Actions Have Consequences
“For never was a story of more woe / Than this of Juliet and her Romeo.” (5.3.309-310). Was this catastrophic ending the cause of fate or was it the consequences of their actions? Romeo and Juliet, a play written by William Shakespeare, is where this tragic story occurs. Romeo and Juliet hastily getting married, Capulet forcing Juliet to marry Paris, and Romeo killing Tybalt all lead to a disastrous ending. It is hastiness and stubbornness that causes the demise of Romeo & Juliet; therefore, Shakespeare's play is a warning that impulsive actions lead to negative outcomes.
The first example of an impulsive action is when Romeo and Juliet decide to get married. When Romeo tells Friar Laurence about marrying Juliet, Friar Laurence says, “Wisely and slow; they stumble that run fast.” (2.3.94-95). Friar Laurence saw that they were going too fast and they needed to slow down. Important decisions such as marriage should not be arranged over one day. Romeo and Juliet were not reasonable and they did not consider what their actions may lead to. Later on, when Romeo goes into the tomb of Juliet, he says, “For fear of that, I still will stay with thee, /
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And never from this palace of dim night / Depart again. Here, here will I remain” (5.3.106-108). Romeo’s stubbornness and desire to be with Juliet drove him to commit suicide. If Romeo and Juliet were less impulsive it would have created a new and better outcome. Friar Laurence warned Romeo about being impatient. Romeo repeatedly makes his decisions in haste and it constantly leads to negative outcomes. This shows that their decision to marry in less than a day, lead to both of their deaths. In Act 3 Scene 5, Lord Capulet pressures Juliet to marry Paris and this will lead to her death. He yells at Juliet saying: Hang thee, young baggage! Disobedient wretch! I tell thee what: get thee to church o’Thursday, Or never after look me in the face. Speak not, reply not, do not answer me! (3.5.161-163) Juliet clearly does not want to marry Paris, yet her parents forcefully arrange the marriage. When Juliet dies, Lord Capulet says, “Poor sacrifices of our enmity!” (5.3.304). This shows that he regretted his rash decisions and actions. Lord Capulet should have never taken Juliet for granted and he should have gotten her approval. The thought of marrying Paris drove Juliet to do drastic things. If Lord Capulet was more sympathetic towards Juliet, it would have changed the outcome. Therefore, we must be open-minded and not make our choices in disregard towards others. In the climax of the play, Romeo kills Tybalt after his friend Mercutio was slain by him.
When Mercutio is declared dead, Romeo states, “Either thou, or I, or both, must go with him.” (3.1.128). Romeo wants to get his anger out and he does not consider the harmful ramifications. When Romeo is declared banished, he complains and says, “There is no world without Verona walls, / But purgatory, torture, hell itself.” (3.3.17-18). If Romeo thought about the consequences of his actions, he would not be in that situation. Shakespeare uses hyperbole to show Romeo’s anguish and distress. Romeo makes major decisions in only a short period of time, which will only lead to negative repercussions. He let his rage and grief dictate his actions. Romeo should have made his decisions with prudence and
patience. In all three examples, the deadly outcomes are created by the actions of the individuals. The choices made by the characters are driven by emotion, not logic. Many of the main characters, such as Lord Capulet regretted their reckless decisions. If the characters were more sensible and thoughtful, it would have changed the fatal ending. Shakespeare's play cautions us about the effects of making rash and impromptu choices. Shakespeare wanted to warn parents about pressuring their children and he also wanted to show teenagers that their impulsive actions have repercussions. Everyone has the ability to make decisions, and it is up to the individual to make the right one.
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.
Did you know that Romeo and Juliet was one of the biggest love story of all time. Romeo and Juliet is a story of two star-crossed lovers from two families the Capulets and the Montagues. The Capulets and the Montague had a big fight that made the families very angry at each other. Romeo and Juliet decide to get married. The two couple marry and run away. In the process both of them will die. When it comes to Romeo and Juliet who are the top three people that caused the two to die. The two people that are chosen are Friar Lawrence and Lady Capulet. Friar was chosen because he is the one that married Romeo and Juliet. Lady Capulet was chosen because she is forcing Juliet to marry Paris which is making Juliet want Romeo even more. The third thing
Surely if he did not have such a hate for the Montagues he would not have gone after Romeo after seeing him at the ball. If he had held back his sword instead of smiting Mercutio, Romeo would not have been angered at murder and in turn be banished.
So it is likely that Shakespeare meant for fate to be the cause of Romeo and Juliet's death. I think that the family feud is the main cause for the death of Romeo and Juliet. If the families were not so hateful towards each other Romeo and Juliet would not have kept there love for each other a secret, and they would have no need for committing suicide. This also backs up the point that fate could be to blame for their deaths.
