I have to write an essay about Romeo and Juliet, and my topic is that it is society, not fate nor an individual's decisions in life, that is the...

What an interesting thesis! Let's take a look at Act 5, Scene 1, when Romeo is bribing the impoverished apothecary to sell him some poison. As we know, Romeo is desperate to kill himself, having just been informed that his beloved Juliet is dead.

Notice how Romeo mentions that Mantua's laws forbid anyone from selling poison strong enough to kill someone, and yet he knows that the poor apothecary will probably break the law in order to earn some much-needed money:

Noting this penury, to myself I said,

“An if a man did need a poison now”—

Whose sale is present death in Mantua—

“Here lives a caitiff wretch would sell it him.”

After Romeo tells the apothecary what he wants to buy, the latter makes a weak pretense at refusing Romeo's request, essentially saying "No, man, I can't do that because it's against the law, and they'll kill me if they catch me selling that poison to you:"

"Such mortal drugs I have, but Mantua’s law

Is death to any he that utters them."

But the apothecary caves easily to Romeo's request, earning "forty ducats" for the poison.

So here's what we know. Society's laws forbid the apothecary from selling something profitable. And because of those laws, among other reasons, the apothecary is desperately poor and starving.

Here's the kicker. Romeo tells the apothecary:

"The world is not thy friend nor the world’s law.

The world affords no law to make thee rich.

Then be not poor, but break it, and take this."

He's saying, "Society and its laws aren't good to you. They aren't designed to make you rich. So reject society, take my money, and stop being poor."

Romeo's words that I've put in bold are examples of:

• understatement (expressing an idea in much weaker terms than what is truly meant)


• repetition (saying key words multiple times in order to make a point: "world" and "law")


• a play on words (saying "afford" instead of "has" in order to emphasize the issue of money)

Discussing any of those devices would help you call attention to what's happening in the story: it's that society is forcing the apothecary to make the horrible choice, break the law, aid in Romeo's suicide, and thereby earn enough money to eat. That is, it wasn't really the apothecary's decision to make; it was society's. We know that's true because he tells Romeo that he's selling the poison because he's poor, not because he's doing it of his own free will:

"My poverty, but not my will, consents."