Prince: Rebellious subjects, enemies to peace,
Profaners of this neighbour-stained steel,--
Will they not hear? What, ho! you men, you beasts,
That quench the fire of your pernicious rage
With purple fountains issuing from your veins,
On pain of torture, from those bloody hands
Throw your mistemper'd weapons to the ground,
And hear the sentence of your moved prince.
Three civil brawls, bred of an airy word,
By thee, old Capulet, and Montague,
Have thrice disturb'd the quiet of our streets,
And made Verona's ancient citizens
Cast by their grave beseeming ornaments,
To wield old partisans, in hands as old,
Canker'd with peace, to part your canker'd hate:
If ever you disturb our streets again,
Your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace.
For this time, all the rest depart away:
You Capulet; shall go along with me:
And, Montague, come you this afternoon,
To know our further pleasure in this case,
To old Free-town, our common judgment-place.
Once more, on pain of death, all men depart.
[Exeunt all but MONTAGUE, LADY MONTAGUE, and BENVOLIO]
The Prince is introduced in this scene because of the ongoing fight in the street of Verona between Montague and Capulet. In the passage we can see one of Shakespeare's many themes thought out the book; Violence not only affects the people involved but everyone around it.
The first words said by the prince are: "Rebellious subjects, enemies to peace, Profaners of this neighbour-stained steel,-- Will they not hear? What, ho! you men, you beasts". These lines express the Prince and Verona's people opinion about the brawls. First, the rebels, the Montague and Capulet, are breaking the peace in Verona. Then the citizens of the city are being disturbed by the brawls. Finally the Prince express the peoples plead to the Montague and Capulet t
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