Most people think that coincidence is the main cause for the character’s severe misfortune in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, but in reality, it is impulse and the inability to control one’s passion that account for the large amount of calamity in this tragedy’s plot line. Haste and passion are evident flaws in many of the character’s personalities. At one point in time, Romeo, Tybalt, Capulet, Friar Lawrence make a decision on impulse. Many of these decisions are also made when the character is overcome by a deep emotion. If some of the characters were able to get a hold of there passion and think things through, maybe the unfortunate deaths of Romeo and Juliet, as well as many others, could have been avoided.
Passion, and the inability to control it, is one of the major reasons that the characters experience such misfortune throughout the course of this tragedy. Instead of thinking things through before they act, many of the characters such as Lord Capulet, Tybalt, Friar Lawrence, and Romeo all let the emotions overcome them and ultimately rule their decisions. Shakespeare uses the downfall of characters that abuse the privilege of emotions to warn readers about making decisions without considering the results.
Lord Capulet allows his severe emotions to overcome him in rough situations and drastically alter his decisions. For example, after Juliet begs him to call off the marriage between her and Paris he explodes and replies, “Hang thee, young baggage, disobedient wretch! I tell thee what: get thee to church o’thursday, or never differ look me in the face. Speak not, reply not; do not answer me. My fingers itch- Wife, we scarce thought us blessed” (Shakespeare III, V, 159-162). Juliet’s willingness to risk her life seemed pe...
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... 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.
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Romeo and Juliet is widely known to be a tragedy, but what caused the atrocity for which it is so renowned? Some may argue fate was to blame for Romeo’s and Juliet’s deaths, that the situations these young lovers faced were depicted as being out of their control. Could Romeo have refused to attend the Capulet masque? Was Romeo destined to duel the raging Tybalt? Did Romeo and Juliet truly have to kill themselves? If one considers the specific circumstances and causes of these situations, the fact that all scenarios are the result of choice rather than chance, and the notion that the characters were never left without options, only one conclusion can be determined. It was unarguably the decisions made by characters, not those made by fate, that were responsible for the tragedy in Romeo and Juliet.
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Throughout the play Romeo and Juliet, written by William Shakespeare in the 16th century, there is consistent theme of conflict featured in terms of both mental, physical and emotional means. The way this dispute is embodied throughout the duration of the play alternates subject to subject to the character in question- but can be represented through many means.
As the leading characters, Romeo and Juliet both portray the flaw that ultimately leads to the resolution: impulsiveness. Portrayed as emotional throughout the play, Romeo’s hamartia came to play in his vengeful state: “And fire-eyed fury be my conduct now...Either thou or I, or both, must go with him.” (3.1.117-122). Shakespeare’s characterization of Romeo as
Hasty actions created by mankind's careless actions throughout history. They are people who don’t think through about their decisions properly, tend to make more mistakes. Written by William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet are about two young, star-crossed lovers who are secretly in love with each other. However, they have found themselves facing obstacles left and right, and have very few allies on their side. They’re thrown into these challenges because Mercutio wanted to protect Romeo’s pride, however, Tybalt intervenes and challenges Romeo to a duel, but Romeo doesn’t want to fight Tybalt. Thus, Mercutio decides to take the challenge upon himself and duels with Tybalt. Nonetheless, Mercutio, Tybalt, and Romeo’s thoughtless action had brought upon grief and trouble into the feuding families throughout the play.
Juliet’s weakness to be controlled by love leads her to make unadvised and irresponsible decisions that contribute to her choice of ending her life. Characterized as a young and rash teenager, with no interest in love and marriage at first, Juliet wants to be independent. However, after she first lays eyes on Romeo, Juliet’s perception of love is quick to change. Their strong love easily manipulates and clouds her judgment. Even if she is cautious and realizes their love is too fast, the rush of feelings from having a first love overcomes her. Her soft-spoken words symbolically foreshadow the journey of Romeo and Juliet’s love. “Well, do not swear. Although I joy in thee, / I have no joy of this contract tonight. / It is too rash, too unadvised, too sudden;…/ This bud of love, by summer’s ripening breath, / May prove to be a beauteous flower when next we meet” (2.2. 117-123). The blooming flower is indicative of their growing love, especially Juliet. Being her first experience of true love, her actions become more rash the deeper she falls in, even ...
Ultimately, Romeo and Juliet become embodiments of impulsiveness. Through their rash words and actions in the tragedy “Romeo and Juliet”, Shakespeare sets forth that both are too hasty in their decisions, leading them into unfortunate events. As the plot unfolds, Romeo and Juliet’s futile love is torn apart by their family’s hate and animosity towards each other. Despite their constant struggle to let their love survive, it is doomed from the beginning of the tragedy. It is plain that lack of foresight and wisdom leads to disaster all around.
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In Shakespeare’s Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, the lovers meet their doom, by scene iii of Act V. With their fatal flaw of impulsivity, Romeo and Juliet are ultimately to blame for their death. Contrarily, if it was not for the unintentional influence of the pugnacious Tybalt, the star-crossed lovers may have remained together, perpetually. To the audience, the deaths of Romeo and Juliet are already understood, for it is a Shakespearean tragedy. However, the causes, predominantly Romeo’s and Juliet’s fatal flaw of impulsivity and rashness, are as simple as Shakespearean writing. Though Romeo and Juliet are wholly to blame for their tragic suicides, in Act V scene iii, Tybalt is, in turn, responsible, as his combative spirit forced Romeo to murder him and Juliet to marry Paris.
Aubrey, Bryan. “Critical Essay on ‘Romeo and Juliet’.” Drama for Students. Ed. Anne Marie Hacht. Vol. 21. Detriot: Gale, 2005. Literature Resource Center. Web. 4 Dec. 2013.
Passion, lust, haste and deceit prove to be a fatal mix for Shakespeare's young star crossed lovers in The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. There are many instances that convey this thought inside the literature, and it proves how their hastiness contributed to their mournful demise. The motif of haste in The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet is developed by illusion and imagery to reveal the importance of the proceeding rapidity of love , and careless actions that follow.
The Web. 1 May 2014. onlinelibrary.wiley.org/>. Shakespeare, William, and Burton Raffel. Romeo and Juliet.