As the play's opening proclaims, "civil blood makes civil hands unclean." Over and over, we see the damage the feud between the Montagues and the Capulets causes. Three examples follow:
Juliet's cousin Tybalt kills Romeo's friend Mercutio in a duel. Romeo kills Tybalt and is banished from Verona. Romeo kills himself when he thinks Juliet is dead and Juliet kills herself when she finds Romeo dead.
Romeo and Juliet can't marry openly.
Romeo and Juliet are led into lies and deceit.
Although the stage becomes littered with dead bodies, Shakespeare demonstrates that none of the characters who are killed deserve to die. They are simply ordinary young people caught in a feud that grinds people up. So first, Shakespeare argues that the family feud damages people by causing death. Second, he shows that two people in love are damaged by the feud because they are not allowed to marry (though they do in secret). Finally, the feud causes damage because it drives Romeo and Juliet into lies and tricks that ultimately backfire.
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