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While reading Romeo and Juliet, the phrase “if only” could come to mind in an array of different spots in the play. If one event within the play changed, the entire ending could have been majorly affected. Even though some people believe that the timing in the play would not have had an impact on the fate of Romeo and Juliet, I believe that timing was the most crucial influence on the tragic ending. In my opinion, the timing being slightly off affected the entire play ending because if Romeo showed up later then both lovers would have survived, the amount of time that Romeo spent paying respects could have allowed Juliet to awaken, and the time that Juliet decided to take the potion. Romeo, being as early as he was, caused Juliet to not wake in time, making Romeo drink the poison and drop dead. This is proven as Friar Lawrence says, “But when I came, some minute ere the time/Of her awakening, here untimely lay/The noble Paris …show more content…
The reason behind this was that Friar John visited the sick while on his way to deliver the letter to Romeo. But Firar doing that got him quarantined by the authorities because they thought that he could be sick. “But he which bore my letter, Friar John, / Was stayed by accident, and yesternight, / Returned my letter back.” (v, 111, || 265-67). If Friar John wasn’t quarantined, then he could have delivered the letter to Romeo. That would have allowed Romeo then to not have worried when he saw Juliet seemingly dead. All he would have done is he would have calmly waited until Juliet woke and they would have escaped to Mantua together. However, Romeo thought that she was dead and ended his life, whcih cprompted Friar Lawrence to say, “A greater power than we can contradict / Hath thwarted our intents.” (v, 111, || 165-66). And if they did that, then the tragic ending would not have
Then Juliet would still be sleeping by the time Romeo arrived at the tomb. On the other hand, that doesn't happen. What ended up happening is Friar John gets stopped and the letter never arrives to Romeo.
Friar Lawrence advises Juliet to drink a substance before going to bed that will make her appear to be dead and unresponsive, but she will wake up within a day. This demonstrates unethical, immature and irresponsible behaviour, which leads to Romeo and Juliet’s death. “Take thou this vial, being then in bed./And this distilled liquor drink thou off,/when presently through all thy veins shall run/A cold drowsy humor, for no pulse.” (4.1.94-97) In this quote, Friar Lawrence instructs Juliet to lie to the Nurse and drink a substance before going to sleep, when the Nurse and Lady Capulet will wake her, she will appear dead; with the hopes that Romeo will come and their relationship will be saved, unfortunately this is not the case. Friar Lawrence’s plan is thoughtless, after Juliet is aware of the plan and has the potion; Friar is advised that Romeo did not receive the letter. This causes Romeo and Juliet’s untimely death. “A grave? Oh, no. A lantern, slaughtered youth,/ for here lies Juliet, and her beauty makes/This vault a feasting presence full of light/Death, lie thou there, by a dead man interred.” (5.3.84-87) At the sight of Juliet’s body, Romeo becomes so overwhelmed with grief
The Friar knows that this is an impossible situation, which if made possible by himself will without a doubt end up in tragedy in one way or another. Under these conditions, as the Friar predicts, Romeo sinks into a deep depression as a result of the fact that he cannot see his wife. Similarly, Juliet becomes depressed and is grieving over the truth of her and Romeo's separation. Without the Friar the two lovers would not have been married, which would have prevented both depressions and future problems to come. The Friar is responsible for many problems as well, as well as assisting Juliet with her "death" plan.
Juliet’s character is a collection of innocence, youth and naïveness. Her portrayal, however, did not fit well with the stereotypical view of how an Elizabethan women should have been. Women back then had to obey their fathers and husbands. They weren’t granted free will and so Juliet initial portrayal is girl who is an obeying daughter but when she discovers love she becomes a disobedient daughter to be faithful to her husband (Romeo).
Love, Haste and Contrasts in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. In this assignment, I will be looking at the play Romeo and Juliet. I will analyse how Shakespeare has used language in the play for symbolic effect. I will observe how Shakespeare has presented love.
