Think Before you Act
Has making a decision ever ruin your life? Have you ever done anything you could to settle a situation, but no matter what you do it just gets worse? In the play, Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, a long-standing hatred between two families affects their two unlucky children, who have fallen in love with each other. Many situations arise where decisions have to be made. Only the lovers’ tragic deaths end the two family feuds. Out of all the poor decisions in the play, Romeo’s decision to kill Tybalt is one of the most important decisions in the play; it is the catalyst that leads to the ultimate tragedy.
Romeo’s decision to kill Tybalt leads to his banishment, which affects Romeo and Juliet to be wretched. As Romeo talks to the Friar he complains about how, “There is no world without Verona walls but purgatory, torture itself” (III. iii. 17-18.). Romeo thinks that being banished from Verona is like being banished from the world. He believes that exile is way worse than death and would rather die than not being able to see Juliet (III. iii. 12-14). In addition, Romeo’s banishment has also affected Juliet very much. She cries over Romeo’s banishment as she says, “There is no end, no limit, measure, bond, in that words death. No words can that woe sound” (III. ii. 126-127). Juliet is upset that Romeo has been banished. But, she convinces herself that the only reason Romeo killed Tybalt was because Tybalt wanted to kill him, so she forgives Romeo. She also believes “that ‘banished’ that one word… hath slain ten thousand Tybalts” (III. ii. 114-115). Somewhat like Romeo, Juliet believes that banishment is worse than death. Though in this case, she believes that banishment is worse than Tybalt’s death. Ki...
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...but it doesn’t work. She then finds a knife and says, “O happy dagger, this is they sheath. There rust and let me die” (V. iii. 183-184). Juliet, being the same as Romeo, would rather much die than to not be with him. So, she kills himself with the dagger beside Romeo. If Romeo hadn’t killed Tybalt, Juliet wouldn’t have gone to the Friar and the plan wouldn’t have happened.
Romeo killing Tybalt leads to his banishment, which leads to Juliet being unhappy. Wanting Juliet to become happy, Lord Capulet moves to marriage between Paris and Juliet forward. Since Juliet doesn’t want to marry Paris she goes to the Friar for help. A plan is set in action and doesn’t end well. If Romeo hadn’t killed Tybalt none of events afterwards would have happened. In life you should always think before you act. As one little mistake could lead to a series of unlucky things to happen.
Romeo kills Tybalt, in an angry and sad state because Tybalt had earlier killed Mercuiccuio. After this occurs Romeo is sentenced to leave. He can still live, this is when Romeo loses hope and is ungrateful. He says, "They are freemen, but I am banished, And sayest thou yet exile is not death? Hadst thou no poison mix, no sharp-groud knife, no sudden mean of death, though never so means, But banished to kill me -- 'Banished'? "(ROM. III .iii. 44-48). The Frair gives Romeo a positive outlook and says that he can always come back to Verona after time has passed, yet Romeo loses all hope which leads to being banished.
Tybalt did not take a direct role in Juliet’s ‘death’, but he set the course for incidents that lead to it. As a Capulet, he had long participated in the feud between his family and the Montagues. The day after he spotted Romeo at a party hosted by his family, he went out looking for him – and a fight. He accidentally murdered Mercutio, Romeo later killed him in revenge. Juliet, rather than being upset by Tybalt’s death, sobbed for Romeo, who was banished for the murder. The misunderstandings regarding Juliet’s grief led to a marriage she felt she could only escape by faking her own death. While Tybalt was not immediately involved in Juliet’s ‘death’, he played such a major role in starting the events that would ultimately lead to it that he must be deemed partly responsible.
...se he believes Juliet to dead, drinks poison to take his own life as a last resort. What Romeo is unaware of is that Juliet is very much alive, so it is very ironic when he says, “Death, that has 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” (V iii 101-105). This is fate in the works in the play. When Juliet sees that her love has not rescued her and rather is dead, she kills herself with a dagger found in the proximity. “O happy dagger/ This is thy sheath; there rust and let me die” (V iii 182-183).
In Romeo and Juliet, one character who is partly responsible for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet is Tybalt. Tybalt enrages Remeo and causes him to kill Tybalt. In Romeo and Juliet, this brings about Romeo’s exile from Verona. If Romeo had not been exiled from Verona, he would have heard of Friar Lawrence’s plan to keep Juliet from getting married. If he had known of the plan, he would not have gone to the vault and killed himself over what he thought was Juliet’s dead body.
