Answer:
A tragedy written by William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet is among Shakespeare's most frequently performed plays along with Hamlet. Shakespeare had borrowed the plot for his play Romeo and Juliet from an Italian tale translated into verse by Arthur Brooke "The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet" in 1562, and "Palace of Pleasure" written in prose by William painter in 1567.
Explanation:
It is a story about two young lovers who fell in love with each other despite their family rivalry. Shakespeare had used poetic dramatic structure to create an environment of tension, comedy, and tragedy. The main theme of the drama is love. But Shakespeare through his play had also depicted other values in the play like friendship, loyalty, etc.
The values of friendship that Shakespeare had portrayed in the play are through various friendships implied throughout Romeo and Juliet.
The friendships that we see in the play are Benvolio, Mercutio and Romeo, The nurse and Juliet, Tybalt and the nurse, Lord Capulet and Paris, and Friar Lawrence with Romeo and Juliet.
In Act 3, Scene 1, when Romeo had married Juliet secretly, his friends, Mercutio and Benvolio gets in the fight with Tybalt who instigate them into the feud. Romeo, when try to pacify Mercutio and Tybalt to stop fighting because Tybalt is his wife Juliet's cousin brother and does not want to fight with him, Tybalt under the arms of Romeo stabs Mercutio and runs away from there. Though Romeo loved Juliet, he killed Tybalt because of his friendship with Mercutio, whom Tybalt kills mischievously.
"Romeo
Gentle Mercutio, lower your sword.
Mercutio
Come, sir, show me one of your fancy moves. Show me your passado.
Romeo
Draw your sword, Benvolio, and beat down their weapons so they don’t strike each other. Gentlemen, for shame, stop this outrage! Tybalt, Mercutio, the prince expressly forbade fighting in Verona streets. Stop, Tybalt! Stop good Mercutio!
[Tybalt under Romeo's arm stabs Mercutio, and runs away with his followers]"
[Act 3. Scene 1]
And because Tybalt was a cousin and a good friend to Juliet, she feels upset with Romeo when she come to know that Romeo had killed him (but later forgives when she comes to know the truth.)
The value of friendship that we see in the play is that a friend is ready to die for a friend or even to kill someone, and that of loyalty. But the values of friendship had changed over a hundred years. These days we see the cases of cheat of one friend over the other. some make friends for the sake of money and comfort that one gives. There's greed, jealousy and envy in friendships these days.
