SOURCE: Levenson, Jill L. “‘Alla Stoccado Carries It Away’: Codes of Violence in Romeo and Juliet.” In Shakespeare's “Romeo and Juliet”: Texts, Contexts, and Interpretation, edited by Jay L. Halio, pp. 83-96. Cranbury, N.J.: Associated University Presses, 1995.

In the following essay, Levenson discusses the centrality of violence—depicted in the numerous acts of dueling—in Romeo and Juliet and its displays of ambition, power, and competition.

Now malice and hatred ouerrunneth all, strife and rancor are the bellows of quarrels, and men vpon euerie light cause enter into more actions of defiance, than for any iust occasion offered in respect of iustice and honour.

—Vincentio Saviolo, His Practise (1595)¹

If the character of Hamlet results from an encounter with early modern codes of violence, the whole of Romeo and Juliet anticipates that meeting.² The protocols of fighting inform the narrative of the earlier play, not only facilitating the...