Romeo And Juliet's Death Essay

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How far will one go to pursue happiness? Romeo and Juliet is a play written by a famous playwright called William Shakespeare, who was very popular during the Elizabethan period. The play follows the son and daughter of two feuding families, Romeo and Juliet. Despite their family feud, the two teenagers fell in love. But like a typical Shakespearean play, it ended in tragedy, resulting in the deaths of the star-crossed lovers as well as a few others caught in the crossfire. In the play, Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare, he develops the idea that when an individual discovers a reason for happiness, they may go through extreme lengths to pursue it, resulting in casualties. Romeo and Juliet’s love for each other is more important than …show more content…

Throughout the play there are four people who were related to Romeo and Juliet in some way that had died alongside the two lovers. The first person who died was Romeo’s friend, Mercutio. Mercutio was slain by Juliet’s cousin, Tybalt, during a duel. Originally, Tybalt wanted to fight Romeo, but Romeo didn’t accept the duel as Tybalt was now considered family due to his and Juliet’s marriage. He even tries to tell Tybalt this, as shown in the quote: “And so, good Capulet, which name I tender As dearly as mine own, be satisfied” (3.1.119). Except, Mercutio then decides to step up and fight Tybalt himself, knowing Tybalt won’t back down to Romeo's attempted persuasions. Romeo tries to defuse the fight, but to no avail. After Merutio dies, Romeo fights Tybalt out of revenge and kills him too. This results in Romeo being banished from Verona, and ultimately resulting in the death of his mother too. After hearing about the exile of her son, Lady Montague, Romeo’s mother, commits suicide as the grief is too much to bear. This is revealed in the final act with the quote: “Alas, my liege, my wife is dead tonight. Grief of my son’s exile hath stopped her breath” (5.3.237). Romeo’s choice to fight and kill Tybalt indirectly caused his mother to die too, as that was the reason for his exile. The last person is Paris. Upon entering Juliet's tomb, Romeo is met by Paris, who thinks that …show more content…

There are many obstacles throughout the play that try to prevent Romeo and Juliet from being with one another. Both teens took extreme actions to overcome those obstacles and continue their pursuit of one another. Yet these actions weren’t well thought out and ended in tragedy. Romeo and Juliet chose to get married to one another a day after they met, despite what could have happened between the two families if word got out. The teens believed it could have put a stop to the feud between both families. But as Friar Lawrence said during this proposal: “These violent delights have violent ends” (2.6.109). A marriage formed by two opposing families was bound to have a violent ending, no matter how many risks they took. Juliet had also accepted the plan Friar Lawrence had come up with to prevent the marriage with Paris from continuing. The plan was for Juliet to drink a potion that would make it seem like she was actually dead, and then after receiving a letter that would be sent to him notifying him of the state Juliet was in, Romeo was to come and rescue her, the both of them running away together and living happily. This is revealed in the quote: “In the meantime, against thou shalt awake, Shall Romeo bear thee hence to Mantua. And this shall free thee from this present shame” (4.1.185). The letter that was part of Friar Lawrence’s plan was another risk. The letter was meant to explain to

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