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Analysis of the story of Romeo and Juliet
Analysis of the story of Romeo and Juliet
Analysis of the story of Romeo and Juliet
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Flaws serve as a reminder that no one is perfect and the way people handle them provides insight into their character. Some suppress their faults, eventually letting those weaknesses define who they are. Whereas, others embrace their imperfections, preventing it from holding them back. In Shakespeare's The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, the consequences of suppressing limitations prove to have tremendous effects on the outcome of the play. Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet sacrifice their lives to maintain their overwhelming, newfound love. However, the challenges associated with their relationship take Romeo and Juliet by surprise. As complications arise, Romeo and Juliet are forced to test the strength of their love and are pushed beyond their …show more content…
limits to maintain their love. Romeo displays irrational behavior which demonstrates how failing to acknowledge a flaw can have drastic outcomes.
Thus, Romeo’s impulsiveness leads to his and Juliet’s demise.
To begin, Romeo’s irrational behavior causes him to rush into problems without assessing the situation. He and his friends sneak into the Capulet party, a choice that puts them at risk due to the rivalry between the Montagues and Capulets. Once he enters the party, Romeo is enticed by Juliet’s beauty at first glance. After the party, Romeo sneaks into the Capulet residence to find her, in hopes to win her love. Upon their encounter, Romeo and Juliet confess, “Th’ exchange of thy love’s faithful vow for mine? / I gave thee mine before thou didst request it / And yet, I would it were to give again” (Shakespeare 2.2.135-137). Romeo and Juliet become so hopelessly in love that their family feud appears to be insignificant in their eyes. In fact, Romeo declares that changing his last name will solve further problems associated with the family feud. Thus, Romeo
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decides to propose, in order to mark their love and make it official. However, this impromptu decision demonstrates that he acts purely out of desperation. Romeo had recently gotten over his love for Rosaline, a girl who rejects Romeo and leads him into depression. Despite his recent heartbreak, his sudden change of affection demonstrates Romeo’s impulsiveness because he decides to marry Juliet in a haste. This unexpected action leads to problems as the tale of the two lovers progresses. In other words, “one's attention is drawn to the two central figures, and a quite natural reaction is that Romeo and Juliet are impetuous kids” (Kerschen 1). Getting married is a permanent decision. Marriage requires much thought and consideration as the exchange of vows and rings seals the fate between two lovers. Lacking forethought, Romeo fails to assess the consequences associated with this unification because he proposes to someone he just met, ignoring the risks. Additionally, Romeo is unable to control his emotions, for he allows his anger to take control during an encounter with Tybalt. During the intense fight between Tybalt and Romeo, the men rile each other up by throwing insults at each other. Eventually, what started off as a small argument becomes a brawl: “Thou wretched boy that didst consort him here/ Shalt with him hence!/ This shall determine that!/ [They fight, Romeo kills Tybalt] / Romeo, away, be gone!” (Shakespeare 3.1.136-139). Romeo is not able to keep his feelings in check and reacts violently when facing a problem. His hatred and rage overcome his peaceful nature and lead him to lash out, being the cause of Tybalt’s death. Romeo’s sudden outburst proves he is impetuous and thinks irrationally. To further explain, “Shakespeare transcends his source by developing Romeo’s stature as a tragic protagonist as Romeo chooses here to decry his love for Juliet as an effeminate force, rendering him a ‘weaker vessel’ (1.1.14-15) and consequently he embraces the macho ethic of Tybalt’s revenge code” (Holmer 15). Romeo believes that by letting Tybalt insult the men he is proving his love for Juliet. Mercutio, however, acts irrationally and attacks Tybalt, who proceeds to fight Mercutio, resulting in his death. Emotions clouded by rage and animosity cause Romeo to kill Tybalt. This brawl between the men sheds light on how Romeo cannot control his emotions and acts without evaluating the situation. In addition, Romeo jumps to conclusions and does not fully consider his options.
