The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet

The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet

Romeo and Juliet’s death were tragic, but in the end it was really their faults. They were much too young to be as “in love” as they were. Neither of them knew what they truly wanted yet. The events in the play all branched off of Romeo and Juliet rushing into things they weren’t ready for that their age. Later on, when they were older, they could have continued their relationship. It was all established much too quickly. For one, Romeo was in and out of love already once, which shows how intimate he is. Juliet was slightly better about noticing how quickly things were going but still rushed into things with Romeo. In general, everything in their relationship was rushed. In the beginning of the play, Romeo was in love with a girl named Rosaline. He had yet to meet Juliet so he planned on being with Rosaline for the rest of his life. In (1.1.161) Romeo says “Out of her favor, where I am in love.” In this quote Romeo is complaining about how he loves Rosaline and he isn’t interested in her. He gets extremely depressed and threatens suicide which shows his immaturity in serious situations. When we meet Juliet in the play, we notice she isn’t as near as dramatic as Romeo. She longs for love but doesn’t weep at her window for it. Then, when Romeo comes to the party and meets Juliet, she immediately falls for him. In the balcony scene, (2.2.109-111), Juliet says, “O, swear not by the moon, the inconsistent moon, That monthly changes in her circled orb, Lest that thy love prove likewise variable.” This quote shows that she actually wants her relationship with Romeo to mean something. She doesn’t want it to go wrong and be like his love for Rosaline. Romeo and Juliet are both equally immature. They do foolish things that show they have a lot of growing up to do yet. They do things like, going behind their parents backs’ to get married. None of the parents were informed of the ceremony. The only people who knew of the wedding other than Romeo and Juliet, was Friar Laurence and eventually the Nurse. Even before the wedding Friar Laurence told them it was a bad idea and they should think it through more thoroughly before going through with it. In (2.3.94) Friar Laurence says, “Wisely and slow. They stumble that run fast.” Which is him telling them that it would be smart to wait for their marriage and think more about what they’re doing. Over and over in the play, both Romeo and Juliet threaten to commit suicide over everything. This shows how they are immature and still panic when things start going wrong. They make threats and think that it will somehow change the situation, even though it does nothing. At the end they finally back up their words when Romeo poisons himself and Juliet stabs herself with a dagger. Little did Romeo know that if he had waited but a couple of seconds to analyze the situation before acting, Juliet would have awakened, and everything would have been fine. They act almost as fast as they fall in love. If Romeo and Juliet would have been more mature throughout the whole play things would have played out much more smoothly. Nothing would have happened as it did. Both would live to be adults and possibly get married and have children, things of that nature. Sadly, their quick acting and lack of ability to analyze situations, caused nearly everyone involved in their situation had to be killed or die. Romeo and Juliet were, in fact, responsible for their own deaths. But they were also responsible for everyone else’s as well. They could have easily prevented all of these things from happening. This should be a lesson to us all to think before we act, and analyze the actions we make.