The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet There is a fine line between having poor luck and being absolutely ludicrous. Gambling with fate is a risky business. Maybe, if the Friar and Juliet would keep brainstorming ways to avoid the upcoming marriage of her and Paris, the story would not reach its end with such a shocking mortality. The calamity of Romeo and Juliet can not simply be blamed on a broken mirror. Unfortunately, these lovers bring themselves to their doom. The tragedy of Romeo and Juliet is not a case of bad luck, but a series of poor decision making. Bad decisions are not only made by Romeo and Juliet throughout the course of the story. Each character is to blame for at least one fault throughout the four …show more content…
days, from the Nurse to Capulet. One example is the brawling and childish behavior between Tybalt and Mercutio. Although Tybalt killing Mercutio may be a lucky shot, it is not bad luck. Each of these men decide to act like kids and fight. It is a lousy decision to hold grudges and brawl over something as foolish as a party. If Tybalt would be willing to reason and compromise with Romeo, no fighting would occur. Tybalt states, “Romeo, the love I bear thee can afford no better term than this: thou art a villain… To such a greeting. Villain am I none,” (3.1.61-65). Romeo tries to explain to Tybalt that he wants no harm, but Tybalt felt the need to show dominance and battle. It is a poor choice because it is an unnecessary turn of events that results in the death of two main characters. Another event that took a turn for the worst is the secret wedding/marriage of Romeo and Juliet.
The lovers get married in secrecy, without telling their families. For them to swear love and bring together two families who swear hate is not smart move. However, the Friar also has a huge part in the wedding, as he is the minister. Friar thinks that by marrying Romeo and Juliet, he’s going to bring together the two families and end the feud. It is absolutely ludicrous of him to think that something good will come from secretly trying to bring together two enemies. “Come, come with me, and we will make short work, for by your leaves, you shall not stay alone till holy church incorporate two in one,” (2.5.35-37), says the Friar on the wedding day. Little does he know, he is doing nothing but causing more …show more content…
conflict. The last, but most crucial, piece to top off the tragedy is the Friar’s genius plan.
This plan is about seven parts long, which means there are seven events that could go wrong. And sure enough, the plan is thrown off right off the bat. To begin, Friar gives Juliet a potion to lower her pulse to give the illusion she is dead. Juliet thinks nothing through though and ends up begging for the vial. If Juliet would think about the plan and what could happen, she may realize that the whole idea is ridiculous. The consequences are obvious, and since Juliet chooses to ignore them and be oblivious, she pays the price. “Romeo, Romeo, Romeo! Here’s drink. I drink to thee,” (4.4.59-60), Juliet proclaims as she swallows the potion. In conclusion, the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet is not a case of bad luck, but a series of poor decisions. If Tybalt, Mercutio, and Romeo wouldn’t fight, if Juliet and Romeo would hold off on their wedding and not be married in secrecy, and if Juliet said no to the Friar’s plan, the story may turn out differently. It just so happens that throughout the story, poor decisions are constantly made without any regard to the possible outcomes. These outcomes are ignored, not nonexistent. The tragedy of Romeo and Juliet is due to a series of bad
choices.
At the end of the fight when Romeo kills Tybalt and then realizes what he has done he yells out, “O, I am Fortune’s fool!” (Shakespeare.3.1.143). And he and Juliet both are little toys for fate. But, they never give up on their love.Romeo and Juliet’s traits cause them to go along with their fate and contributes to their downfall.
Who is Most Responsible for the Deaths of Romeo and Juliet? Romantic love stories often end with a tragedy, because of the loss of passion or a loved one. These tragedies are often the result of one person’s actions that ended someone’s life or love. In the Romeo and Juliet play written by William Shakespeare, two citizens of Verona come together and fall deeply in love.
First of all, the Friar unwisely agreed to marry Romeo and Juliet, even though he knows it will cause later problems. In the beginning, the Friar thinks that ".this alliance may so happily prove/ To turn your households' rancor to pure love." (II iv 91-92) This shows that the Friar has a slight hope of their marriage possibly working. Therefore, he decides to marry the two lovers.
In the story “ The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet “ the main characters get themselves in a pickle by falling in love knowing that their families are sworn enemies. Soon Romeo kills Juliet's cousin by accident, Juliet drinks a potion, some words get twisted and at the end both of the lovebirds end up dead. At the end of the story both families are devastated that both of their children pass away, but there are also many unanswered questions. The most asked question in the story is “ Who's to blame? ” and overall I believe everyone has a little part in influencing their death, but I believe that one person is to blame for most of this and I believe that it is the mother and father of Juliet.
The best explanation, however, is that Shakespeare does not rely entirely on fate. Romeo holds responsibility for his actions in regards to committing suicide, whether or not he was destined to die from the beginning. This ending is avoidable in many ways. First of all, if the Friar had thought through his plan a little more he would have realized that there are some flaws that could result in serious consequences, as happened. Also, Romeo could have tried to live his life without his lover and then soon realized that she was alive, though this would be very hard to do.
Because of the time this play was written, people would have strongly believed in bad luck and fate, but the characters were equally to blame. It was just a question of which one is to blame the most for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. First of all, Romeo could be most to blame for the deaths of himself and Juliet, he asked Juliet to marry him when he hardly knew her. Romeo declared his love for her and went to friar Lawrence and asked the friar if he would marry them, Romeo says "Then plainly know my hearts dear love is set, on the fair daughter of rich Capulet, by holy marriage, when, where and how, we met, we woo'd and make exchange of vow. " If Romeo had restrained himself from killing Tybalt, or waited a day before killing himself after hearing about Juliet's death, it might have ended happily, and if Romeo didn't have such deep feelings, his love with Juliet wouldn't have existed in the first place.
