Free Will In Romeo And Juliet

One of the things that every human has a right to is their choices and actions. Things that happen to people are a direct result of their actions and God, however we as humans make our own destinies. In The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare, two lovers named Romeo and Juliet meet their end after a tragic double suicide. When reading this story, many attribute their deaths to fate, claiming that they are “star-cross’d lovers.” However, throughout the tragedy, Romeo and Juliet very clearly seal their own deaths due to their own impulsive actions and choices. The main attribute was the obvious impulsiveness in both Romeo and Juliet. This would become their tragic flaw. For example, in Act Two, Romeo and Juliet hastily decide

Romeo is too blinded to realise that Juliet is still alive in the tomb, despite clear reasons that she is. “Is crimson in thy lips and in thy cheeks / And death’s pale flag has not advanced there”(5.3.95-6). If Romeo let himself think about the fact that she still has color in her cheeks and lips and her body is still warm, then he would have been able to realise that she was alive. Juliet also shows this self controlled ignorance and blindness. This is apparent when Juliet is about to drink Friar Lawrence’s potion. “What if it be a potion which the friar / Subtly hast minist’red to have me dead”(4.3.24-5). Juliet also lets herself be blinded to the potential consequences of drinking the potion, for she decides to drink it anyway. Romeo and Juliet are both consistently blind to their actions, and more importantly, their

Immediately a reader can understandably come to the conclusion that Romeo and Juliet are fated to die and are simply “star cross’d lovers.” However, while the timing hurts most situations that the pair were involved in, they insert themselves in those undesirable situations by their own free choices. For example, when Romeo kills himself just prior to Juliet arising, he does not pause to consider important factors, such as the color still being in Juliet’s face and how her body is not cold. While the timing was not favorable to Romeo, the aforementioned intentional blindness is what caused Romeo to kill himself, not the