As a late author, experienced polymath, brilliant inventor, and politician Benjamin Franklin often informed people to “take time for all things: great haste makes great waste.” Being one of the founding fathers of the United States, Franklin declared that haste will lead to missed opportunities and chaos. He also indicated that you should take time to think of every outcome, that may include thinking about other people’s fate or just your own. The adults and the young adolescents in this play are all at fault for the rivalry because of their hasty arguments and their immaturity. In Shakespeare's play, Romeo and Juliet the majority of the conflicts constructed have been by haste and immaturity created by the young adolescents and a sufficient
Romeo, as a young adolescence, your brain is not fully developed, which may lead to regretful decisions. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, teens have a “tendency to act on impulse -without regard for risk.” Therefore, you may not see how irrational this idea is; although, you will when it is too late. Also, Friar Lawrence has devised a plan that reunites you and your Juliet. His plan is to fake Juliet’s death, steal her away in the night, and hide the two of you from your families so that you may live happily ever after. When you die in a matter of hours, Friar explains to both houses how the plan went wrong starting with how he gave Juliet a sleeping potion and he claims he, “intended for it wrought on her the form of death.” He continues to say, “Meantime I writ to Romeo that he should hither come as this dire night to help to take her from her borrowed grave.” Finally he pleas that, “Friar John was stayed by accident, and yesternight returned my letter back.” In my ghostly form, I witnessed him explain the unfolding of these events. Take it from me that making this impulsive decision is unwise and will only ruin Friar’s plan. In addition, poor Juliet is unfortunate enough to awaken to your
Shakespeare uses time to show that all things are meant to happen at their own time and place. People tend to consider time as stationary. In Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, the characters are constantly trying to rush time in their urgency. This movement of time results in tragic ends, in which we learn that time and fate go hand in hand: neither one is meant to be tampered with.
In society, people have varying opinions on fate. Many question whether life’s events are pre-determined by fate or whether people have a destiny to serve a greater purpose. Fate versus free will is an archaic topic among philosophers that is ultimately up for interpretation.The question on whether or not something else is controlling life’s events or if they are simply a coincidence faces us in some point of our lives. In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare plays with the idea of fate and its control on the events in the play. He forces us to realize the destiny between Romeo and Juliet involves the fate between the two opposing households as well. Shakespeare blurs the line between fate and free will in his play Romeo and Juliet to show that the outstanding cause of Romeo and Juliet’s tragedy was not something decided- it was fate. It is evident by the events in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet that fate was the main cause of the tragedy in the play, and that Romeo and Juliet held the destiny to finally end the feud between the Capulets and the Montagues.
He also tells Juliet that "Shall Romeo by my letters know our drift, and hither shall hem come; and he and I shall watch thy waking, and that very night shall Romeo bear thee to Mantua" (Act 4, Scene 1.) Unforeseen to neither the Friar nor Juliet that an error such as the one of Friar John’s would prove to be deadly. Poor Romeo was not able to receive the letter. Friar Lawrence plays a significant role in the plan for Juliet to "sleep."Friar Lawrence plays an important rule in the actual deaths of Romeo, Juliet, And Paris. Friar Lawrence is unable to reach Romeo with the news of Juliet’s "death." Romeo, thinking Juliet is dead rushes to Verona, but not before buying some fast poison.
The expression, “Timing is everything”, could not be more true than it is in the play, Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. Timing is responsible for many of the tragedies that occur in the play. In the story, Romeo is heartbroken because the girl, he ‘loves’ doesn’t love him back. During this time his friends and him crash a party thrown by the Capulets, Juliet’s family, and Romeo is in hopes of seeing the girl. At this party, Romeo meets Juliet and falls in love. Later in the play, Romeo kills Juliet’s cousin, and is banished. At the same time, the Capulets want Juliet to marry a man she doesn’t love. At the end of the play, Juliet makes up a plan to fake her death. She writes a letter to tell Romeo of her plan, and gives it to the Friar to deliver. At the time the letter was sent, there was a plague which delayed the letters delivery. Romeo’s friend, Balthasar, saw Juliet ‘dead’ and assumed the worst. He rushed back to Romeo to tell him that his wife was dead. Shocked by the news, Romeo went back to Venice, and saw Juliet ‘dead’. He couldn’t bear with the thought of her dead, and his life without Juliet, so Romeo killed himself, right before Juliet died. Seeing Romeo dead, Juliet felt the same that he did when he saw her dead, and killed her self as well. All of these events, that were caused by timing, lead up to the death of both Romeo and Juliet. In the play, Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, unfortunate timing is what leads to the tragic outcome of the play.
