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While reading Romeo and Juliet, the phrase “if only” could come to mind in an array of different spots in the play. If one event within the play changed, the entire ending could have been majorly affected. Even though some people believe that the timing in the play would not have had an impact on the fate of Romeo and Juliet, I believe that timing was the most crucial influence on the tragic ending. In my opinion, the timing being slightly off affected the entire play ending because if Romeo showed up later then both lovers would have survived, the amount of time that Romeo spent paying respects could have allowed Juliet to awaken, and the time that Juliet decided to take the potion. Romeo, being as early as he was, caused Juliet to not wake in time, making Romeo drink the poison and drop dead. This is proven as Friar Lawrence says, “But when I came, some minute ere the time/Of her awakening, here untimely lay/The noble Paris …show more content…
The reason behind this was that Friar John visited the sick while on his way to deliver the letter to Romeo. But Firar doing that got him quarantined by the authorities because they thought that he could be sick. “But he which bore my letter, Friar John, / Was stayed by accident, and yesternight, / Returned my letter back.” (v, 111, || 265-67). If Friar John wasn’t quarantined, then he could have delivered the letter to Romeo. That would have allowed Romeo then to not have worried when he saw Juliet seemingly dead. All he would have done is he would have calmly waited until Juliet woke and they would have escaped to Mantua together. However, Romeo thought that she was dead and ended his life, whcih cprompted Friar Lawrence to say, “A greater power than we can contradict / Hath thwarted our intents.” (v, 111, || 165-66). And if they did that, then the tragic ending would not have
Friar Lawrence advises Juliet to drink a substance before going to bed that will make her appear to be dead and unresponsive, but she will wake up within a day. This demonstrates unethical, immature and irresponsible behaviour, which leads to Romeo and Juliet’s death. “Take thou this vial, being then in bed./And this distilled liquor drink thou off,/when presently through all thy veins shall run/A cold drowsy humor, for no pulse.” (4.1.94-97) In this quote, Friar Lawrence instructs Juliet to lie to the Nurse and drink a substance before going to sleep, when the Nurse and Lady Capulet will wake her, she will appear dead; with the hopes that Romeo will come and their relationship will be saved, unfortunately this is not the case. Friar Lawrence’s plan is thoughtless, after Juliet is aware of the plan and has the potion; Friar is advised that Romeo did not receive the letter. This causes Romeo and Juliet’s untimely death. “A grave? Oh, no. A lantern, slaughtered youth,/ for here lies Juliet, and her beauty makes/This vault a feasting presence full of light/Death, lie thou there, by a dead man interred.” (5.3.84-87) At the sight of Juliet’s body, Romeo becomes so overwhelmed with grief
Love, Haste and Contrasts in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. In this assignment, I will be looking at the play Romeo and Juliet. I will analyse how Shakespeare has used language in the play for symbolic effect. I will observe how Shakespeare has presented love.
"Friar:'Take thou this vial, being then in bed, ?And this distilling liquor drink thou off"'(IV, I, 93-94) This was an easy task for the Friar since he grows and sells herbs and medicines to the people of Verona. Although he tried to send word to Romeo explaining the plan he had produced, it never made it to him. “Friar: ‘Hold! Get you gone, be strong and prosperous/ In this resolve, I’ll send a friar with speed /To Mantua, with my letters to thy lord.’ ” (IV, I, 122-124) Instead of hoping that the letter would make it to Romeo, the Friar should have made an excuse to delay the wedding and spoke with Romeo the next day. Hearing that Juliet had died, Romeo poisoned himself by her corpse. Upon awakening, Juliet discovered her dead husband and stabbed herself so that she may also be dead.
Friar Lawrence showed that he was impatient when he rushed everything and didn’t wait to see if Romeo received the letter, instead he gave her the potion. When she drank the potion and Romeo came to see her, he assumed she was dead and drank a poison and fell dead at her side, after awakening Juliet sees Romeo dead beside her and takes his dagger and says “O happy dagger, this is thy sheath; there rust, and let me die.” And plunges the dagger into her stomach and too falls dead with her beloved Romeo. If Friar Lawrence hadn’t been so sympathetic with marrying the two and hadn’t been impatient when it came to the letter, Romeo wouldn’t have drunken the poison and Juliet would have never stabbed herself. In conclusion, the tragic death of young Romeo and Juliet can be blamed on their family and friends.
