Choices And Consequences In Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet

Cedar Kriegshauser
Mrs. Shanahan
English 1
13 March 2023
Actions & Consequences “Every action has an equal and/or opposite reaction.” That's newton's 3rd law of motion. Though it's not limited to physics. If you make a wrong move, there can and will be catastrophic consequences around the corner. “Romeo and Juliet” is a story of very many themes, but one of the more prominent themes expressed is actions and consequences. There are many moments within the story where poor decisions are made, and drastic consequences eventually follow suit. Eventually, these poor choices end up resulting in the death of the 2 protagonists, who are the play’s namesake. While many could easily point fingers at Romeo’s impulsive decisions and Juliet’s foolishness

After Tybalt attempts to challenge Romeo to a duel, Romeo states, “I do protest that I never injured thee, / But love thee better than thou canst devise / Till thou shalt know the reason of my love;” (Shakespeare, 3.1.63-64) Right here, Romeo isn’t able to express why he loves Tybalt as, per Friar Lawrence's request, he must keep his marriage a secret. Because of this, Tybalt is unaware that Romeo is now a member of his family and instead thinks he is still an enemy. If Friar Lawrence and the nurse had instead made knowledge of the marriage public, Tybalt would have recognized Romeo not as an enemy, but as someone cherished by his cousin. Tybalt then wouldn’t have had to murder Mercutio and duel a vengeance-filled Romeo. Both the nurse and the friar shouldn’t have kept the marriage under wraps as it caused the death of 2 characters that greatly influenced the story. This isn’t the only reason the two of them are a detriment to the story, as they both have individual contributions to the downfall of the

After Friar John informs Friar Lawrence that Romeo did not receive his letter, Friar Lawrence begins to shout, “Unhappy fortune! By my brotherhood, The letter was not nice, but full of charge,/Of dear import and the neglecting it May do much damage.” (Shakespeare, 5.3.18-20) This is the exact moment Friar Lawrence realizes his whole strategy has gone south, for Romeo is not informed of his plan. The Friars' attempt to reunite Romeo and Juliet was an extremely risky plan that if even one part failed, it would have catastrophic effects on the plot. If he were to have gone with a safer plan such as simply having Juliet run away from the kingdom or simply pretending to do something in the tomb until Romeo comes, then his plan would have had much less room for error. Meanwhile, the Nurse played it safe and carefully followed along with the friar's plan. The Friar’s rash decision to use the first plan that came to his mind was a terrible choice and was very deeply detrimental to the overall story. While the friar did have some positive outcomes in the story, the nurse's decision to play it safe was a better