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What can we Learn about the Modern World from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet?
That a society without a social contract destroys itself.
Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet depicts a sick and polarized society. Two prominent families, the Montagues and the Capulets are at war and have been for generations. The play begins with a fight between the servants of the rival households. The servants use violent, boastful language, hinting sniggeringly at both murder and rape in order to draw each other into a fight.
The only thing that prevents complete chaos from breaking out is the strict social and political hierarchy of the city of Verona, headed by the prince, Escalus. He has forbidden street fighting on pain of death. How he would carry out this threat is not explicitly stated, but the audience can assume that he has a paid private militia backing up his authority.
The common people are armed. They have spears and partisans (battle axes) that are broken and rusted, but they are ready to use them and clearly have a sense of their own “right” to bear arms. Rereading the scene as I began to write this article, I was reminded of the lawlessness always threatening to break out all over America as people lash out, unable to cope with the stress of the world Covid-19 pandemic and the apparent breakdown of civil…