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
In Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, two star-crossed lovers betrayed their own family in order to be with each other. Given that both Romeo and Juliet are both young, they made endless sacrifices and decisions just for them to be together without considering the consequences. All of their sacrifices resulted in vain as their tragic conclusion was their own death. Although fate played a significant role in the star-crossed lovers' downfall, Romeo and Juliet paid the consequences of their dreadful decisions due to their reckless rebellion which eventually led to their catastrophic ending. In the first few events that happened in the play, the readers have already seen some poor choices Romeo and Juliet made that eventually led to their death.
Romeo and Juliet is a play by William Shakespeare that tells the tale of two young lovers who come from opposing families. At first they don’t even know that the other exists; However, that all changes one night at a party that Juliet’s father, Lord Capulet, throws. Romeo and Juliet fall madly in love and rush to get married. Sadly, these two don’t get a happy ending, and one question remains: who or what is to blame for the lovers’ tragic end? Is it fate or human choice?
Poor choices can cause tragic outcomes. Fate, on the other hand, is beyond someone's control. Many people believe that regardless of their actions, fate and destiny determine the outcome of their lives. However, in The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare, the outcome of Romeo and Juliet's lives were controlled by the choices that they made. Although the deaths of Romeo and Juliet were mentioned in the prologue of the story as star-crossed lovers, the tragic ending of the couple was determined by their free will as a result of unwise decisions.
Impulsive behavior is something that people can do or say that can affect them for a short time or for the rest of their life. When doing without thinking about consequences, people tend to make big or small decisions that can affect their lifetime dramatically. A example of this occurring through the text is the play Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare where Romeo Montague Demonstrates urgent impulsiveness.
Fate in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet Before starting to decide to what extent fate was responsible for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet, I should first decide what is fate? According to the dictionary, fate is the 'inevitable destiny or necessity destined term of life; doom.' This basically means, that fate can be described as a pre-planned sequence of events influencing ones life. In Romeo and Juliet, it is obviously true to say that fate was a contributor to the deaths of the young couple, but could it have been the sole contributor?
Many people think that society has changed so much over the years. That the way that children act, has taken a turn for the worst, but in reality children are learning from their ancestors. Children are lying to their parents, they are sneaking out at night to be with a boy that is “the one”, children are going back into the age of Shakespeare. In the play “Romeo and Juliet” which was written by William Shakespeare in 1597, there are two teenagers, Romeo and Juliet, who fall in love with each other. These two teenagers try to do everything that they can to live the rest of their lives together, except their families despise each other, so there is no way that they can live the rest of their lives together. So, many people believe that the way that our children are growing up today is taking away the fun parts of their childhood. However in this play Juliet did many of the things that teenagers are trying to do now. Children and sometimes adults now need to realize how your actions not only affect you but also the people around you, you also need to think about the consequences of the actions you make. At first Juliet falls in love at first sight with Romeo, then she takes a potion, which causes her family to think she is dead, and then how Friar Lawrence helps Juliet with the scheming, which shows how adults have to think about others as well.
One of Romeo’s first acts of impulsiveness was when he decided to crash the Capulet’s party with his friends, and while doing so, accidentally attracted the unwanted attention of Tybalt. Romeo had allowed himself to be persuaded by his friends to attend the party, but he did so without thorough considerations for potential consequences. Even before he agreed to go, Romeo had expressed how he had an ominous feeling about what they were about to do stating how his mind felt that there was “Some consequences yet hanging in the stars” (1.4.114). Romeo displayed a lack of maturity when he was willing to be convinced by his
As shown in the book hasty decisions lead to bad things. William Shakespeare has also mentioned this multiple times. There are numerous examples of this in his play Romeo and Juliet. Nevertheless impulsive choices make up most of this well known writing. These decisions are made by various characters and in different ways.
Everyone is to blame for the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. Romeo, Juliet, Friar Laurence, and Romeo and Juliet’s parents all played their own role in causing the four deaths of Romeo, Juliet, Tybalt, and Paris. It is not just one of them to blame, every one of them did something to cause the tragedy. Some of them played a bigger role than others, but everyone contributed. Fate had nothing to do with it and it was all the different characters faults. Romeo, Juliet, and Friar Lawrence’s rash decisions where the main cause of the tragedy.
In regards to Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare chose fate to be a strong underlying theme which constructs the basis of the story line. Fate has the ability to control the characters’ lives and one minor change in the way it had acted would have changed the entire outcome. Through Romeo and Juliet’s spontaneous encounter, fate was largely responsible for love at first sight alongside controlling the misfortunate events that occur as a result of their love. Apart from love and misfortune, Shakespeare suggests that Romeo and Juliet were destined to die the way they did, despite the fact that it was their choice to end their lives. The outcome of the play was a direct result of fate, which to a notable extent was responsible for the many events which were destined to occur.