Romeo And Juliet Essay

Amanda Lauro
Mr. Bosley
4/28/14
Romeo and Juliet essay

Suicide can be an impulsive decision, as is young love in many cases. In William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare connects suicide and love in an inextricable pattern. Romeo and Juliet meet and promptly want to be married. This decision is rash because surely no one can become “in love” in that short amount of time. Juliet takes a potion that will make it appear as though she is dead so that she will not have to marry her suitor Paris, and will be able to run away with Romeo. Juliet’s decision was again made offhand, for she did not properly think things through before taking the poison. After seeing Juliet appear to be dead Romeo makes the reckless decision to take his own life, because he can not bear to live without Juliet. Many of the decisions in Romeo and Juliet are made spontaneously, all correlating with love and death.
Romeo sneaks into the Capulet ball and here he meets Juliet. Romeo and Juliet come from two opposing families. After talking for a few minutes the pair instantly falls in love and soon after wish to be married. “Then plainly know my heart's dear love is set On the fair daughter of rich Capulet: As mine on hers, so hers is set on mine; And all combined, save what thou must combine By holy marriage: when and where and how We met, we woo'd and made exchange of vow, I'll tell thee as we pass; but this I pray, That thou consent to marry us to-day.”(Act 2 scenes 3) This quotation depicts Romeo asking Friar Lawrence to marry him and Juliet. Although they know that their families are enemies and that they hate each other, they proceed to get married. Romeo and Juliet’s decision to be married is reckless and hasty. This spontaneous decision mirrors the two suicides at the end of the book. Shakespeare seems to connect self-destruction with love. This connection shows that with all love comes death and heartbreak.
Juliet’s father, Lord Capulet is trying to force Juliet to marry Paris, not knowing that Juliet is already married to Romeo. In order to escape having to marry a man she does not love, Juliet and Friar Lawrence orchestrate a plan. Juliet will take a potion that will make it appear as though she is dead when she really is not. Juliet made this decision to take the potion in a frantic rush to escape her problems. Juliet failed to thoroughly think through the logistics of her plan. “‘What if it be a poison which the Friar Subtly hath ministered to have me dead, Lest in this marriage he should be dishonored, Because he married me before to Romeo? I fear it is. And yet methinks it should not, for he hath still be tried a holy man.’” (IIII.iii.25-29) In this quotation Juliet is thinking about the plan to take the poison. Juliet winds up taking the potion a day early, and Friar Lawrence tries to alert Romeo of the change of plans, but he message does not get to him in time. When Romeo gets to Juliet he thinks that she is actually dead. The reason that Juliet took the potion in the first place was for the sake of love. Before taking the poison Juliet worries that the plan will not work but takes the elixir anyway. Juliet took the poison in a madcap act of disparity. This fake death that Juliet and Friar Lawrence planned was in order for Romeo and Juliet to run away together happily, but ultimately resulted in the deaths of the two star crossed lovers. This example shows another example of Shakespeare tying young love and suicide together. The two impulsive acts seem to be opposites but in Romeo and Juliet are inextricably connected.
When Romeo sees Juliet’s dead body he makes a decision to take his own life. Romeo cannot imagine a world without his love, Juliet. Romeo resorts to suicide as an escape from his heartache. “Well, Juliet, I will lie with thee tonight. Let's see for means: O mischief, thou art swift to enter in the thoughts of desperate men” (5.1 34-37). This quotation illustrates Romeo making the decision to kill himself in order to be with Juliet. As soon as Romeo lays an eye on Juliet’s “dead” body he hastily decides that he must die as well. This decision was very impulsive. If Romeo had waited a bit longer he would have seen that Juliet would have awoken and they could have lived together. Romeo killed himself because his one true love had died. This proves another example where love has lead to death or suicide. Shakespeare seems to be insinuating that all love has self-destructive tendencies. When falling in love you leave yourself open to hurt and heartbreak. Romeo and Juliet fell in love in a matter of minutes and were married within hours, in a matter of three days the pair was dead, both by suicide. This array of rash decisions correlates with the ideas of young love and suicide. Young love can often be impulsive. Suicide can also be spontaneous decision that will be a seemingly easy way out of problems. When Juliet awakens to see Romeo dead she also kills herself. Love and suicide can present themselves in a cyclic patter. Romeo and Juliet’s love lead to there own demise, but the two deaths brought the two opposing families, The Montague’s and The Capulet’s back together.
Suicide and young love share the themes of being impulsive and spontaneous. In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, these two themes are shown and are inextricably connected. Shakespeare insinuates that love has self-destructive tendencies. Romeo and Juliet make many brash decisions within the tragedy. The two star crossed lovers fall in love and immediately want to be married. The decision to be married brought on problems because the two came from opposing families. Juliet takes a poison to make it appear as though she is dead so that her parents will not find out about her marriage to Romeo and she would be able to run away with her true love. Romeo is misinformed about Juliet’s plan and mistakes her to be actually dead. Romeo kills himself because he cannot live without her. All of these reckless decisions are at the cost of love and ultimately lead to death. Love and suicide are connected themes in the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare shows that love has self-destructive tendencies.