As French political and military leader Napoleon Bonaparte once said, ¨When firmness is sufficient, rashness is unnecessary.¨ As in Romeo And Juliet, the world famous playwrighter William Shakespeare portrays the repercussions of acting rashly. Shakespeare has shown countless themes in his popular play Romeo And Juliet, In one of Shakespeare's mostly known plays, Romeo and Juliet, he shows the theme of characters acting rashly. In the play, mainly all characters have acted quickly and irresponsibly in some way. The two main turning points in the play, when a character acted rashly were, the deaths of Mercutio, the marriage of Romeo and Juliet, and Lord Capulet forcing Juliet to marry Paris. Mercutio’s assassination by Tybalt later is the reason Romeo, out of revenge and anger, killed Tybalt. After Mercutio was killed but before Tybalt was killed, when Romeo fought Tybalt in spite of revenge of Mercutio’s death. Probably the only character in the fighting scene, in act 1 scene 3 was Benvolio. Benvolio tells Tybalt and Mercutio, ¨We talk here in the public haunt of men.¨ Benvolio then tells both of them that “Either Withdraw unto some private place, and reason …show more content…
Even the Friar acted quickly when he responded that he will marry the two. Due to the marriage many people died for it. If they never got married Romeo, Juliet, Paris, Tybalt, and Mercutio would most likely have never died. Romeo would have never killed Tybalt if he wasn't coming home from his wedding. But due to his wedding he killed Tybalt and got banished from his city, Verona. From the banishment he received the news that Juliet was dead. This later was the cause of Paris’s, Juliet’s, and his owns death. Even Friar Laurence foreshadows upcoming events when he says, “Wisely and slow; they stumble that run fast.” (2.3.101) This symbolizes that Romeo and Juliet are going into this marriage too fast and will have issues down the
Friar Laurence marries Romeo and Juliet which tends to be a bad decision. He agrees to marry Romeo and Juliet and then keep their marriage a secret. He thinks that when Capulets and Montagues will discover their marriage, they will stop fighting and turn their rancor into friendship. So he told Romeo, "But come, young waverer, come go with me./ In one respect I'll thy assistant be;/ For this alliance may so happy prove/ To turn your households' rancour to pure love." (2.3.92-95). If he would not have married them, Juliet would not have been Romeo's wife and she could have happily married Paris. But now, she was Romeo's wife and she did not want to marry any other man, so she decided to kill herself rather than marry Paris.
Romeo senses tensions are high with Tybalt, so he states, “I do protest I never injured thee but love thee better than thou canst devise.” (Lines 65-66 Act Three, Scene One). Romeo is trying to diffuse the situation because he realizes that Tybalt is his love's cousin. Mercutio is surprised by Romeo’s behavior, so he decides to fight Tybalt himself. Mercutio’s decision to fight Tybalt leads to his own death. Romeo is angered by the death of Mercutio and states, “Now, Tybalt, take the “villain" back again/ That late thou gavest me; for Mercutio’s soul.” (Lines 123-124 of Act Three, Scene One). Romeo is indicating that Tybalt is the villain now, because he slayed Mercutio. Romeo forgets about his attempt to befriend the Capulets and slays Tybalt. Romeo, murderer of Tybalt, solely focuses on Juliet and states “Ha, banishment? Be merciful, say “death"/For exile hath more terror in his look.” (Lines 12-13 of Act Three, Scene Three). Romeo does not care about Tybalt’s life, but only cares for the way it affects his relationship with Juliet. Romeo’s mother dies out of grief because of his banishment. Romeo’s recklessness in loving Juliet has led to the death of three
An example of Romeo’s rash decision is when he gets revenge and kills Tybalt. Romeo is in full anger and really is not thinking about what he is doing. He ends up defeating Tybalt, but his punishment is that he is banished from Verona and is forced to live in Mantua. Romeo now has to leave Juliet behind and live on his own. After Romeo kills Tybalt he says out loud, “O, I am fortune’s fool!” (3.1.130). Romeo realizes that he has made a huge mistake and that now he is going to have to pay the consequences. He flees the scene and later realizes that he is banished. It shows how Romeo’s unthoughtfulness has caused him trouble. Juliet also, makes a rash decision in begging the Friar to help her be with Romeo or she’ll kill herself. She doesn’t think about how she could think of a different plan instead of threatening to kill herself. Juliet tells the Friar that he must help her or else. Juliet tells the Friar, “ Tell me not, friar, that thou hearest of this, Unless thou tell me how I may prevent it/I long to die.” (4.1.51-67). This reveals that Juliet is “dying” if she doesn’t have Romeo with her. All Juliet needed to do was calm down and think of a plan by herself. Of course, the biggest rash decision was the decision to kill themselves. If Friar John would have went by himself and brought Romeo the message, they would have lived together in Mantua. Instead Balthasar
Firstly, the concept of overreacting and being blinded by anger. This concept is shown through the character of Romeo who is at often times an irrational and impulsive thinker. When one of his
In the play Romeo and Juliet, Romeo’s actions are rash throughout the play. For example, Romeo does not consider the consequences of his actions when he insists on marrying Juliet. Also, Romeo shows rashness when he kills Tybalt. Finally, Romeo is rash when he kills himself. Rashness is a quality that haunts Romeo throughout the play.