After discovering Juliet’s lifeless body, Romeo grieves: “Here’s to my love! [drinks] O true apothec’ry,/ thy drugs are quick. [kisses her] Thus with a kiss I die. [dies]” (Shakespeare 2.3.119-120). The decision to end his life is one that Romeo cannot take back. He chooses this path simply because he believes Juliet is dead. However, he does not wait for Friar Lawrence and assumes the worst. Romeo drinks the poison, ending his life, a poorly thought out option that leads to his downfall. Romeo does not think about how his actions affect everyone around him, including his family and friends. He makes a choice that he cannot take back. In other words, “Romeo and Juliet pay for the consequences of their rash and impetuous natures; hence Shakespeare wrote the play not the revenge of society, but the tragic folly of youth” (Smith 8). Romeo and Juliet's behavior and choices are abrupt and spontaneous. He makes a careless choice to take his life, something that proves to be unwise since he does not bother to check if Juliet is actually dead. The fact that Romeo and Juliet's youth affect their outcome further supports that Romeo is irresponsible. Over the course of the play, Romeo acts in an unwise manner ultimately leading to both his and Juliet’s
death. Overall, impulsiveness is a characteristic that defines Romeo’s behavior based off of the events in the story. Romeo is an example of someone who tries hiding his flaws, letting them tragically impact his future. The failure to acknowledge and prevent his fault from harming him ultimately leads to his and Juliet’s demise. Throughout the play, Romeo makes decisions that are abrupt and unnecessary. As a result, it is clear that Romeo displays impulsive qualities through his actions of thinking too quickly, not being able to control his emotions, and not assessing the situation.
Romeo and Juliet, written by William Shakespeare, is a story of two young lovers. These two hearts, Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet belong to feuding families. The family feud causes them to keep their love a secret and therefore only Romeo, Juliet, Benvolio, the Nurse and Friar Lawrence know of their love. Romeo and Juliet are able to look past the feud and let themselves fall in mad love with the other. They let themselves do almost anything for the other and at times it seems like too much to do, even for the one they love. Although fate and character traits play a key role in the play, ultimately Rome and Juliet’s personal choices lead to their downfall.Fate originates all of the conflicts in Romeo and Juliet, from when they met until they die.
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
Romeo and Juliet’s impulsive behavior is strongly influenced by their infatuation and the irresponsible encouragements of their adult figures, ultimately resulting in their tragic downfall. Despite only meeting twice, Romeo and Juliet are extremely attracted to each other, and the emotional factor motivates them to get married. They did not consider the consequences of their actions or ask their parents for their approval of the wedding, instead, they choose to get married in secret due to the grudge. The grudge creates a physical barrier between Romeo and Juliet’s communication and interactions, due to their family’s blind hatred towards each other. Despite the possibility of getting killed, Romeo is willing to cross the Capulet’s gates in hopes of catching a glimpse of
Romeo fights and kills Tybalt just because Tybalt slays Mercutio, despite knowing the consequence of fighting -death- he still takes it upon himself as a way to seek repentance for Mercutio’s death. He is able to restrain himself before the death of Mercutio but after his death Romeo falls to his impulsiveness and fights Tybalt. After killing Tybalt and getting banishment instead of a death sentence, Romeo refuses to look on the bright side and goes to Friar Lawrence where he says “Ha, banishment! Be merciful, say ‘death’.” (Act 3, Scene 3 line 12), this shows that he deems life without Juliet life not worth living. He then continues weep then decides to take his own life, the Friar stopped him but had Romeo stopped being so quick to make decisions he would have realised banishment is much better than death and would be rejoicing instead of weeping. Romeo hears about Juliet's “death” from his servant Balthasar he instantly decides to kill himself, he doesn't mourn his loss or even cry, he simply buys poison, rides to Verona and kills himself. Had he spoken to anyone and taken any advice he would realize that suicide is not the answer but he had his mind made in a minute, he wanted to be dead with his wife. Romeo impulsiveness to make decisions is a very important characteristic for him to have and for the rest of the
However, Juliet wakes up at the moment when Romeo falls dead on her lap and she exclaims, “Poison, I see, hath been his timeless end” (5.3.167), signifying the untimely death of Romeo that occurred due to his unnecessary haste. The suicides of Romeo and Juliet reflect their hasty and impulsive decisions as well as the dishonesty of Friar Lawrence and the Nurse. Romeo’s haste in drinking the venomous poison, Friar’s cowardice in handling the consequences as well as the Nurse’s choice of standing against the relationship of Romeo and Juliet contribute equally to their fatal end. Therefore, dishonesty and haste can result in undesirable circumstances to any individual.
Through the flaws in the characterization of his characters, Shakespeare allows their weakness to manipulate and cloud their judgment. This fundamentally leads to the outcome of Romeo and Juliet, with each weakness presenting a conflict that alters the characters fate. Being especially true with the star-crossed lovers, William Shakespeare leads their perfect love into tragedy with these conflicts. In Romeo and Juliet, Juliet, Friar Lawrence, and Tybalt all contribute to conflicts that enhance the plot. From destructive flaws in their characterizations, Juliet, Friar Lawrence, and Tybalt are all consequently controlled by their weakness, therefore affecting the outcome of the play.
