DBQ Essay: The Tragedy Of Romeo And Juliet
Colby James
Mrs. Bates
English
May 2015
Romeo & Juliet Essay
The cause of Romeo and Juliet’s morbid demise in The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare is a combination of a few different things. Maybe if it had been only one thing working against them, they would have survived. But alas, they ended up dying next to each other. Ultimately, Romeo and Juliet’s deaths were their own fault.
The deaths of Romeo and Juliet in this tragic play truly do pluck at the strings of the heart. As the play goes from start to finish, a bond is formed between the audience and the young couple: nothing but luck and happiness are wished for them. No one wishes for anything bad or awful to them, just the opposite. That is the way William Shakespeare …show more content…
chose to write it, in a way that truly draws in the audience and makes them feel as if they are a part of the story.
It could be argued that their deaths were caused by a combination of different things that worked to destroy their relationship.
In the end; their deaths were caused by their own love and foolishness. There are many others who also believe this. An example from a document on this same topic says “These two are too quickly married and do not think of the consequences of their actions. Adolescent passion fools both Romeo and Juliet into believing that their love can transcend their families’ strife and the rules of patriarchal Verona.” (Document B: The foolish passion of Romeo and Juliet). Teenagers are constantly changing and hormones make them do stupid things. Romeo and Juliet are a prime example of this. When they first see each other they immediately have huge crushes, which isn’t that bad. But then they take it further when they discover who each other’s families are and decide to meet in secret. If they had just openly said that they were seeing each other things wouldn’t have gone so far. There would have been shock and anger, but it might’ve just eventually been …show more content…
accepted.
But that’s not what happened. Then they come up with the absolutely brilliant idea to marry each other in secret. Now they are starting to go out of control. Besides the obvious of them being too young to get married (although it was more sociably acceptable to get married around those ages back then), they broke the trust of their parents and family. If they had called it quits here there would have been a reckoning with the families, but it wouldn’t have been unrepairable. In their stupidity they did not once think to stop and think all of this through. At one point Romeo even said “O, teach me how I should forget to think!” (1.1.217). They just assumed that because the Montagues and Capulets didn’t get along, they would never ever under any circumstance be able to see each other. So they just took their love and ran with it.
Romeo ends up killing Tybalt to avenge Mercutio and is banished from Verona. Meanwhile Juliet is going to be forced by her parents to marry Paris. Juliet goes and seeks council from Friar Lawrence. They come up with the plan to fake her death, send a letter to Romeo so he knows she is not dead, and then Friar Lawrence and Romeo will remove her from the crypt when she wakes. Little do they know Romeo is creepily having someone keeping watch on Juliet. They inform him of Juliet’s “death” and he rushes back. He leaves too early to receive Friar Lawrence’s letter.
Romeo arrives and enters the crypt of the Capulets, where he discovers Juliet’s motionless body.
He kneels down beside her, talks to her, and tells her that he is going to kill himself because he wishes to always be with her. If Romeo and been thinking straight he would have noticed and then realized she was actually alive. He says “Death, that hath sucked the honey of thy breath, Hath had no power yet upon thy beauty. Thou art not conquered. Beauty’s ensign yet Is crimson in thy lips and in thy cheeks, And death’s pale flag is not advanced there.” (5.3.100-105). Then he goes on to say “Why art thou yet so fair? Shall I believe That unsubstantial death is amorous, And that the lean abhorred monster keeps Thee here in dark to be his paramour?” (5.3.112-114). He obviously notices that something is off about her looking so not dead. But he isn’t thinking so of course he doesn’t realize that she is still alive. So he drinks a bottle of poison and slides to ground dead. Minutes later Juliet wakes up. She sees Romeo’s corpse and bursts into tears. Instead of fleeing with Friar Lawrence she chooses to kill herself because she cannot live without him. There is no poison left in the bottle or enough left on his lips, so she takes Romeo’s knife and stabs herself through the
heart.
Romeo and Juliet should have just come forward about their relationship. If either one of them had stopped to think or consider what might have happened things might have been different. It is most likely that if they had done exactly that, then they wouldn’t have died. This is why it is truly Romeo and Juliet’s own fault that they ended up dead because of their love and foolishness.
