Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet: Good and Bad Advice

There are two types of advice: positive advice, and poor advice. Both kinds of advice can be taken in different directions. The good advice will be taken in the positive direction. Meanwhile the poor advice can be taken into the negative direction. In the play, Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, a lot of poor advice is given to the characters. The poor advice given to Romeo and Juliet ultimately affected the way they behaved, thus making them responsible for their deaths.

Family and friends can have a lot of influence on oneself, and Romeo and Juliet clearly showed that, because they took bad advice from their friends and family. In the play, Romeo liked a girl named Rosaline, but a character named Benvolio who was a cousin to Romeo told him to forget thinking of her. The Nurse implies “Be ruled by me. Forget to think of her” (1.1.233). This quote means, listen to me, forget to think of her. This is bad advice because Romeo took this advice and put Rosaline out of the picture and found Juliet, which then led to more issues. As a rule, a friend shouldn’t tell a friend to find another girl if they are already with a girl. Then Romeo met Juliet, thus making Benvolio responsible for Romeos death.

Another piece of evidence that friends and family’s poor advice was the cause of Romeo and Juliet’s death was because of some more advice that Benvolio gave. A party was going to happen at the Capulet’s house, the Capulet family was enemy’s with Romeo’s family (the Montague’s). Benvolio advised Romeo to go to the party to find a girl. Benvolio suggests to Romeo, “Go thither, and with unattained eye/ compare her face with one that I shall show/and I will make thee think thy swan a crow” (1.2.92-94). This quote says, lets go to the p...

... middle of paper ...

...give you happiness. This is also referring back to the Romeo and Juliet effect because the nurse wants Juliet to find someone else although this just makes Juliet like Romeo even more. Juliet took this advice by staying with Romeo that led to more conflict thus leading to Juliet’s death. Therefor, the nurse is once again responsible for Juliet’s death.

Romeo and Juliet’s death were caused by poor advice given by family and friends, the Friar, the nurse, and a servant. All the poor advice given impacted the story in a huge way, which later led to Romeo and Juliet’s death. As one can clearly see, giving poor advice can clearly have an impact on someone’s life. In conclusion, one shall never give poor advice because it can hurt someone else.

Works cited

McKinnon, Stacey. "The Romeo And Juliet Effect." CBCnews. CBC/Radio Canada, 02 Oct. 2013. Web. 28 Apr. 2014.