the destiny of the
two families that were alike in dignity. Instead, it made everything more complicated
than it was before. In the end, always think before jumping into something aimlessly
because it could end tragically.

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Work Cited
Shakespeare, William. Romeo and Juliet. Boston: The Language of Literature,

2002. Pages 1025 and 1056. Print.