Preview

Selfish Decisions In William Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
694 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Selfish Decisions In William Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet
“Never was there a tale of more woe, than of Juliet and her Romeo.” (Shakespeare 5. 3. 334-335). Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is a tragic tale that everyone knows, but many people are confused at what makes it so tragic. What makes this play so sad is that it did not need to end with such a sad ending. Romeo and Juliet are only children and have many hard choices that are pushed upon them. There are many instances where the kids ran wild with their fantasies, thinking that they were the wiser, but all that they were doing was jumping into their graves. If they had stopped to think or listen to the advice of elders, the story would be much happier. Rash decisions made by people with their heads in the clouds are seen as stupid or crazy by …show more content…
Romeo’s friends and family think that he is an idiot for pining over a girl that he hardly even knows, and they make sure that he knows it. “You are a lover. Borrow Cupid’s wings And soar with them above a common bound. . . . If love be rough with you, be rough with love. Prick love for pricking, and you beat love down.” (Shakespeare 1. 4. 17-28) There are many cases of Mercutio and Benvolio teasing Romeo or trying to convince him that he’s being irrational. Even so, Romeo is convinced that his sorrow is justified and he will feel this way forever. He is called a lover and a dreamer and here he is acting like that, he is not thinking things through and he is not taking the advice of others. This ultimately leads to his …show more content…
So much so that she could not bare a second without her Romeo. Everyone else thought she was joking when she said that she would kill herself again and again. “I long to die . . . to live an unstained wife to my sweet love” (Shakespeare 4. 1. 73-97) No one believes her, but she has got it in her head that death is such a good idea that she does end up killing herself. “O happy dagger! This is thy sheath; there rust, and let me die” (Shakespeare 5. 3. 182-183.) If she had thought through her options she would have seen that she didn’t need to kill herself, Paris was dead, she didn’t have to marry him anymore, she could live her life in Mantua and find a new love. But she didn’t think at all, she grabbed the nearest weapon and killed herself. Romeo too was obsessed with death. If he looked for other options and not kill himself and his life could have been completely

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    her Romeo” ( V, V, 321-326 ). Even so, his bad decision also lead to deaths, “… For here Juliet,…

    • 429 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Both Romeo and Juliet are under the impression that they can live happily ever after with each other, despite the fact that their families hate each other, and may kill the other is they ever find out about the lovers. In reality, they end up killing themselves because they can not peacefully live out their lives together, without fear of their own families.…

    • 1262 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Throughout the course of the play, Romeo makes rash decisions without putting any forethought into it, and this ultimately leads to the deaths of him, Juliet, and the characters. For example, when Tybalt killed Mercutio, Romeo went after Tybalt and killed him to avenge his friend. Romeo, himself, was even willing to die for his friend and says “Either thou or I, or both, must go with him’ (III.i.125). Though avenging the death of his best friend was a noble action, this incident lead to the banishment of Romeo which caused the death of his mother and other problematic events that transpires later on in the tragedy. Also, at the beginning of the play, Romeo declares he loves a girl named Rosaline and his causes him to fall into a period of depression because she rejects his love for her. However, after he spends a small fraction of time with Juliet, Romeo completely forgets about the girl he was pining after and switches to Juliet without a second thought. Less than twenty-four hours after he meets Juliet, Romeo marries her even though he has only known her for a miniscule amount of time. Rushing into the marriage without giving it time or logical thought is a main reason for the two lovers’ deaths, and according to Friar Lawrence “They stumble that…

    • 553 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Throughout the play Romeo experiences various forms of lost and also numerous bouts of optimistic emotions. When Tybalt killed Mercutio, Romeo lost his best friend to death and also unwillingly caused his best friend's death by not duelling with Tybalt himself. Furthermore due to Romeo's inaction he lost Mercutio's faith in him just before the death.…

    • 1001 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Flaws In Romeo And Juliet

