Seth Sprandel
Mr. Kerr
Honors English 1
February 20, 2015
The Bad Decisions in Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet is a story about two teenagers from different households that fall in love and both end their lives at the end of the play. Is this story really about true love and fate? According to Shakespeare it is. This story is actually a bunch of bad decisions made by the characters like how Romeo and Juliet first kissed when they first met or how Romeo and Juliet marry one day later after they met. This is no tale of fate, this is a tale of bad decisions. Romeo and Juliet’s actions weren’t fate but bad decisions because Romeo and Juliet are over emotional teenagers that have had some rough times these past couple of days.
When Romeo and Juliet met they instantly fell in love for one another. Romeo says
“Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight! / For I ne’er saw true beauty till this night.”
(I.v.57-58)
Stepping a little back before Romeo meets Juliet, at the beginning of the play. Romeo complains that he will never be loved, by Rosaline, because Rosaline was going to become a nun. So she vows that she can’t have children. So Romeo becomes depressed that she can’t love back. Being a sad-sack he goes to his friends and they all figure out that there is a party going on at the Capulet’s. They decide to trash the party and go to it. That’s when Romeo sees Juliet, and he goes into description on what Juliet is like.
O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright!
It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night
Like a jewel in an Ethiop’s ear-
Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear!
So shows a snowy dove trooping with crows
As yonder lady o’er her fellows shows.
The measure done, I’ll watch her place of stand
And, touching hers, make blessed my rude hand.
Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight!
For I ne’er saw true beauty till this night.
(I.v.49-58)
For being bummed out to loving Juliet that fast seems very unlikely. He just went from being depressed to loving Juliet. Why would he do that? Rosaline could’ve still loved him, it’s just that the can’t have kids. So I don’t know why Romeo would ditch Rosaline just because they can’t have kids. It’s just illogical.
With all of this is the kiss. The kiss had some part in starting this whole thing. With Romeo and his smooth talking, he convinced Juliet to fall in love with him. This all seems very unlikely to happen. Considering no one falls in love with someone some quickly, and no one loves back so quickly.
The next thing that Romeo and Juliet did that was a bad decision that led to their fate was the marriage proposal Romeo made. Now this seems very unlikely to ask someone to marry you the same night that you met them. Juliet does say that she loves Romeo but he needs to get rid of his name of Montague. But does she really love him? Maybe she is saying this so they can run away from their families to get away from their problems in life. We won’t know but all we know though is that they get married but secretly.
Next thing is their marriage, which they have done in secret. Which causes a bunch of problems. What happens if the Capulets or Montagues figure out that their son or daughter got married to a person from a rival family! This could cause a bunch a problems, fighting in the streets, Romeo’s and Juliet’s parents may disown them, or even maybe kick them out! This also seems like a bad decision in general because no one gets married after knowing each other for just one day. This never happens in our time period and maybe rarely back in the time period Romeo and Juliet took place.
This next event that happens just causes the downfall of Romeo and Juliet. Tybalt kills Mercutio and then Romeo kills Tybalt in a persecution of revenge. The Prince arrives to the scene, Benvolio was the only one there and tells the Prince what happens. The Prince exiles him from Verona, to never come back. Juliet hears about this and threatens to stab herself if she doesn’t get to see her Romeo. Romeo is hiding in Friar Lawrence’s cell threatening to kill himself too. This single little event causes them to both go to depression. But why did Romeo kill Tybalt? Surely if Romeo didn’t kill Tybalt, Tybalt would have been decapitated by the prince for killing Mercutio, and everything would be fine. But Romeo makes the bad decision in killing Tybalt in revenge for Mercutio. This event was a bad one for both Romeo and Juliet alike.
The next thing is Capulet moving the wedding up to tomorrow when Juliet said she would agree to marry Paris. This causes Juliet and Friar Lawrence's to be set back a little bit on their plan. They didn’t get the letter to Romeo on time, and Romeo ends up killing himself. Which causes Juliet to kill herself. This is all because of the bad decision of Friar Lawrence’s plan and how Juliet makes rash decision on to do anything to be with her “love”.
