Consequences In Romeo And Juliet

What is more dangerous, an unforeseen tragedy or one you have been anticipating for days? In the play The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, this is pondered through the analyzing of the title characters’ actions. Romeo and Juliet, two teenagers from rival families in ancient Verona, find themselves madly in love after a run-in at a party held by Juliet’s family. Even before the two meet, premonitions of their untimely deaths begin. Some are vague metaphor-like visions in their dreams and some are very obvious moments of sudden realization that something in the next few hours will lead to their deaths. What is puzzling, however, is the fact that despite these clues the pair fails to accept these insights into the future. Had they stopped for a moment to question the meaning behind these moments they surely would have been able to avoid the fatal outcome of their actions, but this is not the case in these lovers’ tale. In The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, the title characters often foresee their untimely deaths but ignore the
warnings, demonstrating that one must always trust their gut. The first instance when Romeo predicts the end of his life is immediately prior to the moment he meets Juliet. Before he enters the party where he is to first interact with his future wife, Romeo claims that his fate is star-crossed and that the events of the evening will directly lead to his premature demise. He is quoted as saying “some consequence yet hanging in the stars / shall bitterly begin his fearful date / with this night’s revels and expire the term / of a despisèd life” (1.3.106-104). Immediately after this revelation, he rallies his friends and storms into the party. Despite this direct realization that attending the party will put his life in danger, Romeo proceeds, allowing him to meet Juliet and fall in love. Had he taken this more seriously, he may not have gone inside and the events of the rest of the play could have been avoided. This illustrates the necessity of trusting one’s gut instincts, as in this case it could mean the difference between life and death. Later in the story Romeo’s death is yet again foretold, this time by Juliet.
By now the two are married, and Romeo has already been banished from Verona. Before he leaves forever, Juliet gazes down at him from her balcony. From her perspective, she says he looks “methinks I see thee, now thou art so low, / as one dead in the bottom of a tomb. / Either my eyesight fails, or thou lookest pale” (3.5.55-57). As if he never heard her, Romeo continues on, thinking nothing of the moment. Later this vision will prove eerily true, as she will find herself above his corpse in the Capulet tomb. This vision, despite being dismissed by the two, could have been a warning sign that prevented their deaths. Once again, if they had listened to their seemingly clairvoyant apparitions, the lovers could have avoided their tragic endings. This ignorance of one’s subconscious ideas and feelings shows the importance of doing just the
opposite. Romeo and Juliet’s deaths are predicted one final time shortly before the end of the play. Juliet has taken the sleeping potion and is patiently awaiting her lover’s return while she rests in her family’s tomb. Romeo is off in Mantua, dreaming of her, but not in the way one would expect. He describes his dream by saying “my lady came and found me dead / … / and breathed such life with kisses in my lips / that I revived” (5.1.6-8) While this later proves to be the reverse of reality, it is still shockingly close to the actual events which will follow. Unknowingly, Romeo’s subconscious, or some form of divine being, has informed him of the truth of the news he’s about to receive, but it fails to convince him that Juliet is not in fact dead. As soon as he hears the news of his love’s supposed demise, he thinks nothing of the previous night’s dream, failing to connect the two. Such is yet another moment when Romeo could have avoided his premature suicide, had he only stopped a moment to think through the rash decisions he was about to make. He expertly demonstrates how important it is for him to trust his gut when it comes to his reveries, but sadly he does so by not doing the one thing that could have spared him. In these three moments, along with multiple others, Romeo and Juliet experience apparitions of their grim future but fail to recognize the importance of them, revealing the consequences of not trusting their instincts. Tales such as these often lead us to question our own assumptions about the future. Perhaps our hesitation to do something is more than just our fear of the unknown, and is actually our subconscious attempting to warn us of the dangers if we do. It is easy to live like this way, fearing everything and missing out of opportunities based on forebodings and suspicions of tragedies. However, as helpful as this ability to trust one’s gut can be in some cases, it is equally important to live with just the right amount of fear in life, and experience all of the wonderful things the world has to offer. There is a fine line between thinking through decisions with a severely skeptical eye and disregarding instincts all together, and this line seems to be hard to find for the characters of Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet.