Impulsive Decisions In Romeo And Juliet Analysis

Improved Essays
Shakespeare’s play, “The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet” is about two star crossed lovers who cannot be together due to the feud both of their families have against each other. This causes them to marry in secrecy after only knowing each other for less than one day, but from that point forward everything goes wrong. By the end of the play the two lovers kill themselves in order to be with each other. Many people say these events would never occur if Romeo and Juliet thought their actions out instead of acting on impulse. The reason for these impulsive decisions made by the characters is the play can be explained by modern science. During the second scene of Act II, Romeo and Juliet impulsively decided to get married, less than twenty four hours after meeting each other. In scene ii, Romeo asks Friar Lawrence, “but this I pray, That thou consent to marry us today” (Shakespeare 410). What Romeo is requesting, is that Friar …show more content…
Juliet finds Romeo dead and states, “O happy dagger! This is thy sheath; there rust, and let me die” (Shakespeare 475). Before Juliet says these words the Friar warns her they must leave because people are coming, but Juliet refuses. While looking upon Romeo’s dead body Juliet finds his dagger and uses it to stab herself, so she can be with Romeo. The reason for her impulsive decision is supported by “Beautiful Brains”, “ Teens take more risks not because they don’t understand the dangers, but because they weigh risk versus reward differently” (Dobbs 5). Juliet does not think of the consequences for killing herself because the reward of being with Romeo is greater than anything. Her family will mourn over her death, but instead she only thinks about the good that will come from her suicide and not the effects it will have on others. Modern science provides evidence on why Juliet made the impulsive decision to commit suicide for Romeo and not stop to think with

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Mahatma Gandhi once famously said, “A man is but the product of his thoughts; what he thinks, he becomes.” Without rationally thinking through all choices and consequences, one can possibly become stuck in the outcomes of those decisions. Throughout the play, Romeo and Juliet made many judgements impulsively. Romeo and Juliet’s decision to pursue their relationship despite its forbidden and reckless nature demonstrates the destructiveness of their impulses. Romeo and Juliet have only recently met for the first time, but despite this, they proclaim their rash love quickly and suddenly.…

    • 603 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Romeo’s urgency causes the Friar to question his true feelings, especially after being so depressed from Rosaline refusing to be with him. After witnessing Romeo’s stubbornness, the Friar agrees to marry him, while issuing the warning of, “Wisely and slow. They stumble that run fast”(411). Friar Lawrence enables this doomed marriage to take place, still without revealing their plans to the parents. This is perhaps one of the most devastating mistakes made by any character in the play.…

    • 757 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Their maturity was reliant on the underdeveloped brain. Without proper judgement tragedy can occur. Impulsive decisions lead to consequences. After Romeo’s encounter with Juliet at the party he believed he was in love with her, led by his desire Romeo decided…

    • 658 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Romeo sees Juliet “dead” and kills himself. For example, In 5.3, Juliet says yea, noise? Then I’ll be brief. O happy dagger! This is thy sheath; There rust, and let me die.…

    • 536 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    If you have experienced depression and are impulsive with love, you can relate to Romeo and Juliet. Romeo and Juliet is a tragic comedy written by William Shakespeare in the 16th century. It is about a couple of young adolescents named Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet. They meet at a party and instantly fall in love. Juliet gets married to Romeo in secrecy without her father acknowledging it.…

    • 715 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    When Romeo and Juliet are are separated, Juliet is expected to marry Paris and she desperately wants to find a way out of it without being disowned. Juliet pays a visit to the Friar, who comes up with a plan for Juliet to fake her death with a sleeping poison. When Juliet asks the Friar to help her break free from her wedding with Paris, he replies that: "If, rather than to marry County Paris, Thou hast the strength of will to slay thyself; Then it is likely thou wilt undertake A thing like death to elude away this shame, That cop'st with death himself to scrape from it; And, if thou darest, I'll give thee remedy." (Shakespeare 71-76) This is the second time that the Friar acts impulsively and agrees to give Juliet this illegal poison.…

