Essay on Impulsiveness in Shakespeare’s Tragedy "Romeo and Juliet"

Romeo and Juliet is a beautiful story by William Shakespeare in which the reader observes the bold and rash character of Romeo. He falls in love at the first sight with his wife, Juliet. Their families have been feuding for generations; therefore, they make a plan to run away and live a life of joy. However, this plan falls through and many are killed throughout this dangerous journey including both lives of the lovers. Because he does not think before acting, Romeo is brought into dangerous and avoidable situations. His biggest flaw of being rash and rushing things affects himself and the people around him physically, mentally, and emotionally.

In Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet, two young lovers take their lives after their family feud reignites . A variety of decisions along with circumstance no one person could account for set the story of Romeo and Juliet up to be a tragedy. Many of the decisions in the play are made quickly and while emotions are running high, so frequently they result in bad outcomes. So, the rash and impulsive decisions made by men in Romeo and Juliet create the problems within the play.

He jumps right in, and tells Balthasar to get the horses ready at once. Romeo and Juliet’s lack of maturity also causes them to love one another without a limit. They are too immature to realize that the feeling of love should not conquer common sense and reasoning. They love each other too such an extreme, that they are inseparable; and once separated, they are willing to go up to any extent to be loyal to each other and their love. This idea is strongly emphasized when Juliet is willing to kill herself rather than marry Paris which proves that she is loyal to her love. Romeo, in return, kills himself after he sees Juliet dead, which shows that he too is loyal to his love. Romeo and Juliet are both young and immature when they fall in love with each other, and their immaturity results in them not understanding that love has its limits. The young lovers love to an extreme neglecting love’s limits, which leads to them not taking mature decisions and steps, but rather rashly and abruptly on impulse to honor their love for each other. Romeo and Juliet feel such a burden to honor their love for each other that they end up committing suicide.

Many have said that romance brings love and affection, but when taken to the extreme, it can lead to tragedy and despair. In the literary play Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare created a tragedy protagonist, Juliet, whose tragic death “buries their parents’ strife” (Prologue). The eternal feud between Montague and Capulets restraints the love between Romeo and Juliet and ultimately lead to their death. Juliet’s death has many different factors, and it’s hard to determine the truly blame of Juliet’s death. In all the important characters, Lord Capulet refuses to listen to Juliet’s request, which result in Juliet’s death. In the other hand, Romeo’s immature, impulsive and Friar Lawrence’s cowardice are all generate Juliet’s tragedy.

After simply being banished, Romeo seeks to take his life, without realizing that he is in a better situation than others (including his dead friend, Mercutio). Not understanding how his life will impact others, he makes the decision to die. Eventually, the Friar, an adult figure with a developed mind, steps in and uses reason, which Romeo lacks. Not only does Romeo act in such a manner, but Juliet also shares the same characteristic. After meeting Romeo at the Capulet’s party, knowing him for about 1 minute, Juliet kisses him, and they seek marriage. This is despite her saying later on that ”Although I joy in thee, / I have no joy of this contract tonight. / It is too rash, too unadvised, too sudden” (Shakespeare II.ii 116-118). As Juliet is still a teenager, however, her animal instincts get the best of her, and they get married the next day. Through this, it is shown that while teenagers may know how to deal with things rationally (like Juliet’s little blurb on how she shouldn’t marry), their undeveloped minds get the better of them, and they go with their natural flow.

Although she did fall in love with him after only 12 hours of knowing him, they have very different lives. Juliet acted very childish when confronting Romeo about how she needs to go to sleep when he was talking to her on her balcony. Juliet says to Romeo, “Sweet, so would I. Yet I should kill thee with much cherishing. Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow That I shall say goodnight till it be morrow.” (2.2.182). Juliet was explaining that if they go to bed now, it will be morning sooner. This shows how childish Juliet is because when little kids are excited for something, their parents tell them to go to bed so morning will come sooner, and Juliet is acting like a little kid. Juliet is also stubborn, but won’t admit to it. Juliet thinks a little more than Romeo when it comes to situations involving their future. When Juliet says to Romeo, “It is too rash, too unadvised, too sudden,” (2.2.118). This shows Juliet as stubborn, because she wouldn’t give in to Romeo at first. Although, eventually she did give into the peer pressure and she did marry Romeo. Juliet did find it a little suspicious that Romeo wanted to get married so soon into the relationship. This doesn’t last very long, but there was still a moment where she wasn’t positive about it. Juliet is a little smarter when it comes to decision making, but she still isn’t perfect at

In this moment, Juliet acts very helplessly and makes an important decision very impulsivity. She decides that she if Romeo declared his love to her, she would marry him. In this scene, Juliet makes import decisions very quickly without taking the time to think, giving an example of her impulsivity. Similarly, Juliet and Romeo had a very impetuous idea about their love, neither of them have thought about the consequences. In addition, this is another particular scene to demonstrate love's spell.