Also in the beginning of the play a fight breaks out between the Montague and Capulet families and the Prince intervenes and after telling them to drop their weapons he says “If ever you disturb our streets again, your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace.” Although this rule was given Tybalt challenged Romeo to a duel. Romeo kept refusing to fight Tybalt which caused Mercutio to be outraged and draw his own sword. During the duel between Tybalt and Mercutio, Romeo intervenes and tries to stop them both but Tybalt puts his sword under Romeo’s arm and kills Mercutio. Romeo then fights with Tybalt and murders him and is banished from Verona. If Tybalt hadn’t been so aggressive with the whole situation Romeo wouldn’t have been banished, and Juliet wouldn’t have needed to come up with a plan that resulted in both of their deaths.
As already shown, both Romeo and Juliet are horrified to discover that they were family enemies. Despite of this, they both choose to devote their love for eachother. Given this point, it is unrequited love that brings Romeo and Juliet together. But this also means that they would have to get over the fact that their families hate each other. This eventually leads them to forgiving the rival family for all the hateful acts that have occurred against one another. This is not the only forgiveness that is experienced in this play. Tybalt is a Montague with a fiery attitude. After catching Romeo at a party he was not supposed to be at, Tybalt had it out for Romeo. Just after Romeo and Juliet’s wedding, Tybalt comes looking for him wanting to fight. Romeo does not want to fight because he now loves Tybalt since he is family to him, but neither Tybalt or anyone else knows this reason. Quickly Mercutio steps in and tells Tybalt that he will fight him in honour of Romeo. Sadly this leads to the death of Mercutio. Romeo is angry and in need of revenge, which creates an intense fight between Tybalt and Romeo. Romeo wins this battle, killing Tybalt. He leaves in a hurry, only to discover that he would be banished from Verona. The death of Tybalt is absolutely devastating to Juliet. Her cousin was murdered by her husband. But she did not hesitate to forgive Romeo, she did so right away. She knew that Romeo had a reason for this incident and decides to
When Romeo and Juliet first meet, they immediately fall in love. They cannot stand to be away from each other, and the desperation and obsession is fused in as well. When Romeo is banished, he'd rather die than be without Juliet. ”Ha, banishment! Be merciful and say ‘death,’/For exile hath more terror in his look/ Much more than death. Do not say banishment” (III iii 12-14). Juliet reacts in a similar way, too.
Romeo and Juliet’s death could be interpreted to be Lord Capulet’s fault, he insisted Juliet to marry Paris. Lord Capulet takes part of the duel, but he behaves more reservedly during his daughter’s party. Juliet is his prized possession. At first, he seems very reasonable. He does not want his only daughter to marry quickly. He advises Paris to win her heart. (1.2.13-19) “And too soon marrd are those early made.Earth hath swallowed all my hopes but she. She is hopeful lady of my earth. But woo her, gentle Paris, get her heart. My will to her consent is but a part. And she agreed, within her scope of choice, Lies my consent and fair according voice,” said Lord Capulet. He seems to be mellow at Juliet’s ball. Tybalt is ready to fight Romeo then and there, but Lord Capulet won’t let him. He says Romeo has a good reputation and argues that a fight will disturb their guests. Tybalt hold off until later, when he does try to engage Romeo. He kills Mercutio, who steps in to defend Romeo, and Romeo slays Tybalt. It seems that Tybalt’s death changes things for Lord Capulet. He is so entrenched in grief that he reverses his position of patience on Juliet’s marriage. He insists that she marry Paris in only a few days, Juliet is horrified. After all, she is already secretly married to Romeo. Lord Capulet just makes a lot of threats and seems to get angrier and angrier. (3.5.160-164) “Hang thee, young baggage! Disobedient wretch! I
If he would have not had such a hot-headed temper, Tybalt, as well as Romeo and Juliet, would be alive. First of all, Tybalt was eager to call Romeo a villain, even though Romeo simply didn’t do anything wrong. In Act 3, Scene 1: “[Romeo]: I’ve never done you harm. I love you more than understanding.” Tybalt then stabs Mercutio in a duel, and kills him. Romeo fights Tybalt and kills him for justice, and then he is banished from Verona. This is cause and effect. If Tybalt never killed Mercutio, Romeo’s best friend, then he wouldn’t have been banished, and his love for Juliet wouldn’t have been strengthened. Ergo, Tybalt’s violence was a factor. In Act 3, Scene 1: “[Prince]: Romeo is herby exiled from Verona [for the killing of Tybalt].” Tybalt, clearly, contributed as equally as the other characters did. If Romeo was never exiled, and Tybalt never killed Mercutio, Romeo and Juliet alike would’ve never killed
been ousted which may have kept Romeo and Juliet themselves from taking their own lives. For sure it can be demonstrated that Tybalt's repressed resentment towards Romeo and his vindictive state of mind had a disastorous impact on whatever remains of the characters in the play. Keeping in mind he thought what he was doing was correct and was what should have been be done to keep the Capulet's protected, he twisted up harming everybody including himself in light of the fact that his own particular indignation achieved his less than ideal demise.
