Love and hate, such small words for the amount of power that they possess. Both
             have the capacity to change individuals as well as the capability to ruin lives. It can be
             shown that William Shakespeare, in Romeo and Juliet, is attempting to point out the
             intensity of both love and hate alike. Whenever there is a strong enough feeling of love or
             hate between two parties, other individuals can become impassioned by the shear beauty
             of that love or lured in by the absurd but somehow attractive aspects of the hatred.
             The feud between the Capulets and the Montagues not only effects the members of
             those two families, but it effects the servants as well. In the beginning of the play, there is
             a quarrel in the street between the servingmen of the Capulets and those of the
             Montagues. The Capulets provoke it without any instigation:
             Gregory: ...Draw thy tool. Here comes of the house of Montagues.
             Enter [Abram with another servingman.]
             Sampson: My naked weapon is out. Quarrel, I will back thee (I,ii,32-35).
             From this quote, we see just how ingrained the hostilities are, if the servants have become
             a part of them as well. It is because people become involved when they don't need to be,
             in fact, that worthy and innocent people die.
             In Act 3, scene 1, Mercutio is killed, not because he is of either the house of
             Capulet or Montague, but because he is Romeo's best friend and he feels compelled to
             defend Romeo's name, instead of doing what his kinsman, the Prince, would want to have
             done. Mercutio, who is the most easy-going and fun-loving character in the play, dies
             because the two families just can't seem to get along. The ridiculousness of it is almost
             nauseating. Mercutio curses both houses in disgust:
             Mercutio: No, 'tis not so deep as a well, nor so wide as
             a church door, but 'tis enough. 'twill serve. Ask for
             me tomorrow, and you shall find me a g...