In one day we make a vast array of decisions, some seem small and some seem large but they all impact our destiny. There are many tough choices that we must make in our lives. Which college to go to? Who to marry? How we want to exist. When making our decision we consider ourselves and the ones we love and try to do the right thing, however we are human and so sometimes we make the wrong choice. Sometimes we are pressured by irrational emotion, society, or the glimmer of gratitude and riches. Sometimes we make a choice that seems right but has disastrous results. Every character in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet goes down the wrong path at some point and leads us to the tragic end. This reflects back on one of the main themes of Romeo and Juliet; that despite our best intentions we don’t always know best.
Romeo killed Tybalt to avenge his friend Mercutio’s death and to defend the honor of his family but failed to consider the chain reaction of anguish this hasty decision would cause. After his cold sword took Tybalts last breath he exclaims “O, I am fortune's fool” Indicating that Romeo believed Tybalt’s death was written in the stars and he was just following fate so the murder was justifiable in that sense. Mercutio was Romeo’s best friend so his anger towards Tybalt is more than understandable but killing someone always makes things harder. The Prince banishes Romeo to Mantua, far away from the loving wall of Verona and this shakes up the lives of almost every character in the play. The repercussion from this decision reaches down to the very last scene of the play when we learn that Lady Montague, Romeo’s mother, has died, it is explained by Romeo’s father that “Grief of my sons exile hath stopped her breath (5.3.219)...
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... At first he resists Romeo’s plea for an x-marked bottle but the more Romeo offers him money and reminds him of the squalor he is living in the more his morals loosen until finally he says “My poverty, but not my will consents (5.1.79).” While the apothecary knows that what he is doing is wrong and will result in the death of others, he does is for the gleam of money so he is equally as blinded as the other characters. The main message of Romeo and Juliet is that we may be well intentioned but people and making mistakes is what we do best. You can either take this message cynically or positively. You can look at it from the point of view that we are all blind and fumbling towards death, or you could see it that future is unpredictable so we might as well live life fully now. Shakespeare understood this and even though Romeo and Juliet died young but they died in love
This rash decision also caused Juliet and Romeo pain and disappointment. “When something bad happens to one you love, something bad also happens to you. If a loved one is hurt or disgraced, you are hurt; if something wonderful happens to her, you feel better off. ”(“Love’s Bond”, Robert Nozick) If that is true when loving someone, Romeo evidently made the wrong decision to kill Tybalt.
Romeo senses tensions are high with Tybalt, so he states, “I do protest I never injured thee but love thee better than thou canst devise.” (Lines 65-66 Act Three, Scene One). Romeo is trying to diffuse the situation because he realizes that Tybalt is his love's cousin. Mercutio is surprised by Romeo’s behavior, so he decides to fight Tybalt himself. Mercutio’s decision to fight Tybalt leads to his own death. Romeo is angered by the death of Mercutio and states, “Now, Tybalt, take the “villain" back again/ That late thou gavest me; for Mercutio’s soul.” (Lines 123-124 of Act Three, Scene One). Romeo is indicating that Tybalt is the villain now, because he slayed Mercutio. Romeo forgets about his attempt to befriend the Capulets and slays Tybalt. Romeo, murderer of Tybalt, solely focuses on Juliet and states “Ha, banishment? Be merciful, say “death"/For exile hath more terror in his look.” (Lines 12-13 of Act Three, Scene Three). Romeo does not care about Tybalt’s life, but only cares for the way it affects his relationship with Juliet. Romeo’s mother dies out of grief because of his banishment. Romeo’s recklessness in loving Juliet has led to the death of three
... Romeo to warn readers about the consequences of making decisions brashly and when overcome by passion. It is both possible and probable that had these hasty characters been able to control their passion, the great amount on deaths in Romeo and Juliet would have significantly decreased.
Romeo denies the fate of Mercutio who fought against Tybalt and lost, so he challenges Tybalt to fight in defense of his honor. His sense of honor would not allow himself to ignore the death of Mercutio. It mandated his absurd behavior to take Tybalt’s life which even further separated the Montague and Capulet family. Moreover, Romeo still decides to marry Juliet after he takes Tybalt’s life. His sense of honor leads him to find Father Lawrence who will marry both Juliet
The choices Romeo and Juliet make are poor, and eventually resulted in their death. Getting married, killing Tybalt, and thinking with hastyness were all poor choices that lead to both of their deaths. Once in a while making bad choices doesn’t affect someone as much, but making then many times regularly does affect one’s life. This teaches people that we must think our actions through before committing them.
The citizens are up, and Tybalt is slain (Act 3, scene 5, lines 138-138).” Benvolio warns Romeo he had slain Tybalt, telling him to flee or he would be caught by citizens awaken by the ruckus caused by their dueling. It was a lapse in judgement for both parties to duel against one another. It was Romeo who decided to end Tybalt’s life by refusing to not partake in fighting. Also, Tybalt is at fault for setting this whole event into motion by provoking Mercutio and Romeo, and later slaying the former. However, Tybalt’s rage came from Romeo attending the Capulet party. So, it could be said that this whole dilemma would not have happened if Romeo had not gone to the party, which he was not invited
“Oh do not swear at all, swear to yourself which is the god of my idolatry.” Juliet stayed still for a moment and suddenly weeped. “Romeo, my father want me to marry Count Paris.”