Shakespeare uses the role of fate in Romeo and Juliet to show how love and bad decisions can change the ending of a story. First, fate brings these two “star-crossed lovers” together (R&J Prologue.6). The lovers are star-crossed because they are from two families (the Montagues and Capulets) that have had an “ancient grudge” (R&J Prologue.4). These two families hate each other so much their servants started a fight in the first scene just because they were from the other family. The fact that the lovers are star-crossed, yet they still love each other is a bad decision because it leads to their doom. Second, in the third act Romeo “slew Tybalt” because of fate (R&J 3.1.178). Tybalt hates Romeo for crashing the party where Romeo met Juliet and he also hates Romeo because he is a Montague. Paris hates Romeo even when Romeo did not get a choice in what family he was born into, it was fate. Then, Tybalt challenges Romeo to a duel but Tybalt ends up killing Mercutio. In anger from Mercutio’s death, Romeo kills Tybalt which gets him banished to Mantua. Even though he was angry over his friend’s death, this action was a bad decision by Romeo because the banishment caused problems for the lovers. Then, they have to find a way to still be together. To even more complicate the plot, Mr. Capulet promised Paris that will Juliet “shall be married to” him (R&J 3.4.21). This arrangement happens because Juliet was sad about Tybalt’s death and Romeo’s banishment. The marriage forces the Juliet to fake her death, which is the reason for Romeo’s suicide. Romeo committed suicide because he did not her death was fake. This is a bad decision because Juliet and Friar Lawrence should have found a way to tell Romeo before she fakes her death. Fourth, “Romeo [is] dead and Juliet” is dead too (R&J 5.1.196). The lovers died because they are star-crossed.
Romeo is an extremely impulsive individual. Throughout the drama, Romeo makes decisions without considering the consequences. His mistakes bring about several complications that eventually lead to his untimely death. From the beginning of the novel, Romeo continuously falls in love with different people. The first Act of the play portrays an ardent love for the gorgeous Rosaline who refuses to love him. Romeo's maudlin behavior is a concern to his friends, who decide to take him to the Capulet's masquerade party. Here, Juliet's beauty strikes Romeo and his previous love for Rosaline instantaneously diminishes. After the party, Romeo encounters Juliet and makes the impulsive decision of promising to marry her. Romeo recounts the story of his newfound love and the desire to marry her, to his adviser, Friar Lawrence, and seeks his advice. The Friar explains that, "Young men's love then lies/ not truly in their hearts, but in their eyes" (89). The Friar tries to convince Romeo that his love is not true, for he hastily changes his mind about the love of his life. But Romeo does not change his mind and is wed with Juliet. Romeo is also quite brash in his decision to slay Tybalt. If Romeo considered the consequences of murdering his enemy, he could have prevented his banishment from Verona. Romeo fails to consider that there is no need to slay Tybalt because Tybalt is already headed for assassination due to the fact that he started a fray and murdered Mecrutio. Unfortunately, his impulsiveness overpowers him and Romeo fights Tybalt. If only Romeo had thought rationally, he would not be separated from his dear, sweet Juliet. His banishment causes Romeo to cry out with extreme anguish to the Friar, "Hence 'banished' is 'banished from the world,' / And worlds exile is death.
Once in a while many people make bad decisions. Usually these decisions don’t cause them any harm in their futures, unlike Romeo Montague’s and Juliet Capulet’s decisions. In Verona, a city in Italy, two lovers fall in love. The catch is their families despise each other. Eventually Romeo get’s banished from Verona, and Juliet is forced to marry someone she doesn’t want to marry. Juliet takes a potion that knocks her out for 42 hours, and feigns her death, hoping she does not have to marry Count Paris. Romeo assumes Juliet is dead, and drinks a potion that kills him, and when Juliet wakes up and realizes that Romeo is dead, she stabs herself. In William Shakespeare’s tragic play, Romeo and Juliet, the main protagonists, Romeo and Juliet, make poor choices which eventually lead to their death at the end of the story.
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.
All my life I have been taught to think before I act, in order to prevent myself from making a mistake. Yet, I have learned through my many errors in life not to duplicate my unfortunate actions. Many times I have been told to consider the consequences of my actions prior to acting. I have found, though, that this may not always be the best approach. I would not argue this to be true in every situation, however. What is to be said, for example, of those who have acted on their emotions, only to find themselves in prison? One must be able to know instinctively which situations are appropriate to be dealt with solely on emotions, and which are to require a certain amount of development. Nevertheless, as von Kleist states, in “On Thinking Things Over: A Paradox”, the proper time to reflect on an action is after the act has occurred.