Essay On Impulsive In Romeo And Juliet

In Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, Romeo’s tragic flaw is his impulsiveness. This flaw leads to the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. He exhibits this tragic flaw when he marries Juliet, when he kills Tybalt, and when he commits suicide.

Firstly, when he decides to marry Juliet, he is being impulsive. Before he loved Juliet, he loved Rosaline although she did not love him back. Romeo says about Rosaline, “She hath forsworn to love, and in that vow / Do I live dead, that I live to tell it now” (I.i.231-232). When he sees Juliet for the first time, Romeo describes Juliet as, “As a rich jewel in an Ethiop’s ear- / Beauty too rich for use, for Earth too dear” (I.iv.53-54). Then in Act II, Scene VI, they get married by Friar Lawrence. Friar

In Act V, Scene I, lines 18-24, Balthasar tells Romeo that Juliet is dead. When Romeo asks Balthasar how Juliet is doing, he answers, “Then she is well and nothing can be ill. / Her body sleeps in Capel’s monument, / And her immortal part with angels lives” (V.i.18-20). Not long after he is told this, in Act V, Scene I, lines 37-60, he decides he will commit suicide by getting poison from the Apothecary. Romeo states, “Well, Juliet, I will lie with thee tonight. / Let’s see for means. O mischief, thou art swift / To enter the thoughts of desperate men. / I do remember an apothecary” (V.i.37-40). In Act V, Scene I, lines 61-89, Romeo goes to the Apothecary and convinces the Apothecary to sell him the poison. Romeo then explains what he will do with the poison, “Come cordial and not poison, go with me / To Juliet’s grave, for there must I use thee” (V.i.90-91). In Act V, Scene III, Romeo kisses Juliet and then says while drinking the poison, “Here’s to my love. [Drinking] O true apothecary, / The drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die” (V.iii.119-120). In Act V, Scene iii, lines 153-155, Juliet wakes up and asks where Romeo is. She asks, “O comfortable Friar, where is my lord? / I do remember well where I should be, / And there I am. Where is my Romeo?” (V.iii.153-155). After she sees that Romeo committed suicide, she takes Romeos dagger and kills herself as well. Before dying, she says, “Yea, noise? Then I’ll be brief. O, happy dagger, / This is my sheath. There rust, and let me die.” (V.iii.174-175). If Romeo was not impulsive, he would have thought about what he should have done. If he did think, he might have gone to Friar Lawrence for advice about what to do, and he would have told Romeo about his plan involving Juliet. This would have allowed Romeo to be with Juliet when she woke up, and which would make her not want to committed suicide. Therefore, Romeo’s impulsiveness when he decides to commits