Romeo wants revenge and fights with Tybalt. In this fight, Romeo kills Tybalt. When Romeo realizes the consequences of his actions, he says that he is “Fortune’s fool” (3.1.142). He believes that he has no control over the killings of Mercutio and Tybalt. However, these events are caused by his own rashness. Romeo chooses to fight with Tybalt and even starts the fight. Romeo fights to avenge his friend’s death. Romeo’s actions are rash because he does not consider the results of his actions. Romeo could resolve the conflict in some nonviolent way, but his mind is fixed on killing Tybalt. Romeo is exiled from Verona because he kills Tybalt. His rashness causes problems for his own family as well as for the Capulets and for the Prince. Romeo’s rashness in killing Tybalt leads to his killing himself.

Juliet’s father forces Juliet to marry Paris, and if she does not he threatens to leave her to ‘hang, beg, starve, die in the streets’. This arranged marriage with one she does not love compels Juliet to find an urgent resolution, and this resolution contributes to the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. The families’ feud contributes to the deaths of Romeo and Juliet, as they know that their relationship must remain unknown. The feud leads to delusion and deceit, and their eventual death. Ultimately, the feud between the families makes their deception necessary and inevitable; but this deception leads to their untimely deaths.

Rushing and taking impulsive actions can be goo sometimes, but mostly can lead to a downfall. I Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, readers enter he city of Verona and observe two lover struggle to keep there love alive. In William Shakespeare’s Rome and Juliet, the lover’s own decisions to rush marriage, family member deaths, and dying for each other revel how impulsive choices lead to their untimely death.

His impulsive behavior is displayed when he seeks vengeance that built after his friend was killed by his new cousin, Tybalt. In the story Romeo states, “Either thou or I, or both, must go with him”(3.1.191). In this statement to Tybalt, Romeo is implying that he intends to ensure that Tybalt is slain even if it means that he himself must perish. He succeeds in defeating Tybalt in a one on one confrontation. Once Tybalt is dead, the young lover is banished, and a domino effect ensues on the rest of the characters. His banishment leads to the end of both Juliet and his mother’s life as a result of being separated from his mother and a plot concocted between Juliet and the Friar. In addition, Romeo hastefully goes from loving one beauty to loving another. Despite the two being complete strangers they both wish to marry each other. When he informs Friar Lawrence of his change in heart the Friar states, “These violent delights have violent ends”(2.6.9). Friar Lawrence's says this to warn Romeo of the consequences of his wish to conduct the marriage so quickly. To prevent a cease in the relationship due to no real bond between the two ‘lovers’, the Friar tries to use language to prevent him from being rushed into love. This impulsive behavior Romeo indulged caused things to escalate quickly leading to the demise of himself and Juliet’s star-crossed love for each

Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy that involves young lovers, their “untimely death,” and a feud between their two families. The Capulets and the Montagues war against each other. The feud continues to escalate and provides the background for the story of these “two star-crossed lovers.” This literary masterpiece is still relevant today since it involves parental ambition, family fighting, and young love.

Romeo and Juliet were facing many obstacles during the time they first encountered one another. Their, so-called, “love” sprung as they were both trying to escape from their present problems. Romeo was previously in love with a beautiful girl named Rosaline, although she couldn’t love him back and fulfill Romeo’s sexual desires because she was becoming a nun. He was heartbroken when he found out about this, and thus, he was left inconsolable. Once he discovered that Rosaline was attending the Capulet ball, he decided to sneak in. Minutes into the ball, Romeo sees Juliet and immediately professes his love for her. Juliet also had her own dilemmas to deal with. Some of which included being forced into marrying Paris, a man whom she did not love. Therefore, her love for Romeo was influenced by her reluctance to marry Paris. Prior to Romeo and Juliet’s encounter at the Capulet party, Juliet comments on marriage stating, “It is an honor that I dream not of,” (1.3.68). This quote shows that Juliet had no interest in getting married anytime soon, although when she meets

Impulsivity can affect the relationship of others. In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet Shakespeare gives Romeo the trait of impulsivity. Romeo’s impulsivity changes relationships throughout the play which messes with the plot.

Friar Lawrence reveals major qualities about Romeo, including his obsessive and foolish behavior. Friar Lawrence begins chastising Romeo for being over Rosaline, a woman that did not return Romeo’s love, and then falling for Juliet so quickly. Romeo then remarks that the Friar had usually scolded him for loving Rosaline, to which the Friar replies, “for doting, not love, pupil mine”(II.iii.87). Friar Lawrence is admonishing Romeo for his immature infatuation with Rosaline. By doing this, it is clear that Romeo was obsessive over his love for Rosaline. After killing Tybalt, the Prince declares Romeo’s banishment and Romeo goes crying to the Friar claiming that death would be a better punishment than banishment. The Friar responds to this by saying, “O deadly sin, O rude unthankfulness!...This is dear mercy, and