Romeo was very loyal to his friends and family, and it is possible that Mercutio thought that Romeo would help him fight off Tybalt (since he was unaware of Romeo and Juliet’s secret marriage that somewhat united Romeo and Tybalt). However, this argument is easily deemed invalid. Romeo was not in the town square when the fight had first begun, so Mercutio expected his help in the fight would be a far-fetched idea. A person who is not present cannot help or hinder the situation at hand. In addition, Romeo tried to break up the fight when he said, “Gentlemen, for shame forbear this outrage!
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
After catching Romeo at a party he was not supposed to be at, Tybalt had it out for Romeo. Just after Romeo and Juliet’s wedding, Tybalt comes looking for him wanting to fight. Romeo does not want to fight because he now loves Tybalt since he is family to him, but neither Tybalt or anyone else knows this reason. Quickly, Mercutio steps in and tells Tybalt that he will fight him in honour of Romeo. Sadly, this led to the death of Mercutio.
Romeo’s numerous rash decisions demonstrates his great impulsiveness. Romeo at first grieves over his unreciprocated love for Rosaline, but after he sees Juliet; he forgets about Rosaline entirely. His hastiness leads him to make decisions that are not intelligent or to his benefit. Shortly after meeting Juliet, he asks her to “exchange [her] faithful vow” for his ( 2.2.132). Romeo’s recklessness is evident that he does not think before he makes important decisions; prompting him to propose to Juliet just hours after their first meeting. Yet the morning before, Romeo was suffering from depression because he could never have his Rosaline. After what seems like a lifetime of loving Rosaline and promising to never love anyone but her, Romeo sees Juliet and instantaneously all his thoughts of Rosaline vanish. Romeo becomes infatuated with Juliet, with whom he exchanges less then fifty words before “falling in love.” The next morning he begs Friar L...
Before dodging, Tybalt troughs his sword at Mercutio, causing death to him. Mercutio accuses Romeo of the feud for his destiny. Romeo killed Tybalt, who taunts Romeo, on his return. Romeo fears he will be convicted to death if he doesn't leave before the prince arrives. Benvolio recollection of the events that happened, with some embroidery.
You can see that in the text that Benvolio does not want this fight, but Mercutio keeps fighting and picking a fight. Benvolio even says, “ I pray thee, good Mercutio, let’s retire.The day is hot; the Capulets, abroad; And if we meet we shall not ’scape a brawl, For now, these hot days, is the mad blood stirring.” You can see that there was an effort to stop this fight from even happening, but Shakespeare obviously does not want the story to end up this way. Right then he could of had the characters stop the bickering and walk the other direction. However, he decides to put Tybalt in the scene and even though Romeo is trying to calm down the commotion at the beginning it does not work and things get so bad that it leads Romeo to kill Tybalt, which is the first place that we see the story go for a
To act without forethought is to be impulsive. William Shakespeare's’ play Romeo & Juliet indulges in this concept of acting without thought ultimately leading to great tragedy and other major events. The novel's characters, Romeo, Juliet, and Capulet are impetuous and tend to not understand the consequences of their spontaneous remarks. Juliet and Romeo’s first encounter is one of haste. Romeo, before he caught sight of Juliet, He was enamored by Rosaline and voices this to the friar many times but his friends decide to take him out because he was not moving quickly with her
Mere hours after the masque, Juliet and Romeo are surreptitiously married under the supervision of Friar Lawrence, who hesitantly states, “Come, come with me, and we will make short work; / For, by your leaves, you shall not stay alone / Till Holy Church incorporate two in one” (2.6.35-37). Friar Lawrence agrees to marry Romeo and Juliet in hopes of ending the feud between their families. Though he has good intentions, the Friar creates far more problems than he solves in his action of marrying the two partners, mainly because he agrees to keep it a secret and deceive the rest of Verona. Soon after the star-crossed lovers’ wedding, Juliet’s father marries her to Paris because he is unaware of her situation. Because of Romeo and Juliet’s secret wedding, Juliet resolves to do anything in her power to avoid a decided marriage with Paris. She observes, “Things that, to hear them told, have made me tremble- / And I will do it without fear or doubt, / To live an unstain’d wife to my sweet love” (4.1.87-89). Juliet is willing to go to drastic measures to stay true to Romeo, which, while admirable, leads to future deception that
And Mercutio slain! Away to heav’n, respective lenity…[ They fight. Romeo kills Tybalt] (Shakespeare 3.1. 127-128 … 137).” Romeo declared to Tybalt after Tybalt killed Romeo’s friend Mercutio. Earlier in the play the Prince said if anyone fights again they will be punished.
Romeo's passion for peace powers him to take action in a conflict. During the fight between Tybalt and Mercutio, Mercutio is unintentionally wounded and dies soon after. This is a result of Romeo trying to stop the fight by physically getting in between the two. Before Tybalt becomes physical with Mercutio, he initially intends on fighting Romeo. However, Romeo informs him that he is not interested in getting involved in a fight.