Bad Decisions In William Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet

Words: 486
Pages: 2

In the tragedy Romeo and Juliet, playwright William Shakespeare shares the terrible story between two star-crossed through instances of missed opportunities and bad decisions. Throughout the play, readers follow Romeo, a Montague, as he falls in love with Juliet, a Capulet. The two are star-crossed lovers and come from feuding families. As the story progresses, many unfortunate incidents become evident in the play. Both decisions, such as Romeo deciding to kill Tybalt and Juliet refusing to marry Paris, and coincidences, such as Friar John failing to inform Romeo of the plan, greatly influence the plot. In Act III, Romeo kills Tybalt in retribution for Mercutio’s death. This leads to Romeo’s banishment which greatly modifies the storyline. The death of Tybalt also causes Lord Capulet to realize life is fleeting and approve of Paris’ marriage proposal. When Juliet refuses to marry Paris, she is forced to concoct a plan which unintentionally leads to both Romeo and Juliet’s death. When Juliet decides to fake her death, a letter was sent with Friar John to inform Romeo, who had been banished to Mantua, that Juliet was merely faking her death. However, Balthazar gets to Romeo first and informs him that Juliet has passed away. This causes Romeo to return to Verona and kill himself after seeing Juliet’s “dead” body.