Romeo And Juliet Miscommunication

Romeo and Juliet has a tragic ending that stems from three main things - fate, miscommunication, and impulsive decisions.

In the beginning of the story, before Romeo goes to the Capulet’s party, he worries that fate is going to lead him to death, “I fear too early, for my mind misgives some consequence yet hanging in the stars shall bitterly begin his fearful date with this night's revels, and expire the term of a despised life closed in my breast by some vile forfeit of untimely death.” In this moment, he mentions that he feels something unfortunate is destined to happen that night. This is one example of fate because later on, he meets Juliet, which ultimately leads him to his death. Fate has a major role in many other parts of the story but a second example is when Romeo kills himself right before Juliet wakes and Friar Lawrence arrives. This displays fate because Romeo didn’t know that Juliet wasn’t actually dead and fate let him die right before she woke up.

Miscommunication is another reoccurring theme, that many of the characters in Romeo and Juliet experience, that makes it a tragedy.

One miscommunication was between generations of Capulet’s and Montague’s about what tension caused their feud. The lack of communication caused a great amount of pain to both families and they didn’t know what they were fighting about. This eventually cost both Romeo and Juliet their lives. The love between Romeo and Juliet was forbidden therefore they did not tell their parents about it. Here, another miscommunication occurs. Finally, one of the most tragic miscommunications was that Romeo never received the letter Friar Lawrence sent, informing him of the escape plan. “Who bare my letter, then, to Romeo? I could not send it—here it is again—“. Since Romeo did not receive the letter, he believed that Juliet was truly dead, so he quickly planned his own death, looking at it as his only option to be

happy.
The final and most devastating cause of a tragic ending to the play was the impulsive decisions that Romeo, Juliet, and Friar Lawrence made. Once Romeo met Juliet for the first time, he made a hasty and poor decision to get married to her. Since they were married, Juliet made a commitment to Romeo, therefore she could not get married to Paris when her father arranged it and this event eventually caused their deaths. Juliet also made the impulsive decision towards the end of the book to kill herself. “O, happy dagger, this is thy sheath. There rust, and let me die.” This decision did lead to the end of the feud, yet Juliet could have thought through her decision in a better way and saved her life. The final person who made a poor, impulsive decision was Friar Lawrence in his decision to marry Romeo and Juliet. Readers understand that his ultimate goal was to end the feud, but this decision caused the story to end in a tragedy.