Irrational Decisions In Romeo And Juliet Essay Example
📌Category: | Plays, Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare, Writers |
📌Words: | 764 |
📌Pages: | 3 |
📌Published: | 18 June 2021 |
Romeo and Juliet are two lovers whose story ends in tragedy. Romeo and Juliet, written by William Shakespeare, is a tragic play in which two young lovers will do anything to be with each other despite the feud between their families. This unconditional love eventually leads to the death of many, including both Juliet and Romeo. The characters’ actions, such as Romeo’s irrational decisions, his need for love, and Friar Lawrence’s choices concerning Romeo and Juliet, are the main cause of the tragic outcome of the play.
Throughout the story, Romeo makes many rash decisions that ultimately lead to the death of Juliet and himself. For example, on the day of his and Juliet’s wedding, when Romeo witnesses Tybalt stab and kill his friend Mercutio, he goes into a rage and says, “Alive in triumph, and Mercutio slain? Away to heaven respective lenity, And fire-eyed fury be my conduct now! Now, Tybalt, take the 'villain' back again That late thou gavest me; for Mercutio’s soul Is but a little way above our heads, Staying for thine to keep him company. Either thou or I, or both, must go with him” (3.1.80-87). Then, he proceeds to murder Tybalt, the cousin of Juliet. When Prince Esculas finds out about this, he banishes Romeo from Verona (3.1.90-153). Capulet and his wife later see Juliet grieving the situation, and in an attempt to brighten her mood, they move her wedding with Paris to an earlier date. (3.4.12-21). She is not happy with this and fakes her death to avoid the wedding and meet Romeo again in Mantua (4.3.14-58). Romeo doesn’t know that Juliet’s death is fake, and he is so distraught by it that he kills himself with poison (5.3.88-119). Once Juliet wakes up and sees that Romeo is dead, she takes his dagger and stabs herself, leaving both Romeo and Juliet dead (5.3.148-169). This shows how Romeo’s impulsive decisions only worsen the situation. Had he thought things through and used logic, he would have known not to kill the cousin of Juliet, and he wouldn’t have been banished from Verona. This could have prevented Juliet from faking her death to avoid marrying Paris, and both Romeo and Juliet would have lived. This irrational decision of Romeo indirectly kills the two lovers.
Additionally, Romeo’s need for love majorly contributes to the result of the play. This can be seen towards the end of the play when Romeo takes his own life because he believes that the love of his life, Juliet, is dead. When Romeo is first informed that she is believed to be dead, he immediately makes plans to return to Verona. He says, “Well, Juliet, I will lie with thee tonight,” and then buys a poison that will end his life from an apothecary (5.1.17-76). In this instance, Romeo lets his emotions take over his logical thinking. He is so in love with Juliet that instead of moving on and living his life without her, he would rather die and reunite with her in the afterlife. If Romeo was to not make such a quick decision that was forced by love, he could have figured out that Juliet wasn’t truly dead. Then, they could both live their life together in peace. However, Romeo’s melodramatic personality hinders that possible ending.
Finally, Friar Lawrence can be to blame for the outcome because of his questionable solutions for Romeo and Juliet’s problems. For instance, when Juliet comes to Friar, asking for a way to get out of her arranged marriage to Paris, Friar suggests an outlandish plan that isn’t well thought out. The remedy given is a sleeping potion that will present Juliet as dead for 42 hours. Once Juliet is presumed dead, the wedding will be canceled, and Juliet can escape to Mantua and live with Romeo (4.1.50-124). This scheme doesn’t go as expected though, as a plague prevents Friar Lawrence from sending Romeo a message containing the plan (5.2.3-14). This proves that Friar Lawrence is partly to blame for the lovers’ deaths. He does not think of the various possibilities before committing to a plan, and his ideas are often last minute. In this case, his abnormal plan leads to the death of both Romeo and Juliet. It was extremely flawed and complex, and the outcome of the play could have been avoided if Friar Lawrence suggested a better plan.
Ultimately, the tragic outcome of the play can be sourced back to Romeo’s irrational decisions, his need for love, and Friar Lawrence's solutions to the lovers’ problems. Some say that fate caused the outcome of this play. However, this is incorrect because the choices and actions of each character all had consequences, and a simple change in some of the characters’ decisions could have changed the result drastically. As it does in real life, free will has a major influence on the ending of Romeo and Juliet. Every decision has a repercussion, and this play is no exception to that.