"The Reality Concept"

There are many different kinds of conflict evident within Romeo and Juliet. For instance there are internal conflicts, external conflicts, physical conflicts, and my personal favorite, the "Is this really happening" conlict. The "is this really happening" conflict is seen often, mostly through Romeo, and ties human nature, passionate love, and depth of emotion all together in one big knot. An amazing example of this is when Romeo is aware of the danger he is in when he visits Juliet yet chooses to ignore it and says, "I have nights cloak to hide me from their eyes, and, but thou love me, let them find me here. My life were better ended by their hate than death prorogued wanting of thy love." (2.2.80) You may be wondering what is Tali talking about, I really don't get it. Basically, the "is this really happening Conflict" is a conflict in which the person to which the conflict is happening looks at the conflict with an eye deeming the could-be punishment false or for some reason a joke. For example, when you break your arm you look at your arm and think, "Haha funny, when is this dream going to end...is this really happening?" When Romeo visits Juliet, he knows that he could be killed but he uses love as a blindfold and somewhat pretends or is maybe too "in love" to grasp that he could really be killed and that it isn't just a joke. Similarly, when Romeo approaches the physical conflict of Mercutio and Tybalt fighting he intervenes like it is a joke or a video game in which, if something goes bad, you can always 'restart.' In life this is not the case. Romeo says, "Gentlemen, for shame forbear this outrage! Tybalt! Mercutio! The Prince expressly hath forbid this bandying in Verona streets. Hole, Tybalt! Good Mercutio!" (3.1.85) Here Romeo jumps in between the two fighting men as if he is invincible never thinking about the consequences or what could happen. And when Mercutio gets killed he acts like is this really happening? Did I really kill him? Another way you could describe this conflict, is the conflict of Extreme Emotions. This is both a good and a bad thing. It is great to love deeply, to be alive when you're happy but it is also a bad thing when you are depressed with grief and drowning in sorrow.

The Uglies :)

In Romeo and Juliet many different themes are enmeshed within. One that speaks to me is the theme of Style over Substance which is seen most everywhere today. In the Uglies series by Tom Westerfield the importance of looks is played upon with a new twist. For those of you who haven't read The Uglies it is about a world where at 16 everyone gets an operation done that makes you beautifu and thin but that takes out your independent-thinking brain cells. Basically you become beautiful and lose your brains. It shows what a world where everyone is beautiful might look like. When reading Romeo and Juliet, I noticed that they fall in love immediatly and Juliet even comments that she has heard him say less than 100 words and already loves him. When you have spent so little time with someone and have barely heard them talk, it is obvious that is not the brains and substance that is speaking but the beauty that they see within eachother. In the Uglies when everyone is beautiful, Tally (the main character) falls in love with someone who has escaped the surgery and not only does this coorelate with "forbidden love" theme but it also points out human nature which is that we always want what we don't have. When few are beautiful, we want beautiful; when few are ugly, we want "unique."  In Romeo and Juliet, Romeo and Juliet can't have eachother because their families are fighting, however, they try to find a way around it. Tally can't have the man she loves because he doesn't live in her pretty world and the pretty world doesn't let anyone in or out besides the new pretties.

I'm not sure if this made sense, but I hope someone caught my train of thought and found this interesting :)