Impulsiveness In Romeo And Juliet

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Impulsiveness Kills the Star-Crossed Lovers Critics of Romeo and Juliet often argue that Shakespeare breaks his own criteria of his tragic writing by not having one clear villain throughout the play. However, the impulsive quality that is present in all the character’s personalities is what drives the horrific events and is the true villain. Bert Cardullo, one of the many critics of Romeo and Juliet, argues that “[c]haracter, not chance, is at work … in the play”(61). I along with Cardullo believe that Shakespeare goes beyond the norm and uses what is ultimately the villain to anyone: one’s self. The overall argument of Cardullo is that the trait of impulsiveness present in the characters in Romeo and Juliet is the unseen villain that creates …show more content…
Ironically, this is the same Friar who told Romeo to go on “Wisely and slow./ They stumble that run fast” but he himself is involuntarily pushed to carry out plans in such a rash manner(Act II.iii 101). Arguably the Friar’s haphazard manner of the plan is what causes Romeo and Juliet to both end up dead in the end. When Friar Laurence sent Friar John hastily to Mantua he did not follow a law which states “the rule of the [Franciscan] order forbade [Friar John] to travel without the company of another [Franciscan] friar”(62, qtd. In Gibbons). This leaves Friar John to find a friar to accompany him. However, his company has had contact with the Bubonic Plague which results in both Friar John and his companion to be quarantined, leaving no one to contact Romeo of Juliet and Friar Laurence’s proposition. Not to mention Friar Laurence tells Romeo as he leaves “I’ll find out your man, / And he shall signify from time to time / Every good hap to you that chances here” (Act III.iii 180-182). The man Friar Laurence speaks of is Balthasar, the same man who notified Romeo of Juliet’s death. Had the friar not acted upon every move he made with such haste, he would have been able to send Balthasar with accurate information of Juliet’s staged death. Due to his comprehension of the play, Cardullo is able to notice that “Friar Laurence's rashness is responsible for Friar John’s …show more content…
Had Capulet not assumed that the servant boy could read, had Romeo not felt compelled to help the servant, had Friar Laurence thought more about his intentions with the plan and had Juliet not believed her only option was to kill herself, the horrific events of Romeo and Juliet would not have occurred. Overall the use of the abstract villain, impulse, and not chance, is what has driven this play into to the disastrous, timeless tale it is
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