The Consequences Of Choices In Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet

When people do not think about their choices clearly, they may make poor decisions with troubling consequences. In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, the lovers Romeo and Juliet both take their own lives. Romeo’s rash decisions are to blame for Romeo and Juliet’s deaths because he does not consider the problems that may arise from his actions. In the story, Romeo kills Tybalt without thinking of the consequences, and gets banished from Verona. After, when he hears of Juliet’s death, he quickly decides to kill himself and does not give himself more time to consider his options. Romeo’s poor choices lead him and Juliet to their deaths. Romeo gets blinded by his emotions and does not think about the consequences to his actions. At the beginning

As Romeo is in Mantua, his man Balthasar informs him of Juliet’s death. When Romeo tells Balthasar to hire horses so he may see Juliet, Balthasar says, “I do beseech you, sir, have patience./ Your looks are wild and pale and do import/ Some misadventure”(5.1.28-30). Balthasar is showing concern for Romeo and asks him to wait before he does something he might regret. Balthasar seems to be aware of how impulsively Romeo acts and knows that many of his actions lead to problems. However, Romeo tells Balthasar to leave and do as he said. Romeo then says to himself, “Well, Juliet, I will lie with thee tonight”(5.1.37). Immediately after Romeo hears of Juliet’s death, he makes the major decision of killing himself in a very short amount of time. Once he makes his choice, he does not spend enough time considering what he should do, and so he is not thinking clearly about what exactly he is doing and how it affects not only him, but the people around him. After Romeo kills himself, Juliet awakens to find him dead, which leads her to kill herself. By choosing to die, Romeo not only kills himself, but also Juliet because he did not use his time to think about his