Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare is a renowned play written by one of the most famous writers of all time. The plot revolves around Romeo and Juliet who are from opposing families: Montagues and Capulets. It is a story of love and hate, happiness and sadness, and naiveté and wisdom. There are violent undertones throughout the whole story, specifically a handful of significant scenes where direct violence erupts. This direct violence can be attributed to cultural and structural violence within the play, and ultimately the death of Romeo and Juliet at the end of the play. There is hate taught in each of the families. In their eyes this hatred justifies the violence they carry out. This structure of hate keeps individuals in the city of Verona…show more content… Structural violence is a form of violence wherein some social structure may harm people by obstructing basic needs. When reading Romeo and Juliet the reader understands that the mutual love between Romeo and Juliet is a basic need, for when they are separated from each other, they kill themselves. The structure that prevents the two from seeing each other are the enforced stereotypes of the opposing families. While banished from Verona, Romeo says “Let me have a dram of poison , such soon-speeding gear. As will disperse itself through all the veins, that the life-weary taker may fall dead…”(Shakespeare 5.1). Romeo in this quote is saying that he would rather kill himself than live without the love of Juliet. Life is obviously a basic right and to be able to love who you want is a basic need. Thus, when Romeo’s will to live is taken away by the familial structure in Verona it is a form of structural violence. When Romeo decides upon this extreme he feels as though there is no other choice. He feels that he and Juliet will never be able to be together when the structures that surround him prevent him from achieving his goal. The exact same problem faces Juliet as she says “This is thy sheath. There rust, and let me die”(Shakespeare 5.3). She like Romeo also decides to kill herself. She feels as if a life without Romeo is not a life worth living. These two cases of direct violence against oneself are attributed to the structural violence in