As you know, the result was Romeo hearing of Juliet's death, causing his suicide. This, in turn, led to Juliet's suicide. So, as you can see, if Romeo had not held Mercutio back, Mercutio may not have been killed, therefore Romeo would not have killed Tybalt, causing his banishment. If Romeo had not killed Tybalt, Juliet would not have been rushed into marriage, and the Friar would not have been rushed into finding a solution to this marriage. Another example of the change in the outcome of the story is if a particular servant wasn't illiterate.
"Friar:'Take thou this vial, being then in bed, ?And this distilling liquor drink thou off"'(IV, I, 93-94) This was an easy task for the Friar since he grows and sells herbs and medicines to the people of Verona. Although he tried to send word to Romeo explaining the plan he had produced, it never made it to him. “Friar: ‘Hold! Get you gone, be strong and prosperous/ In this resolve, I’ll send a friar with speed /To Mantua, with my letters to thy lord.’ ” (IV, I, 122-124) Instead of hoping that the letter would make it to Romeo, the Friar should have made an excuse to delay the wedding and spoke with Romeo the next day. Hearing that Juliet had died, Romeo poisoned himself by her corpse. Upon awakening, Juliet discovered her dead husband and stabbed herself so that she may also be dead.
The forbidden wedding of Romeo and Juliet could not have happened without the Friar. First of all, the Friar impulsively agreed to marry Romeo and Juliet, even though he knows it will cause later problems. In the beginning, the Friar thinks that "...this alliance may so happy prove; To turn your households' rancor to pure love." (II iv 91-92) Which shows that the Friar has a slight hope of their marriage possibly working. Consequently, at first, he shows no reluctance to marry the two controversial lovers. However, as time moves on, the Friar lets on that he has regrets about the marriage. The Friar feels that "Too swift arrives as tardy as too slow." (II vi 15) In other words, the Friar means that he senses that this whole wedding is happening too fast and he radiates a feeling of second thought. If the Friar had thought this crucial decision through he may have prevented many future tragedies. Accordingly, the Friar knows all along that "These violent delights have violent ends" (II vi 9) 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. Romeo has a one-track mind that is focused on something he cannot have. Similarly, Juliet becomes depressed and is grieving over the reality of her and Romeo's separation. Without the Friar the two lovers would not have been married, which would have prevented both of these depressions and future problems to come.
He tried to please everyone so nobody would point a finger towards him. He gave Juliet the potion even when he knew it could kill her, either way he would be safe. If Juliet died there would be no sign that is was his fault… nobody would find out about how he secretly married Romeo and Juliet. Also, if the plan worked Juliet and Romeo would be happy and thankful for the Friar. He let Juliet take the potion even when he knew the risk, “Thou hast the strength of will to slay thyself, Then is it likely thou wilt undertake A thing like death to chide away this shame, That cop’st with death himself to scape from it; And, if thou darest, I’ll give thee remedy,” (Shakespeare 452). He was only ever out for himself in the
created the tragic outcome of the accident. I think that if it wasn’t for the simple. bad luck, Romeo and Juliet could have been together. The Elizabethan audience would have seen it like this because they had first hand experience of the society and values of the time. The modern audience has a much narrower understanding of all the things affecting Romeo.
In Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, two star-crossed lovers betrayed their own family in order to be with each other. Given that both Romeo and Juliet are both young, they made endless sacrifices and decisions just for them to be together without considering the consequences. All of their sacrifices resulted in vain as their tragic conclusion was their own death. Although fate played a significant role in the star-crossed lovers' downfall, Romeo and Juliet paid the consequences of their dreadful decisions due to their reckless rebellion which eventually led to their catastrophic ending. In the first few events that happened in the play, the readers have already seen some poor choices Romeo and Juliet made that eventually led to their death.
Even though nobody likes it, bad luck exists. There is no way to get rid of it, it is just a part of life. Not everything can go the way someone wants it to. If something random happens to someone and it favours them, like winning the lottery, then that is good luck for that person. Likewise, if something random happens to someone and it is unfavourable, like a rampaging rhinoceros escaping from a nearby zoo and brutally slaughtering them and 23 other people, that would be bad luck. Just like everybody else, William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet are victims of bad luck. The Capulets and Montagues hate each other, Juliet has an arranged marriage to Paris, and there is a plague in the city of the messenger. And so it is bad luck and fate that ultimately cause the deaths of Romeo and Juliet.
The choices Romeo and Juliet make are poor, and eventually resulted in their death. Getting married, killing Tybalt, and thinking with hastyness were all poor choices that lead to both of their deaths. Once in a while making bad choices doesn’t affect someone as much, but making then many times regularly does affect one’s life. This teaches people that we must think our actions through before committing them.
Romeo had a few character flaws that helped cause this. One of these was him going to the dance. If he had never gone to that dance then he would have never met Juliet, meaning the tragedy would have never happened. Juliet's father also had a character flaw that tied into this, he let Romeo stay after Tybalt told him that there was Romeo there who is a Montague. If he had listened to Tybalt then Romeo would have not met Juliet. Another one of Romeo's character flaws was a lot later in the story. He was told that Juliet had died and he rushed to her tomb. When he got there he said to himself that she did not look dead because she was not really pale and still had a reddish tint to her cheeks. If he would have been more observant he could have known that she did not actually die and that would have prevented the death of him and Juliet. Juliet also had some character flaws. One of them was her wanting to marry Romeo. She knew that she was not supposed to marry anyone from the Montague family because of the big feud. She ended up getting married to him despite the feud among the families. This marriage was where the Friar messed up. He should not have agreed to secretly get Romeo and Juliet married, he could have just told them no. Instead he got them married