Internal Conflict in Romeo and Juliet Essay Example

Juliet Capulet is one of two main protagonists in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. She is a thirteen year old girl from a wealthy family who’s expected to marry well and make her family (read: her dad) proud. She tries to make them proud by agreeing to meet Paris, a potential suitor and kin to Prince Escalus, at their party. She doesn’t connect with Paris though, and instead meets Romeo who she falls in love with instantly.  This would be fine, except that Romeo is a Montague, and the Montagues have been enemies of the Capulets for ages, so her family would never approve. Now Juliet is torn between her desires, and her family’s wishes. Shakespeare develops Juliet’s character in Romeo and Juliet through her internal struggle between her happiness and her family’s happiness to prove that split loyalties can cause internal conflict which ultimately leads to disaster. 

Juliet’s struggle begins when she meets Romeo and is immediately infatuated with him. Wanting to know more about her anonymous lover, she asks her nurse who he is. The nurse goes to ask him and returns proclaiming, “His name is Romeo, and a Montague/The only son of your great enemy”(I.v.135). Juliet is stunned and cries out, “My only love sprung from my only hate!” ,devastated that her newfound love is of her enemy’s household (I.v.137). Blatantly divided between her hatred for Montagues and her love for Romeo who is a Montague  Just a moment ago she claimed her wedding bed would be her grave if he was married and could not be with her, so knowing his family name will certainly (if only for a moment) cause her to question her feelings for him. Not to mention her family’s reaction, even if she decides he’s more than his name (which she eventually does) they may never be able to see past it. This love is intense but seems impossible, marking the beginning of Juliet’s split loyalties and her eventual demise. 

Juliet’s situation becomes even more complex when her dad decides she will be married to Paris without knowing she is already married to Romeo. He does this in order to make her feel better, but ends up making it worse given that she is currently miserable from not being able to see her husband. The last thing she wants right now is a new one, so she tells her mother she will not marry Paris. Her mother is shocked and tells her she must inform her father herself. He enters the room to Lady Capulet telling him Juliet doesn’t wish to marry Paris. Trying to explain herself and clarify her response, she tells him"Not proud you have, but thankful that you have./Proud can I never be of what I hate;/But thankful even for hate that is meant love," promising that she appreciates the gesture even though she does not want the marriage (III.v.146).Lord Capulet takes this rejection just about as well as Juliet took the offer in the first place, screaming that she is ungrateful and must marry him or leave his house.  Now Juliet is conflicted between obeying her father, marrying Paris, and not becoming homeless or going with her love, admitting that she married Romeo in secret, and getting everyone involved in their marriage in trouble. This is the event that causes her to go to the extreme, scaring Romeo into killing himself and leading her and her husband to an early grave. This issue is extremely important both to the story and to Shakespeare’s belief about internal conflict. 

Shakespeare’s view of internal conflict within oneself as a gateway to disaster is continuously shown throughout the play, through many different characters. Juliet is an incredible example of this with her difficult decisions between marrying Romeo (following her heart) or remaining loyal to her family (pleasing her family), and whether to marry Paris or fake her death and run away with Romeo. These conflicts and the decisions Juliet makes in response to them results in not only her and Romeo losing their lives, but many of their friends and associates including Paris, Mercutio, Tybalt, and Lady Montague. The problems present in Romeo and Juliet represent the conflict that everyone of us feels every single day. The majority of the decisions we make are choices between one thing or another that results in internal conflict. From what food to eat, what college to apply for, and which job to take, every choice we make has consequences and all of them affect who we are and who we turn out to be.