Suicide In Romeo And Juliet

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“For never was a story of more woe / Than this of Juliet and her Romeo” (V.iii.320-321). Some people think Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare is a love story. However, this notion is wrong, for many events that happen in the play show that it is actually a tragedy. Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy because Romeo and Juliet commit suicide, four major characters die, and Romeo and Juliet mention their deaths during the play.
Notably, the suicides of Romeo and Juliet are a major reason the play is a tragedy. Romeo is the one to commit suicide first. In Act V, Scene iii, lines 119-120, Romeo commits suicide when he drinks a vial of poison. After he kisses Juliet for the last time, he gets ready to drink the poison and declares,
Come, bitter conduct,
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Then in Act V, Scene iii, lines 169-172, Juliet sees that Romeo committed suicide with poison. She kisses his lips in order to get some of the poison. However, when she hears the Watch coming, she decides to use Romeo’s dagger to kill herself instead. Before she stabs herself, she says, “Yea, noise? Then I’ll be brief. O, happy dagger, / This is thy sheath. There rust, and let me die (V.iii.174-175). The play ending in the suicides of the lovers is a tragic ending that a love story does not have. The suicides of Romeo and Juliet are one of many reasons of why the play is a tragedy.
Additionally, the deaths of some important characters also signal that the play is a tragedy. The first character to die is Mercutio. In Act II, Scene I, lines 91-92, Tybalt stabs Mercutio in a fight. After Tybalt stabs him, Mercutio says, “I am hurt. / A plague o’ both houses! I am sped. / Is he gone and hath nothing” (III.i.93-95)? Soon after, Benvolio says, “O Romeo, Romeo, brave Mercutio is dead” (III.i.121). Tybalt is the next character to die in the play. Romeo fights and kills Tybalt in Act III, Scene I, line 137. Afterwards, Benvolio says, Romeo, away,