Romeo and Juliet Essay

Oona Louch 808 Essay

In the story Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, every choice that is made affects them and others in some way or another. Whether the choice is big or little, whether they or someone else makes the choice, and whether the reason is right or wrong, and the outcome is good or bad. Each choice that is made in this story is connected. One choice is made, which leads to a situation where another choice is made, and then another, etc.

Some of the choices that have a very large impact on Romeo and Juliet’s lives are made not by them, but by their friends and family, and even their enemies. Like for example, when Mercutio decides to fight Tybalt, even though Tybalt had challenged them for a fight, he was really only interested in Romeo, therefore it was not like Tybalt was going to necessarily hurt Mercutio, or even Romeo, In that moment, considering the fact that Romeo denied the fight from the beginning, you can tell because in (3.1.33-36) Romeo says Tybalt, the reason that I have to love thee Doth much excuse the appertaining rage To such a greeting. Villain am I none. Therefore, farewell. I see thou know’st me not” Romeo nor wanted to or planned to fight Tybalt. That was entirely Mercutio’s choice, which led to the choice Romeo made to later kill Tybalt. Romeo says, “He’s alive and victorious, and Mercutio’s dead? Enough with mercy and consideration. It’s time for rage to guide my actions. Now, Tybalt, you can call me “villain” the way you did before. Mercutio’s soul is floating right above our heads. He’s waiting for you to keep him company on the way up to heaven. Either you, or I, or both of us have to go with him.” (3.1.84-91). Romeo would not have killed Tyblat if Mercutio didn’t fight him and die, and then Romeo wouldn’t have been banished. And it doesn’t just stop there, a series of other choices made by them, and others lead to their choice to kill themselves. Many of the things that happen in their lives are because of choices they make too. Like, when Juliet decides to fake her death, that leads to Romeo hearing about this and actually killing himself and then Juliet killing herself because of Romeo’s choice to kill himself. If Romeo hadn’t decided to kill himself, then Juliet wouldn’t have killed herself, and they would maybe even be able to find a way to be together. Or even if Romeo had waited a little longer, he would find that Juliet was not actually dead and then so on and so on. Every single choice that is made is like a building block for the next choice to be made, by Romeo, Juliet, their parents, whoever.

Many of the decisions are small, or don’t seem to mean much in Romeo and Juliet. But they actually do. The small choice that Juliet makes to go to the party leads to her death. If she never went to the party then she probably would have never met Romeo, or fallen in love with him, etc. And even if the choice itself is small or isn’t something that Juliet wouldn’t think of as a challenging, life or death, this or that, decision, that one small choice led to another choice to go to the party, led to another, which eventually put her in a life or death situation.  And even the simplest choice of Romeo and Juliet choosing to look at each other changed their whole lives. Think about it, I’m sure there were plenty of people at the party they barely glanced at, the simple decision to turn their heads and look through the fish tank at each other caused them to fall in love. Especially considering the fact that the Friar says, “Young men’s love then lies Not truly in their hearts, but in their eyes.” (2.3.67-68) He is referring to the fact that they have actually never even really met each other when they decide they are in love, it was more that they fell in love with what they saw, so if they had never seen each other they wouldn’t be in love at all. And of course, the complex decisions they make also change their lives.  The decision to kill themselves obviously affected them in the way that they are now dead in the story, but it also impacted others lives. It caused Lady Montague to kill herself, which made others very sad and depressed which changed their lives. Just because a choice the Montagues and Capulets make doesn’t seem to totally change their lives, doesn’t mean the choice they will have to make because of that previous choice won’t.

Some of the choices the Montague’s and Capulet’s make are for the right reason and some are for the wrong reason, but others are more complicated than that. For example: the choice the friar made to help Romeo with his wedding was right, and wrong at the same time. He says, “But come, young waverer, come, go with me, In one respect I’ll thy assistant be” (2.3.89-90) the friar is wise enough and has lived long enough of the fact that the outcome would most-likely hurt many in the end.  But it’s sort of complicated because he seems to care about Romeo and Juliet’s happiness as well. And anyone who does obviously wants to help them with the situation of being in love while their families hate each other. The nurse also helps Juliet sneak out to see Romeo often. She is disobeying lady Capulet by doing this, which is the wrong thing to do, but she is serving her daughter, Juliet, at the same time, and making her very happy which is more than her mom has ever done. Though I think many can agree with the fact that some choices are just pretty much the wrong choice. The friar says, “Take thou this vial, being then in bed, And this distillèd liquor drink thou off.” (4.1.96-97) He is giving Juliet a potion to make her unconscious for a while so that Paris will think she is dead for a few hours, and then by the time she wakes up the marriage will be off, and she will somehow supposedly be with Romeo. It’s not that his intensions were wrong that is just the wrong way to solve it. There are so many holes in this plan that it basically has no chance of working and there is no way he is not able to see that. This choice will clearly impact Romeo, considering that everyone will think she is dead, what makes him think Romeo won’t believe the same? And if Juliet is willing to go to extreme measures for Romeo then its pretty clear that Romeo will as well. The idea of helping was nice, but this was definitely not the correct way to do so.

You may not realize how much a choice can affect you and the people around you, but they do, a lot. It’s like the snowball affect. It starts off with one little decision, which leads to another, and soon enough you’re put in a situation where you are forced to deal with a huge problem that you don’t know how to deal with properly, and you have to make a decision all by your self to fix it. And just because your decision or someone else’s decision doesn’t directly impact you it probably will later on. That choice will lead to some else having to make a choice and so on, which will eventually come back to you and it will be your turn to decide. That’s how it is in Romeo and Juliet. They carelessly make choices which affect others and then they carelessly make choices until it affects them. It’s like a cycle that continues until one of them gets hurt. And in this case both Romeo and Juliet’s lives are sacrificed due to all the choices made a long the way.