    • 771 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In Romeo and Juliet, Romeo is a teenager and the hero with an impulsive flaw which leads to the tragic ending of his and Juliet’s deaths, he let this flaw control his reasoning and had his feelings command his mind and decisions in different fields. As a teenagers we are in a young age were we think everything revolves around ourselves and don’t take our time to think things through, we are impulsive. Just like our main character Romeo he is a teenager living in a world of feuds between his family the Montagues and their enemies, the Capulets. Those are some things that lead to his impulsiveness starting with love. At the beginning of the play Romeo was madly in love with Rosaline he said, “ She hath, and in that sparing makes huge waste; For beauty off from all prosperity.…

    • 706 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In Act 2, scene 6, “May the heavens be happy with this holy act of marriage, so nothing unfortunate happens later to make us regret it.” This is saying that Friar Lawrence married Romeo and Juliet…

    • 270 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    When he was convinced that Juliet had died, Romeo became depressed and committed suicide “‘Come, bitter poison”’ (Shakespeare 5.3.117). Romeo was at fault for his own death, he had the choice to live, but he was the one that chose to die. Though he did it because of his love for Juliet, he still could have avoided dying by not drinking the poison. Romeo was also at fault for the death of Juliet, for she would have never stabbed herself if he did not die.…

    • 993 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    36-39.) After finding out about the (supposedly) death of Juliet, Romeo decides he will commit suicide because of his love for Juliet. He doesn't consider anything else. As shown through both circumstances, their uncontrolled, passionate emotions exceeded their rational thought, which resulted in their…

    • 865 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Shakespeare develops the idea that love leads to rash decisions through the behavior of the characters Juliet and Romeo. Juliet’s deep love for Romeo is the primary reason for her to make rash decisions in the play. First, after meeting Romeo at the Capulet feast, Juliet is beguiled by him. However, she is very distressed to discover he is a Montague, and the son of her family’s rival. Alone and upset, she says in her soliloquy, “Deny thy father and refuse thy name, /…

    • 742 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Romeo believed that having Juliet was his only way to happiness and if he didn’t have that, life wasn’t worth living. When Romeo learns of Juliet’s apparent death, he immediately knew what he was going to do. “Experts say that even at ages 16 and 17, when compared to adults, juveniles on average are more likely to overlook alternative courses of action”(Teens Brains Hold key to their Impulsiveness). Romeo didn’t even think of any other alternative to killing himself and didn’t consider any of the consequences or the amount of pain it would cause both his family and Juliet’s. All he was thinking about was that he wanted to be with Juliet and that suicide was the only way to get that…

    • 1399 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Lisa Zaher ENG2D.-08 Ms. Brown 2014-12-18 Who’s fault is it? Influential adults can have a big impact on a child’s life. Their decisions should guide the youths into making choices that would boast a positive outcome for their future. However, making a poor decision can lead the youths into making awful decisions as well. In that situation, the adults are ultimately responsible for the bad actions of those minors.…

    • 1473 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    To start with the obvious, Romeo’s undying love for Juliet, Romeo decides drinks poison to kill himself because he thought that Juliet died, which also caused Juliet to kill herself. From act 5, Romeo says, “Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die” (5.3.120). Romeo loves Juliet so much that he died seeing her body in the tomb. If Romeo decided to make a reasonable decision by not killing himself.…

    • 1182 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Suicide is certainly the worst mistake that anyone can make in their life, however this young couple decided to do it when being influenced by blinding love. In this section the lovers made three wrong choices, including: Juliet, taking the poison, Romeo deciding to commit suicide after seeing Juliet’s lifeless body and Juliet’s suicide after waking up and seeing Romeo’s dead body. All of these mistakes could have been prevented only if love has not blinded these two lovers. As argued in the last paragraph, Juliet made the mistake of taking the poison and trusting Friar Laurence.…

    • 1259 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays