Quote 1
PRINCE
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 mistempered weapons to the ground, […]
Three civil brawls bred of an airy word
By thee, old Capulet, and Montague,
Have thrice disturbed 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,
Cankered with peace, to part your cankered hate
(1.1.85-89; 91-97)
When the Prince calls the Capulets and Montagues a bunch of "beasts," he implies that their hatred doesn't seem to have any rational cause – it is simply the result of passions they refuse to restrain. We also notice that there's never any real explanation of what caused the feud or why it even continues. The only thing we know is that there have been three big street fights that have "disturb'd the quiet of [the] streets" in Verona. The Prince's solution to all of this violence? Any man caught brawling in the future will be sentenced to "death."
Brain Snack: In West Side Story, an award winning musical adaptation of Shakespeare's play, the Capulet/Montague feud is turned into a racially motivated rivalry between two 1950s street gangs, the Jets and the Sharks.
Quote 2
PRINCE
And for that offense
Immediately we do exile him hence.
I have an interest in your hate's proceeding:
My blood for your rude brawls doth lie a-bleeding.
But I'll amerce you with so strong a fine
That you shall all repent the loss of mine.
I will be deaf to pleading and excuses.
Nor tears nor prayers shall purchase out abuses.
Therefore use none. Let Romeo hence in haste,
Else, when he's found, that hour is his last.
Bear hence this body and attend our will.
Mercy but murders, pardoning those that kill.
(3.1.196-207)
After listening to the Capulets and Montagues bicker about whether or not Romeo should be punished for killing Tybalt in a duel, the Prince decides that Romeo should be "exile[d]" instead of put to death (ostensibly because Tybalt killed Mercutio before Romeo killed Tybalt). We also learn here that, if Romeo is caught within the city walls, he'll be killed. Questions: Do you think the Prince's punishment is fair? Does the Prince's own sense of loss over his dead kinsman (Mercutio is the prince's cousin) influence his judgment?