How Did Romeo And Juliet Make Wrong Decisions

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Romeo and Juliet is a play where people make the wrong decisions at the wrong times. Written by William Shakespeare, the play follows the relationship between Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet, two star-crossed lovers from rival families. They meet and instantly fall in love, and the next day they get married. However, Romeo’s exile after killing Juliet’s cousin and Lord Capulet’s arranged marriage of Juliet and Paris bring the couple apart. Both Romeo and Juliet prefer death to separation, and after a failed plan to have Juliet fake her death and run away with Romeo, the couple ends up killing themselves. The end could have been prevented many times throughout the play, but the characters kept on making blunders and not doing what they should …show more content…

After Romeo and Juliet talk about the desire to marry each other, Romeo approaches the Friar to see if he would help them get married, saying “I’ll tell thee as we pass, but this I pray,-That thou consent to marry us today” (2.3.67-68). Although he chastises Romeo for moving from girl to girl so quickly, Friar Lawrence eventually agrees to marry the couple, hoping it would end the long-standing feud between the Montagues and Capulets, saying “For this alliance may so happy prove-To turn others your households’ rancor to pure love” (2.3.98-99). Later in act 2, he officially marries the couple. This was a mistake, he should have never agreed to marry Romeo and Juliet. He should have discouraged the dangerous relationship, not make it even stronger by making them husband and wife. His motives for marrying them seem good, but they were actually not. Would Lord Capulet really be thrilled upon hearing his daughter married a Montague instead of Paris? Juliet, his only daughter, would be taking up the name of his greatest enemy. If Lord Capulet had found out about Romeo and Juliet’s marriage, it would have probably strengthened the hatred between the two families, not bring peace. Friar Lawrence is delusional for thinking that he could solve the problems between the two households by marrying the couple, he just makes the whole situation much …show more content…

After making the plan with Juliet to fake her death, he says, “I’ll send a friar with speed-To Mantua with my letters to thy lord” (4.1.125-126). Instead of delivering the news to Romeo himself, he sends someone else to do it. He makes the plans, but when the time comes to carry them out, he just delegates the work to other people. Friar Lawrence tells Friar John to deliver the letter, but he is unable to deliver it. Would Friar Lawrence have been able to deliver the letter to Romeo in time if he did it himself? Probably not, because he would have faced the same obstacles that Friar John did: the plague. Friar John says, “Where the infectious pestilence did reign,-Sealed up the doors and would not let us forth,-So that my speed to Mantua there was stayed” (5.2.10-12). It can be inferred that there is a plague in the area that slows down the speed of travel, so Friar Lawrence likely couldn’t have delivered the letter in time. However, he would have been able to travel to the tomb right away, instead of having to wait for Friar John to return and tell him about his inability to deliver the letter. If Friar Lawrence had taken action and tried to deliver the letter himself, then he would have been able to make it to the tomb and explain the plan to Romeo and avoid any confusion, preventing both Romeo and Juliet’s deaths. Instead, he tells Friar John to do the work, and by the time he arrives at

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