Romeo and Juliet’s young love reflects their abruptness, rashness, and lack of maturity which leads to them getting suicide impulses throughout the story and causing Romeo and Juliet to ultimately suicide at the end of the story. Their love causes them to act very rashly and make unwise decisions, such as getting married and killing themselves. They are also too young to love because they are not mature enough. Their lack of maturity influences their decisions, leading to them finding abrupt solutions, such as suicide. After Balthasar told Romeo that Juliet died, he proclaimed, “I do beseech you, sir, have patience/Your looks are pale and wild do import/ Some misadventure” (5.1.27-29). Once Balthasar delivers the tragic news of Juliet’s death to Romeo, Romeo makes a rash decision of going back to Verona, not thinking about the consequences of his act, which would lead to more complications, such as him being...
Capulet and Romeo Montague, face a bigger problem; forbidden love. Taking place in Verona, an ignorant Romeo first meets a childish Juliet at the Capulet’s party. Romeo and his kinsman, Benvolio, attend the party masked, searching for his first love, Rosaline. Coincidentally, Romeo meets Juliet, a new beauty, and falls in love with her not knowing the fact that she is a Capulet. The feud continues, leading one mistake after another, until both families realize their selfishness at the last minute. The unfortunate tragedy of two “star-crossed lovers” is ironically caused by the impetuosity of Romeo and Juliet themselves (Shakespeare 7).
How many times have we ever experienced death in our lives? None. That’s probably because we’re still alive. But, many of those who aren’t, probably had a reason why they aren’t with us today. In many cases, it can be said that our fatal flaws are the ones that are responsible for our demise. Whoever we are, we will always be people who have great flaws. That’s at least what most people know for themselves. However, are we really aware if whether these flaws will possibly dictate throughout their entire lives? In the late 1500’s, William Shakespeare wrote a magnificent play, Romeo and Juliet, which many audiences would consider it as a Love and Death story. Well, not
Timing can decide new paths to one's life, in some cases you may come across a flaw that can turn your whole life upside down. This is what we see in Shakespeare's play, Romeo & Juliet. We see their lives being flipped in the wrong direction, in many cases throughout out the play bringing them to fatal flaws. They had no immunity to what was to come, it was fate to decide. It could just be making it to some event or someone seconds or minutes late and losing a job or something else. Then there's the fatal flaws, someone is having a heart attack, don't get them help soon enough and they'll die. This is what we call tragic timing, the off timing that results in a tragedy.
Romeo is responsible for his and Juliet’s death because he is an impulsive thinker who has no regard for the outcomes of his actions. According to, “Let me have a dram of poison”. Since, Romeo automatically thinks to kill himself after the news of Juliet’s death; he shows his responsibility from him not thinking about how the results of killing himself would affect others. Stated by William Shakespeare, “Could draw to
Perhaps, in this story I believe that Romeo has several tragic flaws that influence the action of the entire play. In two ways I would describe Romeo’s flaws, one being a romantic and the other an impulsive.
In the Shakespearean play Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare proposes a major theme to whether it was fate or flaw that killed Romeo and his lover Juliet. Fate is defined as the development of events beyond a person's control while flaw is defined as a fault or weakness in a person's character. The answer to whether fate or flaw killed the two lovers is quite simple. Fate is what killed Romeo and Juliet. Flaws are something that are in you and you develop. Just as the flaw that Romeo would act out on impulse than rather thinking it out. If he was to actually sit back and think about what he was going to do next, a lot in the play could have been different. But personality is something you make; you develop. But fate, is something that is already
Norman Rush once said “literature is humanity talking to itself.” Literature in general, especially old literature is there to mock humanities faults and mistakes in their history. Rush explains that it is a sort of talking to humanity of what not to do, to not repeat its past mistakes. Shakespeare’s plays, like in Romeo and Juliet, expose histories faults as modern society still grapples with the same issues that plagued his characters. Conflicts in his play such as irrational violence and arranged marriages are still seen today in senseless school shootings like the one in Santa Fe, Texas, and in Florida. Although critics say that the rich, dense language of Shakespeare’s work is too difficult for students to interpret, the various themes
“Is she a Capulet? O dear account! my life is my foe’s debt” (1.5.117-118). There are many factors that put pressure on Romeo’s and Juliet’s relationship throughout Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. The young couple is effected in many ways by every instance that creates stress which Romeo’s and Juliet’s relationship is being forced to carry. The biggest factors that impact them are, their families ongoing feud, the broken relationships they both have in their families, and all the instances of miscommunication. Through the story of the couple who meet one another at a dance, sneak around at night to see one another, and fight for eachother, they face challenges many challenges, that add stress to their relationship.