The next bad decision is the Friar's plan, which was to have her commit “suicide”, which was actually a potion that made her look dead. This plan will have her not marry Paris, and Romeo would meet her at her tomb so he can take her away so they can live happily ever after. That didn’t happen though, the letter to tell Romeo that Juliet isn’t really dead didn’t get to him. This resulted in the bad thoughts of Romeo deciding to see her one last time then commit suicide. Why do this though? Could Romeo just go on with life and look for someone else in life besides Juliet. No, he had to commit suicide because no one would beat Juliet for him. And Juliet sees him and commits suicide so she can be with him. Which is also a bad decision for Juliet, because she could’ve done the same thing as I said for Romeo.
Now let’s talk about how Shakespeare did a good job writing this play. He uses foreshadowing to tell the audience that something might happen that’s bad soon. For example, after Juliet get’s the plan from Friar Lawrence, she told her dad, Capulet, to agree to marry Prince. Capulet says,
“Send for the County. Go tell him of this. / I’ll have this knot knit up tomorrow morning.”
(IV.ii.25-26)
This tells the audience that their maybe some trouble with the plan that Friar Lawrence. The way Shakespeare uses figurative language is amazing also. He uses a lot of figurative language when Romeo and Juliet are talking about each other or themselves. An example is this,
O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright!
It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night
Like a jewel in an Ethiop’s ear-
Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear!
So shows a snowy dove trooping with crows
As yonder lady o’er her fellows shows.
The measure done, I’ll watch her place of stand
And, touching hers, make blessed my rude hand.
Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight!
For I ne’er saw true beauty till this night.
(I.v.49-58)
Romeo and Juliet is a tale about two teenagers falling in love with each other that seemed like fate. Which was actually really just a bunch of bad decisions made by a bunch of the different characters in the play. Romeo and Juliet’s actions weren’t fate but bad decisions because Romeo and Juliet are over emotional teenagers that have had some rough times these past couple of days.
Mr. Kerr
Honors English 1
February 20, 2015
The Bad Decisions in Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet is a story about two teenagers from different households that fall in love and both end their lives at the end of the play. Is this story really about true love and fate? According to Shakespeare it is. This story is actually a bunch of bad decisions made by the characters like how Romeo and Juliet first kissed when they first met or how Romeo and Juliet marry one day later after they met. This is no tale of fate, this is a tale of bad decisions. Romeo and Juliet’s actions weren’t fate but bad decisions because Romeo and Juliet are over emotional teenagers that have had some rough times these past couple of days.
When Romeo and Juliet met they instantly fell in love for one another. Romeo says
“Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight! / For I ne’er saw true beauty till this night.”
(I.v.57-58)
Stepping a little back before Romeo meets Juliet, at the beginning of the play. Romeo complains that he will never be loved, by Rosaline, because Rosaline was going to become a nun. So she vows that she can’t have children. So Romeo becomes depressed that she can’t love back. Being a sad-sack he goes to his friends and they all figure out that there is a party going on at the Capulet’s. They decide to trash the party and go to it. That’s when Romeo sees Juliet, and he goes into description on what Juliet is like.
O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright!
It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night
Like a jewel in an Ethiop’s ear-
Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear!
So shows a snowy dove trooping with crows
As yonder lady o’er her fellows shows.
The measure done, I’ll watch her place of stand
And, touching hers, make blessed my rude hand.
Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight!
For I ne’er saw true beauty till this night.
(I.v.49-58)
For being bummed out to loving Juliet that fast seems very unlikely. He just went from being depressed to loving Juliet. Why would he do that? Rosaline could’ve still loved him, it’s just that the can’t have kids. So I don’t know why Romeo would ditch Rosaline just because they can’t have kids. It’s just illogical.
With all of this is the kiss. The kiss had some part in starting this whole thing. With Romeo and his smooth talking, he convinced Juliet to fall in love with him. This all seems very unlikely to happen. Considering no one falls in love with someone some quickly, and no one loves back so quickly.
