Romeo and Juliet: Shakespeare's Metaphor Of Comparing Man To Plants To express his view of good and evil in every man, William Shakespeare writes lines that Friar Laurence reveals in the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet which compare man to plants, focusing on the common trait they hold of having two contrasting components in their being. Throughout history, there has always been a conflict with the view of goodness and evilness in man. The philosopher Plato believed that man was born with a natural depravity and was basically an untrained animal who needed society's help to structure, educate, and fulfill his needs