Mrs. Bates
English
May 2015
Romeo & Juliet Essay
The cause of Romeo and Juliet’s morbid demise in The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare is a combination of a few different things. Maybe if it had been only one thing working against them, they would have survived. But alas, they ended up dying next to each other. Ultimately, Romeo and Juliet’s deaths were their own fault.
The deaths of Romeo and Juliet in this tragic play truly do pluck at the strings of the heart. As the play goes from start to finish, a bond is formed between the audience and the young couple: nothing but luck and happiness are wished for them. No one wishes for anything bad or awful to them, just the opposite. That is the way William Shakespeare …show more content…
chose to write it, in a way that truly draws in the audience and makes them feel as if they are a part of the story.
It could be argued that their deaths were caused by a combination of different things that worked to destroy their relationship.
In the end; their deaths were caused by their own love and foolishness. There are many others who also believe this. An example from a document on this same topic says “These two are too quickly married and do not think of the consequences of their actions. Adolescent passion fools both Romeo and Juliet into believing that their love can transcend their families’ strife and the rules of patriarchal Verona.” (Document B: The foolish passion of Romeo and Juliet). Teenagers are constantly changing and hormones make them do stupid things. Romeo and Juliet are a prime example of this. When they first see each other they immediately have huge crushes, which isn’t that bad. But then they take it further when they discover who each other’s families are and decide to meet in secret. If they had just openly said that they were seeing each other things wouldn’t have gone so far. There would have been shock and anger, but it might’ve just eventually been …show more content…
accepted.
But that’s not what happened. Then they come up with the absolutely brilliant idea to marry each other in secret. Now they are starting to go out of control. Besides the obvious of them being too young to get married (although it was more sociably acceptable to get married around those ages back then), they broke the trust of their parents and family. If they had called it quits here there would have been a reckoning with the families, but it wouldn’t have been unrepairable. In their stupidity they did not once think to stop and think all of this through. At one point Romeo even said “O, teach me how I should forget to think!” (1.1.217). They just assumed that because the Montagues and Capulets didn’t get along, they would never ever under any circumstance be able to see each other. So they just took their love and ran with it.
Romeo ends up killing Tybalt to avenge Mercutio and is banished from Verona. Meanwhile Juliet is going to be forced by her parents to marry Paris. Juliet goes and seeks council from Friar Lawrence. They come up with the plan to fake her death, send a letter to Romeo so he knows she is not dead, and then Friar Lawrence and Romeo will remove her from the crypt when she wakes. Little do they know Romeo is creepily having someone keeping watch on Juliet. They inform him of Juliet’s “death” and he rushes back. He leaves too early to receive Friar Lawrence’s letter.
Romeo arrives and enters the crypt of the Capulets, where he discovers Juliet’s motionless body.
He kneels down beside her, talks to her, and tells her that he is going to kill himself because he wishes to always be with her. If Romeo and been thinking straight he would have noticed and then realized she was actually alive. He says “Death, that hath sucked the honey of thy breath, Hath had no power yet upon thy beauty. Thou art not conquered. Beauty’s ensign yet Is crimson in thy lips and in thy cheeks, And death’s pale flag is not advanced there.” (5.3.100-105). Then he goes on to say “Why art thou yet so fair? Shall I believe That unsubstantial death is amorous, And that the lean abhorred monster keeps Thee here in dark to be his paramour?” (5.3.112-114). He obviously notices that something is off about her looking so not dead. But he isn’t thinking so of course he doesn’t realize that she is still alive. So he drinks a bottle of poison and slides to ground dead. Minutes later Juliet wakes up. She sees Romeo’s corpse and bursts into tears. Instead of fleeing with Friar Lawrence she chooses to kill herself because she cannot live without him. There is no poison left in the bottle or enough left on his lips, so she takes Romeo’s knife and stabs herself through the
heart.
Romeo and Juliet should have just come forward about their relationship. If either one of them had stopped to think or consider what might have happened things might have been different. It is most likely that if they had done exactly that, then they wouldn’t have died. This is why it is truly Romeo and Juliet’s own fault that they ended up dead because of their love and foolishness.