Tybalt caused this death by getting mad and taking revenge on Romeo. When he took revenge on Romeo, it meant he also, displayed immaturity to his faithful cousin, Juliet. Tybalt and Juliet grew up together. They had a close relationship. Tybalt took that away from them. The fact of the matter is, you shouldn’t be messing with love and happiness. Both Romeo and Juliet had that, and it was not to be punctured. Tybalt punctured
If Romeo had not been banished, Romeo and Juliet would continue living a happy life together. Benvolio witnessed the entire fight, the authorities came, Lady Capulet wants Romeo dead which is completely blowing things out of proportion, and in the end, poor Romeo is banished even though he was defending himself and trying to get justice for his best friend’s heinous death. Lady Capulet states, “Benvolio is part of the Montague family. His loyalties to the Montagues make him tell lies. He’s not telling the truth. There were twenty Montagues fighting in this awful riot, and together those twenty could only kill one man. I demand justice. You, Prince, are the man who can give me justice. Romeo killed Tybalt. Romeo must die” (3.1.153). This proves that because of Tybalt’s actions, Romeo was punished, and unfairly banished from Verona. Only one can imagine what it must feel like to be banished from their love, from their family, from everyone. This fact led to their death. This was not the end of Tybalt’s wrong doings however. He had one more trick up his sleeve, even for being
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’.” (Act 3, Scene 3 line 12), this shows that he deems life without Juliet life not worth living. He then continues weep then decides to take his own life, the Friar stopped him but had Romeo stopped being so quick to make decisions he would have realised banishment is much better than death and would be rejoicing instead of weeping. Romeo hears about Juliet's “death” from his servant Balthasar 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 and taken any advice 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 impulsiveness to make decisions is a very important characteristic for him to have and for the rest of the
The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet brings out the theme of fate and how people should not make irrational bad decisions without thinking about the outcome. Throughout Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, the characters’ own impetuous and free will , not fate, bring about the deaths. Characters repeatedly used fate as an excuse by saying the series of events were completely out of their control. In contrast, everything could have been avoided if the characters just decided to think rationally. By having them blame fate, Shakespeare is asserting that people need to take responsibility for their own actions. They should realize it is their own choices that affect the future, not fate. People’s destinies can be changed, and it is not predetermined by an all-powerful
Love is a wonderful curse that forces us to do unexplainable things. Romeo and Juliet is a famous play written by William Shakespeare, who does an exceptional job in showing the readers what hate, mercy, death, courage, and most importantly what love looks like. This play is about two star-crossed lovers who are both willing to sacrifice their lives just to be with one another. Unfortunately tragedy falls upon the unconditional love Romeo and Juliet have for each other, but along the way they experience immeasurable forgiveness and extraordinary braveness just to be with one another. Sadly enough, love is a cause of violence in the end. Even though the pair spends less time together, it is enough for them to fall in love. It is clearly true
The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet has been a great example of “true love” in the past. But a question arises: Was this story really a story of true love or just true lust? The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet is the story of Romeo and Juliet, both from enemy families who are so madly in love with each other, they end up killing themselves. In the play, we can see so much physical contact and talks of love between Romeo and Juliet the moment they meet. Because of this, people think what Romeo and Juliet felt for each other was attraction for the physical body and not the person. I think that Romeo and Juliet did not have feelings of true love, but rather true lust for these 3 reasons Romeo thinks he is terribly in love with Rosaline, Romeo’s love is immature and on the 2nd day after their meeting, they marry and Juliet wants to feel the “rewards” of marriage.
Tybalt was a adversary of Romeo and had the drift to kill him. His spleen of the situation is Romeo trying to love his coz Juliet. He approached Romeo and Mercutio looking for a fight. Tybalt and Mercutio ended up fighting and Tybalt killed Mercutio, because Tybalt did this, he deserved the death penalty for his transgression. Romeo then took revenge and killed him (3.1.70). This is a legal issue because Tybalt was going to be treated to the death penalty anyway so Romeo killing him was just like giving him the death penalty. This death is a lot different than the others because his was a legal issue and he deserved to die, the other deaths in the play like Romeo, Juliet and Mercutio decided to die for a family member that they love.
After the wedding, Romeo runs into Juliet’s cousin Tybalt, who hates him. They engage in a duel, and Romeo kills Tybalt. He fled the scene of the crime. Later, he discovers from Friar Lawrence that rather than executing him for murder, the Prince of Verona has declared that he be banished forever. Instead of being relieved and grateful, Romeo laments his fate and claims that he would rather be dead than be separated from his dear Juliet.