    • 923 Words
    • 4 Pages

    From the onset of the play to its conclusion, Romeo acts without thinking of his consequences. Romeo meets with Juliet after the party and they immediately decide to get married, without reminding themselves that they are enemies. When Romeo departs to the Friar to plead to be married to Juliet, the Friar ridicules Romeo by saying "thy love did read by rote but could not spell." (Rom 2.3.91). The Friar meant Romeo just loves to love, without really knowing how, because you can't write correctly without knowing how to spell. Romeo acts on impulse rather than thought. He knows that the love of his life is his family's enemy and regardless of that fact, he beseeches the Friar to wed him to Juliet. These acts of impulse soon lead to the death of both Romeo and his love…

    • 923 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Romeo and Juliet are doomed since the couple is from different sides and their hysterical actions that sprouted from their bitter family relationships almost influences fate to devastatingly act against them. The two families- Montague and Capulet- are ancient foes that disturbed the peace of all citizens in Verona so it’s a clear sign that…

    • 1919 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The young lovers were not murdered by an enemy, nor were they were not victims to an accident; they simply committed suicide. Romeo chose to take his life over living without Juliet, drinking the fatal poison he had purchased. Likewise was the case for Juliet, who, like Romeo, was the sole possessor of blame for her death. In this final situation, she was prey only to herself, with no force or individual controlling and conspiring against her. It was her hand that drove the dagger into her body, tragically ending the love she and Romeo briefly knew. There were no destinies for Romeo and Juliet but their own…

    • 1609 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    "For never was a story of more woe than this of Juliet and her Romeo." Romeo and Juliet is a tragic love story. Whose tragedy is it?…

    • 782 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Romeo fights and kills Tybalt just because Tybalt slays Mercutio, despite knowing the consequence of fighting -death- he still takes it upon himself as a way to seek repentance for Mercutio’s death. He is able to restrain himself before the death of Mercutio but after his death Romeo falls to his impulsiveness and fights Tybalt. After killing Tybalt and getting banishment instead of a death sentence, Romeo refuses to look on the bright side and goes to Friar Lawrence where he says “Ha, banishment! Be merciful, say ‘death’.” (III, iii, 12), this shows that he deems that life without Juliet is a life not worth living. He then continues to weep and decides to take his own life, the Friar stops him but had Romeo stopped being so quick to make decisions he would have realised banishment is better than death and would be rejoicing instead of weeping. Romeo hears about Juliet's “death” from his servant Balthasar and he instantly decides to kill himself, he doesn't mourn his loss or even cry, he simply buys poison, rides to Verona and kills himself. Had he spoken to anyone, taken any advice or sat down and thought about what had happened then he would realize that suicide is not the answer but he had his mind made in a minute, he wanted to be dead with his wife. Romeo’s nature of making decisions without thinking or barely thinking at all is shown at many key parts in the story and leads to his…

    • 812 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Throughout the play Romeo made many personal choices that led his life to end as it did. The first choice he made was to go to a part he was not invited to. “ But he that hath the steerage of my course! Direct my sail”(pg.200). Romeo is persuaded to go to a party he didn’t want to go to because he knew he wasn’t invited. Romeo could have stayed home and not went to the party but he made the choice to follow is friends in. The main choice that ended Romeo’s life was when he bought a potion to kill himself. “Come, cordial and not poison, go with me to juliet’s gravel; for there must i use thee”. Romeo is told Juliet is dead and decides to by a poison to kill himself . This choice is what ended Romeo’s life, fate had no such say in his life ending.…

    • 589 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Tragic Flaws

    • 449 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Equally important, Romeo exemplifies his tragic flaw throughout the whole play. One can see by Romeo’s actions that he is still a young teenager who does not think about the consequences. Romeo goes to the Capulet’s party hoping to pine over Rosaline, instead he falls in love with Juliet and cannot bear to leave, “Can I go forward when my heart is here? Turn back, dull earth, and find thy centre out,” (II.1.1-2). Romeo impulsively decides to go back for Juliet because he believes he has to go back where his heart is. Rome quickly forgets about the girl he has been pining over not long ago and impetuously moves onto Juliet and thoughtlessly risks going back to her. The high risk of getting killed by Juliet’s family would stop most people who thought about it, yet Romeo does not care and continues on his spontaneous emotion.…

