What comes to mind when you hear the names Romeo and Juliet? I think of love, hate, and most of all tragedy. It is a tragedy because their love led to their deaths and because Romeo and Juliet were responsible for their own destiny. From the start to the end of their love affair they knew they were going against their parents’ wishes. Romeo and Juliet also made selfish and immature decisions. And as we all know, it was Romeo and Juliet who chose to kill themselves. All of these things contributed to their premature deaths.
From their first meeting, Romeo (a Montague) and Juliet (a Capulet), knew that they were both from feuding families. Shortly after they first met Juliet said, “My only love sprung from my only hate.” [Act I sc.5 ll 145]. Juliet is saying that her love (Romeo) has come from her hate (the Montague family). Seeing as how she had just met Romeo it is very premature to call him her ‘only love’. Shortly after meeting Juliet and learning that she was a Capulet, Romeo said, “My life is my foe’s debt” [Act I sc5 ll125]. Despite knowing that they were from feuding families, Romeo and Juliet decided to pursue their love. They were conscious that they were going against their parents wished. The fact that they chose to keep their relationship a secret proves that. How did Romeo and Juliet expect to live ‘happily ever after’ if their parents did not know about their relationship? Surely Romeo and Juliet knew their parents would find out eventually. Romeo and Juliet seemed to have paid no attention to their families. They ignored their families and did not think about the consequences of their relationship. This was just one of the selfish decisions Romeo and Juliet made.
Romeo and Juliet’s relationship was plagued wi...
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...ind a way to be with Romeo then she would kill herself. This is immature of Juliet. She had reason to live even if Romeo was banished. She told the Friar, “With this knife I’ll help it presently” [Act IV sc1 ll 55]. Juliet was again talking about killing if she could not be with Romeo. By killing themselves, Romeo and Juliet ended their chances of future happiness. They did not know what the future held for themselves. Because of their decision to end their own lives, they had no future.
From the beginning to the end of their relationship, Romeo and Juliet made many selfish, irrational decisions. From deciding to go against their families, to choosing to kill themselves; Romeo and Juliet made fateful decisions. They were responsible for their own destiny. The story of Romeo and Juliet is one of great tragedy, but a tragedy that Romeo and Juliet created themselves.
The reader realizes this when the prologue states, “Two households, both alike in dignity/ In fair Verona, where we lay our scene, / From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,/ Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean./ From forth the fatal loins of these two foes/ A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life” (I 1-6). This translates to say two families have been rivals for many years. Romeo and Juliet are two from separate rivaling families that fall in love. The reader can acknowledge that these two individuals meet one another due to fate. However, they know that because of their parents’ hatred of each other, they can never be together. “My only love sprung from my only hate!/ Too early seen unknown, and known too late!/ Prodigious birth of love it is to me,/ That I must love a loathed enemy” (I v138-140). A decision is made that the only way to be happy is to take their lives. As soon as the play begins, the audience can foresee a tragic ending because of the language used.
It wasn’t one thing that caused Romeo and Juliet to kill themselves but many separate factors that worked together to contribute to this sad ending. Like in life, many things are to blame for an incident, not just one. Three of the main reasons they died were, Friar Laurence's fatal mistake, their shared characteristic of impulsiveness and their families feud. This famous love story shows us that with almost everything, there is more than one cause.
In all of the best works of literature, each of a writer's characters has a purpose whether the role is small or big. Even if it goes unnoticed, the small characters usually play a key role to the story's plot development. These minor characters also add depth to the story's world and also help in the development of the major characters' personality. In William Shakespeare's play The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, the minor characters of Friar Lawrence, the Nurse, and Tybalt are in many ways the most pivotal characters to the play's development.
"What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would
William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet "Many a morning hath he been there seen /With tears augmenting the
The story of Romeo and Juliet is an inevitable tragedy. Many events take place, which are quite detrimental to the love Romeo and Juliet have for one another. By mentioning marriage and death together, Shakespeare foreshadows Romeo and Juliet's tragic ending. From the very beginning of the play throughout and to the end, there has always been the intent of a tragedy, and Shakespeare uses much dramatic irony to express this.
