Romeo and Juliet: Selfish desires:Conflict

Conflict is a universal concept that can be started in various ways, often leading to arguments or violence. In Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, conflict arises of ten and between many characters. In Act 3 Scene 1, Tybalt, Mercutio and Romeo struggle to contain their anger leading to violence and death. In Act 1, Lady Capulet and Juliet both harbour their own desires about marriage that are conflicting. Finally, Tybalt's desire to dispel Romeo at the party scene shows him internal hatred rising uncontrolled to the surface. All of these scenes show that an individual's inability to control their selfish desires leads to conflict.

Conflict whilst selfish desire is in play, tends to get more aggravated as it is what a certain person wants. Juliet in her case has no care or intention whatsoever to follow her generations hatred. At the end of her first encounter with Romeo, Juliet states how she had just learned that the man she fell in love with was heir to the Montague family, the family in which her family is in pure hatred with. She says "My only love sprung from my only hate! Too early seen unknown and known too late! Prodigious birth of love it is to me That I must love a loathed enemy." She has fallen in love with the family's enemy and knows her family will never approve of her love. This occurs within the happening of Tybalt’s death, she cannot say anything about the dilemma she finds her self intertwined in without the use of the oxymoron. This shows how no matter what her family wants she will go against them due to her own selfish desires.

Conflict can also arise due to selfish desire, when someone insults the person you love you may turn against them even if it is someone close to you. Juliet heard Romeo insulted b the nurse and she immediately turns. She says "Blister’d be thy tongue For such a wish! he was not born to shame; Upon his brow shame is asham’d to sit; For ’tis a throne where honor may be crown’d Sole monarch of the universal earth. O,