    • 449 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Romeo says he is too hurt and devastated because he cannot marry Rosaline. He refuses to go have any amusement because he claims he is far too sorrowful. Shakespeare wants to show Romeo’s true level melancholy by saying how much it is hurting him to have been rejected by Rosaline. Luckily, Benvolio and Mercutio eventually get Romeo to give in on…

    • 173 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Romeo’s romantic love for Juliet overwhelms his mind and causes him to act rashly. One example is when Romeo says, “Farewell. Thou canst not teach me how to forget” (Act 1, scene 1, 246). Romeo loved Rosaline and thought that she was the only girl that he would love. His love for Rosaline had completely invaded his body and compelled him to act rashly. He said that he would never forget Rosaline, but when he sees Juliet he quickly replaces Rosaline with Juliet in his mind. “Do thou but close our hands with holy words, Then love-devouring death do what he dare, It is enough that I may but call her mine “ (Act 2, scene 6). Romeo wants to marry Juliet a few hours after they met. Juliet has completely overrun his mind and that forces him to think that they should get married. His mind is so full of Juliet that he cannot think straight. This results in rashly getting married which leads him to his death. “Here’s to my love. O true apothecary. Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die” (Act 5, scene 3, 119). In this scene Romeo takes a drug which will kill him. He does this because he thinks that Juliet is dead, and Romeo says that he cannot live without Juliet. If he had not been so keen to drinking the potion, then both his and Juliet’s lives could have been spared. This shows that if Romeo had tried to make a decision logically then he could have saved lives. Romeo’s extreme love for Juliet leads him to make rash decisions. Those rash decisions ultimately lead him to his grave.…

    • 670 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Romeo And Juliet Selfish

    • 941 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Romeo departing Mantua for Verona was a dumb idea because he never would have known if Juliet was alive or dead which would’ve stopped both of their deaths. So Romeo departs for Verona, with poison from the apothecary. He reaches Verona and discovers Juliet in casket and decides to take her ring and give her his goodbye hugs and pay his respects. Once Romeo saw that she was dead he took the poison, in the midst of this Paris thinks Romeo is trying to steal items from her. So, he tries to make a citizens and gets killed by Romeo. Next, Romeo puts Paris in the casket with Juliet than Romeo dies and falls into the casket. Romeo’s dumb actions of killing Paris then, killing himself lead to Juliet killing herself, which then lead to his mom dying. If Romeo would have simply just gotten over the fact that this girl that he knew for one day was dead everyone would have lived including Juliet.…

    • 941 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “For never was there a story of more woe than this of Juliet and her Romeo”. Romeo and Juliet is a tragic love story. Whose tragedy is it? Through the metrical composition of the closing lines of the play, Shakespeare informs the audience on whose tragedy Romeo and Juliet is about. By addressing the last verse of the play to us in pyrrhic pentameter, he is suggesting a victory which has come about at too great a cost. The pace of time amplifies the tragic quality of the play. Time is used to set things in a motion that they spiral out of control. Instead of logical decisions, everything is controlled by emotions, which ultimately leads Romeo and Juliet to their path of death. However, Shakespeare’s deliberate use of pyrrhic pentameter reinforces the sound of a pyrrhic victory. Besides the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, there is something more pervasive suggested, as many characters thereafter also suffer as a consequence of this tragedy, such as the parents and Paris. Essentially, the story is Romeo and Juliet’s tragedy because they are young and pay the ultimate price for their passionate ‘true love’. The chorus tells us that the lovers are necessary sacrifices. Nothing but their death can “bury their parents’ strife”. Through the words “here’s much to do with hate, but more with love”, Shakespeare suggests how the world of the play is initially sprouted by hate between two families. So the paradox with Romeo and Juliet is how the one thing that defines them is ultimately the one thing which separates them. Not only are they victims of their families hatred, they are also victim to piteous overthrows and misguided plans which were supposed to unite them. By disregarding patriarchal imperatives and escaping to a world without parents, they place their trust in orders, such as Friar Lawrence and the Nurse. In doing that, they subject themselves to piteous overthrows. Their tragedy is that they have nowhere to turn. In an attempt to come together, the true lovers die;…

    • 865 Words
    • 25 Pages
    Good Essays