In the classic romantic tale of The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, the main characters, Romeo and Juliet are deeply in love with each other, but from the beginning of the play we know that they would never be able to be together because of family disputes. When reading the prologue, it says “Two households, both alike in dignity, from ancient grudge break to new mutiny, where civil blood makes civil hands unclean” (Shakespeare Prologue.1-4). Before the play even starts, we know how much these families hate each other and that blood is involved with a bad ending for all. Romeo comes from the Montague’s, and Juliet comes from the Capulet’s. These two families were in war with each other from the beginning of the story and these family disputes play a huge role in the death of Romeo and Juliet. Romeo has a passion for love that is unbreakable and he will do anything to get who he wants no matter the consequences that might follow. An example of this is
Have you ever felt like your parents were driving you crazy by not listening to you or being unreasonable? This was the problem for Romeo and Juliet. Their parents remained intransigent til it was too late. If their parents had come to an agreement, things would have turned out differently. “My only love sprung from my only hate.”( I, v, 7) In this quote Juliet expresses her frustration in the fact that Romeo is in fact a Montague. She is saddened because she knows that she is an enemy to the Montague, and Romeo vice
...t on the spot, and are too immature. Romeo and Juliet’s spring of blind love quickly deepens and causes them to face situation that they have never faced before. They do not know how to handle their bizarre complications, as the story takes a quick, unpredicted turn and turns into a nightmare for them. Romeo and Juliet are forced to make rash decisions one after the other and do not consider the possible solutions other than suicide, causing them to look up to suicide as their only hope. Their bizarre complications are caused by their blind, immature, and excessive love and their act of taking their own lives is also caused by immaturity, idolatry for each other, and the shortness of time. Romeo and Juliet suicide at the end of the story, due to the shortness of time and the extremity of their love; they believe that they have no other options, other than suicide.
Even though they were not allowed to be together, it didn't mean that they had to kill themselves. They thought in that moment that the best idea for them was to run away. They didn't tell anyone and pretended like nothing was going on. Just because Romeo was banished and Juliet was a Capulet meant that they could not see each other, but if they wanted to they could have tried to think of a better idea than running away. They might have to run away in the future if they want to be together but they did not really give anyone a chance to even think about the idea and give it a chance. Throughout their plan, Romeo was supposed to get a letter explaining everything but it was not delivered which resulted in his and Juliet's
An ancient grudge and parents too blinded by hatred to break it, bear the ultimate blame for the tragic death of Romeo and Juliet. Friar Laurence was just attempting to mend the rift between two households. Nurse desired to make Juliet happy. The parents were selfish and could not get over their enmity with each other, and their children suffered the repercussing consequences. Bombarded by the indecision of all, Romeo and Juliet were free-spirited, love-struck, and young. Sadly it was their deaths, not love or marriage that finally brought the two houses together and Verona peace.
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.
Romeo and Juliet, written by William Shakespeare, is a story of two young lovers. These two hearts, Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet belong to feuding families. The family feud causes them to keep their love a secret and therefore only Romeo, Juliet, Benvolio, the Nurse and Friar Lawrence know of their love. Romeo and Juliet are able to look past the feud and let themselves fall in mad love with the other. They let themselves do almost anything for the other and at times it seems like too much to do, even for the one they love. Although fate and character traits play a key role in the play, ultimately Rome and Juliet’s personal choices lead to their downfall.Fate originates all of the conflicts in Romeo and Juliet, from when they met until they die.
Romeo and Juliet is a tragic story about a pair of star-crossed lovers whose demises were unexpected to most. However, their deaths were a result of their impulsiveness. It caused their problematic marriage, Romeo’s preventable death, as well as Juliet’s preventable death.
To conclude, Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy due to the tragic elements of Romeo’s thoughtlessness, Juliet’s attachment towards Romeo, and the plot’s dramatic turnabout. The play has both main characters tragically take their own lives, but there is much controversy whether it should be considered a tragedy or just a tragic story. Aristotle’s Poetics clearly outline all of the necessary parts to a tragedy, and Romeo and Juliet fill in those requisites. Despite all controversies, the one agreement everybody can come to is Romeo and Juliet is one of the world’s most beloved work of literature.