Open Prompt 1

1980. A recurring theme in literature is the classic war between a passion and responsibility. For instance, a personal cause, a love, a desire for revenge, a determination to redress a wrong, or some other emotion or drive may conflict with moral duty. Choose a literary work in which a character confronts the demands of a private passion that conflicts with his or her responsibilities. In a well-written essay show clearly the nature of the conflict, its effects upon the character, and its significance to the work.

            Shakespeare’s characters Romeo and Juliet in his play Romeo and Juliet both face the internal war of deciding between passion for each other or responsibility to their family.  Romeo’s family, the Montagues, and Juliet’s family, the Capulets, have been in a long standing feud that affects the entire city of Verona because of the constant duels and deaths between the families. It is in this atmosphere that Romeo and Juliet’s secret forbidden love begins to blossom and the war between passion and responsibility begins. The war has many battles in that there are many situations where both Romeo and Juliet have to decide which side to take, passion or family responsibility?

            Once Romeo and Juliet realize they are in love with someone from the house of their family’s enemy, they both are incredibly shocked and upset. It causes both of the characters distress to have gone against their family and they are both conflicted with what to do. This is the first time they face the decision of choosing passion over their responsibility to family. At this point, passion wins out, and Romeo and Juliet secretly get married, complicating the plot even more due to the secrecy.

Soon, Tybalt and Romeo meet and Tybalt wants to fight causing Romeo to again have to make a decision between passion or responsibility. Tybalt is now Romeo’s family member, although it isn’t known to anyone yet. According to his family’s expectations, he needs to fight Tybalt because he is part of the enemy family. But, if he did fight Tybalt, it would hurt his Juliet’s feelings because that is her family. Again, passion wins out and Romeo tries to avoid a fight with his new relative Tybalt.  

Julie hears later that Romeo has killed one of her family members and has to decide between her love for Romeo or her family. If she picks love, she would forgive Romeo, but if she picks her responsibility to her family, she would leave him for committing this act against her family. Passion wins out yet again as Juliet makes the difficult decision and picks Romeo and therefore decides to forgive him.

As the play goes on, the two characters continue to face many situations where they have to decide whether to choose their love for one another or their family. Each time, passion wins out, which seems to show that in conflicts where passion is one option, it always wins. Having the characters go through this type of internal conflict time and time again builds up suspense in the audience as they are watching the play, making them wonder if the characters will continue to choose passion over responsibility, or if they finally had enough. Also, it constantly reminds the audience of the difficult decision and the sacrifices Romeo and Juliet had to face in order to make their marriage and love work and it really emphasizes their love for each other. In conclusion, the famous tragic lovers Romeo and Juliet go through the classic war between passion and responsibility found in many classical pieces of literature.