The letter explains the plan for Juliet and Romeo to eventually escape and live their lives together, but since it never sent to Romeo, that did not happen at all. Friar Laurence’s rashness is evident when he sends Friar John alone to Mantua, forgetting the rule that forbids a friar (John) from travelling without the company of another friar. Meanwhile, Friar Laurence is aware that a contagious plague is spreading throughout Verona, yet he does not choose to go with Friar John himself. There is a huge risk that John would find a companion that has to be quarantined due to the sickness, which is the case in the story. Kriegel announces regarding the Friar’s impulsiveness, “Had Friar John left the city immediately in the company of a “safe” member of his order, he would never have been delayed and would have been able to send the letter to Romeo.” Now, the Friar is mindful that his plan is destroyed and he needs to do everything he can to repair his fault. In Shakespeare's tragedy, John explains to the Friar how he was unable to deliver the letter, and Friar Laurence replies, “Unhappy fortune! By my brotherhood/ The letter was not nice but full of charge/ Of dear import, and the neglecting it/ May do much danger” (V.II.17-20). The Friar recognizes his flaw of being unable to deliver the significant letter to Romeo in order for his plan to succeed. Laurence’s unthoughtful plan only led to further problems days after, specifically the death of Romeo and
This makes it clear to friar that Romeo has not gotten the important news and is worried about Romeo, this leads to Friar Lawrence trying to wake up Juliet and try to fix the plan. Friar John ’s actions should be pardoned because in both cases he seems as though he wasn't the actual cause for the death of Romeo and Juliet since it wasn't his fault for getting quarantined for the most part. Although it was his choice to get help from another Friar, he didn't know that the friar was sick at that time. Therefore Friar John should be pardoned for the unfortunate events that happened. It is clear to say that it wasn't his decision to be quarantined and it didn't factor a part in Romeo's departure.To add on Friar john was not aware of what was in friar's letter as said by Friar Lawrence “Unhappy fortune! By my brotherhood, the letter was not nice but full of charge,Of dear import, and the neglecting it may do much danger. Friar John, go hence.Get me an iron crow and bring it
The first factor that played a key part in the deaths of Romeo and Juliet is the fact that Friar Lawrence was a coward. When Juliet awakened after her two-day sleep only to find Romeo and County Paris dead, she is in a very unstable state. Instead of being responsible and staying with Juliet to comfort her and make sure that she doesn’t harm herself or others, he tells her that he will make her a nun “Come, come away. Thy husband in thy bosom there lays dead and Paris too. Come, I’ll dispose of thee among a sisterhood of holy nuns.” (5. 3.166-169). The only selfish reason he wanted to make Juliet a nun is so that no one ever finds out that he secretly married Romeo and Juliet...
To start off, the Nurse tends to explain things in very confusing ways, this makes what she is saying hard to comprehend. When she comes back with the news Juliet asked for she says, “Ah weraday, he’s dead, he’s gone, he’s dead! We are undone, lady, we are undone. Alack the day, he’s gone, he’s killed, he’s dead” (3.2.37-39) Juliet asks the nurse what she has found out and she is saying how someone is dead, Juliet assumes it Romeo of course, so Juliet is now thinking Romeo is dead instead of Tybalt. This instance of miscommunication caused Juliet to become very upset until it she later finds out that Romeo is banished, not dead. Going on, when Juliet’s marriage to Paris was moved up a day, not everyone was informed of it, this causing the letter to not come to Romeo in time for him to save Juliet since she is to be dead when Romeo arrives. Friar John whom was supposed to deliver Friar Lawrence’s letters to Romeo says, “I could not send it- here it is again- nor get a messenger to bring it thee, so fearful were they of infection” (5.3.14-16). Since Friar John was unable to get these letters delivered that Romeo was suspecting, he is now worried, clueless, and uninformed of what is happening. Adding on, when Romeo comes to Juliet's tomb he is not aware of what state she is in. When Romeo opens the tomb and sees Juliet, he is sure she is dead. Romeo narrates what happens, “Here’s to