Romeo And Juliet Decisions Essay

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In the play Romeo and Juliet written by William Shakespeare, many decisions are made throughout the duration of the play. The main characters Romeo and Juliet can be seen making many decisions, and Shakespeare has positioned the audience to view these decisions in certain ways. The audience is positioned to view Romeo and Juliet’s decision making as irrational in the beginning, hasty in the middle, and pitiful in the end. At the beginning of the play Romeo and Juliet, the audience is positioned to view Romeo’s decision making as irrational. The dialogue and foreshadowing of ‘By some vile forfeit of untimely death’ helps to position the audience this way. This dialogue is saying that Romeo had a dream that attending this Capulet ball would …show more content…

A language feature that foreshadows this is “It is too rash, too unadvis’d, too sudden.” This device foreshadows that they will make a hasty decision. Later, we see them making the hasty decision of getting married. The first decision that can be viewed as hasty is when they get married, even though divorce wasn’t allowed back then. This was an irreversible decision and was illegal due to their parents not being present. During this play, Juliet is only thirteen, so as an audience we can understand her actions may be influenced by her young age, and by the fact that this is her first love. Another language device that provides evidence is the quote from Friar Lawrence, "Therefore, love moderately: long love doth so.” Friar Lawrence is telling Romeo to love moderately, as that will make it last longer. However, Romeo disregards his advice and receives dire consequences. Shakespeare has positioned the audience to view Romeo and Juliet’s decisions as hasty to showcase that instead of making hasty decisions, planning, and thoroughly thinking through our actions can avoid unfortunate situations. This is how the audience is positioned to view Romeo and Juliet’s decision making as hasty in the middle of the

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