The next thing that Romeo and Juliet did that was a bad decision that led to their fate was the marriage proposal Romeo made. Now this seems very unlikely to ask someone to marry you the same night that you met them. Juliet does say that she loves Romeo but he needs to get rid of his name of Montague. But does she really love him? Maybe she is saying this so they can run away from their families to get away from their problems in life. We won’t know but all we know though is that they get married but secretly.
Next thing is their marriage, which they have done in secret. Which causes a bunch of problems. What happens if the Capulets or Montagues figure out that their son or daughter got married to a person from a rival family! This could cause a bunch a problems, fighting in the streets, Romeo’s and Juliet’s parents may disown them, or even maybe kick them out! This also seems like a bad decision in general because no one gets married after knowing each other for just one day. This never happens in our time period and maybe rarely back in the time period Romeo and Juliet took place.
This next event that happens just causes the downfall of Romeo and Juliet. Tybalt kills Mercutio and then Romeo kills Tybalt in a persecution of revenge. The Prince arrives to the scene, Benvolio was the only one there and tells the Prince what happens. The Prince exiles him from Verona, to never come back. Juliet hears about this and threatens to stab herself if she doesn’t get to see her Romeo. Romeo is hiding in Friar Lawrence’s cell threatening to kill himself too. This single little event causes them to both go to depression. But why did Romeo kill Tybalt? Surely if Romeo didn’t kill Tybalt, Tybalt would have been decapitated by the prince for killing Mercutio, and everything would be fine. But Romeo makes the bad decision in killing Tybalt in revenge for Mercutio. This event was a bad one for both Romeo and Juliet alike.
The next thing is Capulet moving the wedding up to tomorrow when Juliet said she would agree to marry Paris. This causes Juliet and Friar Lawrence's to be set back a little bit on their plan. They didn’t get the letter to Romeo on time, and Romeo ends up killing himself. Which causes Juliet to kill herself. This is all because of the bad decision of Friar Lawrence’s plan and how Juliet makes rash decision on to do anything to be with her “love”.
The next bad decision is the Friar's plan, which was to have her commit “suicide”, which was actually a potion that made her look dead. This plan will have her not marry Paris, and Romeo would meet her at her tomb so he can take her away so they can live happily ever after. That didn’t happen though, the letter to tell Romeo that Juliet isn’t really dead didn’t get to him. This resulted in the bad thoughts of Romeo deciding to see her one last time then commit suicide. Why do this though? Could Romeo just go on with life and look for someone else in life besides Juliet. No, he had to commit suicide because no one would beat Juliet for him. And Juliet sees him and commits suicide so she can be with him. Which is also a bad decision for Juliet, because she could’ve done the same thing as I said for Romeo.
Now let’s talk about how Shakespeare did a good job writing this play. He uses foreshadowing to tell the audience that something might happen that’s bad soon. For example, after Juliet get’s the plan from Friar Lawrence, she told her dad, Capulet, to agree to marry Prince. Capulet says,
“Send for the County. Go tell him of this. / I’ll have this knot knit up tomorrow morning.”
(IV.ii.25-26)
This tells the audience that their maybe some trouble with the plan that Friar Lawrence. The way Shakespeare uses figurative language is amazing also. He uses a lot of figurative language when Romeo and Juliet are talking about each other or themselves. An example is this,
O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright!
It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night
Like a jewel in an Ethiop’s ear-
Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear!
So shows a snowy dove trooping with crows
As yonder lady o’er her fellows shows.
The measure done, I’ll watch her place of stand
And, touching hers, make blessed my rude hand.
Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight!
For I ne’er saw true beauty till this night.
(I.v.49-58)
Romeo and Juliet is a tale about two teenagers falling in love with each other that seemed like fate. Which was actually really just a bunch of bad decisions made by a bunch of the different characters in the play. Romeo and Juliet’s actions weren’t fate but bad decisions because Romeo and Juliet are over emotional teenagers that have had some rough times these past couple of days.