The Dual Qualities Of Nature (Romeo And Julliet) Essay, Research Paper

The Dual Qualities of Nature (romeo and Julliet)

Everything in life has the potential to be both good and evil. In Shakespeare’s tragedy Romeo and Juliet, there are many contrasts between, people, words, things, and actions. Shakespeare warns us that nature is the source of both life and destruction. In Act II scene iii, Friar Lawrence addresses in a monologue the binary traits of nature.

In act II scene iii, the Friar is outside picking plants which he can use in mixing various herbs and medicines. He says he must fill up his wicker basket. All alone, the Friar begins to talk to himself. The Friar says, “plants can be mickle.” Friar Lawrence picks one plant and he mentions how it has two different properties, it is poison and also a medicine. The scent of it can heal, and the taste will kill. “Virtue becomes vice”, he says, explaining how when good things are abused can they can become destructive. His soliloquy compares nature to men. Both have potential for creating life and destroy it. Dualities exist together in a fragile relationship to eachother throughout this tragic story and in the end, there is no celebration of life, no wedding, only deaths and funerals and the hope of new realtionships and dualities to begin.

In the play Romeo and Juliet, the relationship between the two lovers can be viewed as either good or bad. Their love sprung from impulse, beauty, and hate. Both Romeo and Juliet are taught to hate and its ironic how love comes to them so easily. The feud between their families is rooted in such strong hate but, it seemed to dissolve with the intensity of their love. Between the hate that they are taught to feel and the love that they do feel that empowers them, they put themselves above the feud. They love so much, and because this isn’t allowed, their love becomes destructive. Rather than the wonderful pure feeling of joy that the two lovers should feel, they are coerced into concealing their feelings for one another. In this play there is pattern that virtute is turned to vice, then, virtue again. The love between Romeo and Juliet is the strong passion , a virtue at first. The deaths of Tybalt, Marchrusio, Romeo and Juliet are the vice and the resolving of the family feud again turns to virtue. In life, love, and people, there is always both virtue and vice.

An example of good and bad is in the characters of the play. Like every person the characters are balanced with both good and evil. Romeo is a young man who is so caring and full of love that he makes sure no one hurts those he loves. He is impulsive, fickle and so naive. He lives to love, and is known as a good kid. He is against killing and being involved in the feud. But, when his best friend Mercutio is killed by Tybolt, he insists on revenge, on killing Tybolt. Does this make him a bad person? No, I don’t think so, but I do feel that killing someone is wrong and what this proves is that no one escapes containing both good and bad within them. Although he murdered in a fit of rage and had painful remorse, it shows that he too had ability to do ill and have a dual nature

In my life there are events, people and things and traits that could be labeled as either good or bad. I think that the separation of my parents is a good example of a event that resulted in both good and bad in my life. As a whole idea “separation” was hurtful and sad to me. There was pain and sorrow of course, but I didn’t loose the relationship I had with my “parents”, but it changed. Rather than one relationship with both my parents, in the separation I gained two completely different and wonderful relationships. In the end they resolved their problems and I was left with two positive things. Even if they didn’t resolve their problems, I feel that I would have befitted some by gaining two relationships. So, therefore, I believe that all relationships contain a element of good and bad too.

Another example in my life of binary traits is my sensitivity. I feel my most admirable trait as a person is sensitivity and also my most harmful. It is something that keeps me thinking of others and their feelings as well as my own. This sensitivity always makes me extra observant about my surroundings and the way I am perceived, but, sometimes overly aware and paranoid. This makes me feel almost as if I were more delicate than I actually am. I have experienced dualities of emotions, binary relationships of happiness and sadness, love and hate, fear and comfort.

Examples from nature, characters in Romeo and Juliet, and experiences in my own life, make it is easy to see that everything in life has a dual quuality and potential. As human beings we have this potential to do and be both good and evil, right ,wrong, bad, good, hurtful, or helpful. Throughout Romeo and Juliet there are dualities everywhere, in words, people, things, life, death, love and hate, to name a few. Nature and people posess the potential for good or evil, they can either create or destroy. In any action, person, or, situation, both good and bad exist together in a give and take relationship.