As a late author, experienced polymath, brilliant inventor, and politician Benjamin Franklin often informed people to “take time for all things: great haste makes great waste.” Being one of the founding fathers of the United States, Franklin declared that haste will lead to missed opportunities and chaos. He also indicated that you should take time to think of every outcome, that may include thinking about other people’s fate or just your own. The adults and the young adolescents in this play are all at fault for the rivalry because of their hasty arguments and their immaturity. In Shakespeare's play, Romeo and Juliet the majority of the conflicts constructed have been by haste and immaturity created by the young adolescents and a sufficient
Romeo, as a young adolescence, your brain is not fully developed, which may lead to regretful decisions. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, teens have a “tendency to act on impulse -without regard for risk.” Therefore, you may not see how irrational this idea is; although, you will when it is too late. Also, Friar Lawrence has devised a plan that reunites you and your Juliet. His plan is to fake Juliet’s death, steal her away in the night, and hide the two of you from your families so that you may live happily ever after. When you die in a matter of hours, Friar explains to both houses how the plan went wrong starting with how he gave Juliet a sleeping potion and he claims he, “intended for it wrought on her the form of death.” He continues to say, “Meantime I writ to Romeo that he should hither come as this dire night to help to take her from her borrowed grave.” Finally he pleas that, “Friar John was stayed by accident, and yesternight returned my letter back.” In my ghostly form, I witnessed him explain the unfolding of these events. Take it from me that making this impulsive decision is unwise and will only ruin Friar’s plan. In addition, poor Juliet is unfortunate enough to awaken to your
In society, people have varying opinions on fate. Many question whether life’s events are pre-determined by fate or whether people have a destiny to serve a greater purpose. Fate versus free will is an archaic topic among philosophers that is ultimately up for interpretation.The question on whether or not something else is controlling life’s events or if they are simply a coincidence faces us in some point of our lives. In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare plays with the idea of fate and its control on the events in the play. He forces us to realize the destiny between Romeo and Juliet involves the fate between the two opposing households as well. Shakespeare blurs the line between fate and free will in his play Romeo and Juliet to show that the outstanding cause of Romeo and Juliet’s tragedy was not something decided- it was fate. It is evident by the events in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet that fate was the main cause of the tragedy in the play, and that Romeo and Juliet held the destiny to finally end the feud between the Capulets and the Montagues.
He also tells Juliet that "Shall Romeo by my letters know our drift, and hither shall hem come; and he and I shall watch thy waking, and that very night shall Romeo bear thee to Mantua" (Act 4, Scene 1.) Unforeseen to neither the Friar nor Juliet that an error such as the one of Friar John’s would prove to be deadly. Poor Romeo was not able to receive the letter. Friar Lawrence plays a significant role in the plan for Juliet to "sleep."Friar Lawrence plays an important rule in the actual deaths of Romeo, Juliet, And Paris. Friar Lawrence is unable to reach Romeo with the news of Juliet’s "death." Romeo, thinking Juliet is dead rushes to Verona, but not before buying some fast poison.
Juliet’s character is a collection of innocence, youth and naïveness. Her portrayal, however, did not fit well with the stereotypical view of how an Elizabethan women should have been. Women back then had to obey their fathers and husbands. They weren’t granted free will and so Juliet initial portrayal is girl who is an obeying daughter but when she discovers love she becomes a disobedient daughter to be faithful to her husband (Romeo).
This makes it clear to friar that Romeo has not gotten the important news and is worried about Romeo, this leads to Friar Lawrence trying to wake up Juliet and try to fix the plan. Friar John ’s actions should be pardoned because in both cases he seems as though he wasn't the actual cause for the death of Romeo and Juliet since it wasn't his fault for getting quarantined for the most part. Although it was his choice to get help from another Friar, he didn't know that the friar was sick at that time. Therefore Friar John should be pardoned for the unfortunate events that happened. It is clear to say that it wasn't his decision to be quarantined and it didn't factor a part in Romeo's departure.To add on Friar john was not aware of what was in friar's letter as said by Friar Lawrence “Unhappy fortune! By my brotherhood, the letter was not nice but full of charge,Of dear import, and the neglecting it may do much danger. Friar John, go hence.Get me an iron crow and bring it
Then Juliet would still be sleeping by the time Romeo arrived at the tomb. On the other hand, that doesn't happen. What ended up happening is Friar John gets stopped and the letter never arrives to Romeo.
The Friar knows that this is an impossible situation, which if made possible by himself will without a doubt end up in tragedy in one way or another. Under these conditions, as the Friar predicts, Romeo sinks into a deep depression as a result of the fact that he cannot see his wife. Similarly, Juliet becomes depressed and is grieving over the truth of her and Romeo's separation. Without the Friar the two lovers would not have been married, which would have prevented both depressions and future problems to come. The Friar is responsible for many problems as well, as well as assisting Juliet with her "death" plan.
...a little earlier or even later, Friar John could have avoided getting caught up with the plague. This could have led to Romeo receiving the letter, and him ending up with Juliet. Also the timing of the plague is very unfortunate. The chances of a plague being at the exact time Friar John was delivering the letter to Romeo are very low. Second of all, if Balthasar saw Juliet any later than he did, the Friar could have gotten to Romeo before him. The timing of these two events are very unfortunate, and readers only have it to blame
Shakespeare uses time to show that all things are meant to happen at their own time and place. People tend to consider time as stationary. In Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, the characters are constantly trying to rush time in their urgency. This movement of time results in tragic ends, in which we learn that time and fate go hand in hand: neither one is meant to be tampered with.
Juliet and Friar Lawrence made a plan for her to see Romeo, and Friar would send Romeo a letter telling him to meet Juliet at the tomb. Their plan was that Juliet would take a special medicine that would make it seem as if she was dead for a temporary amount of time. This being in a play is great because the audience can really see how Juliet appears dead. Then her appearing dead would make it so that she would be put into a tomb, then Romeo could sneak into the tomb as soon as Juliet would wake up from the medicine. The problem is that Friar’s letter didn’t reach Romeo in enough time, so the letter was sent back to Friar.