Examples Of Dire Decisions In Romeo And Juliet

Annah Sharp
English 136
Mrs. Roan
22 Feb. 2023
Dire Decisions
“I fear, too early; for my mind misgives / Some consequence, yet hanging in the stars, / Shall bitterly begin this fearful date” (Shakespeare 1.5.106-108). Romeo and Juliet is a play written by the great author William Shakespeare. It is a play about two lovers, Romeo and Juliet, that meet at a party and decide to get married in secret. After murdering Juliet’s cousin Tybalt, Romeo is banished from Verona and has to leave Juliet behind. In an attempt to be with Romeo, Juliet fakes her death which leads to Romeo actually killing himself, and later results in Juliet killing herself as well. Throughout the play, Romeo and Juliet both made decisions that altered the entirety of the story.

Romeo went to the Capulet party to try and see his love, Rosaline, but upon seeing Juliet he says, “Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight! / For I ne’er saw true beauty till this night” (Shakespeare 1.5.50-51). At this moment Romeo had never met Juliet, and just upon seeing her he is mesmerized. Without Romeo deciding to attend the dinner, he may never have met Juliet or, at least, seen her in the way he did at the party. Later after their meeting they find each other again. After flirting for a while, Juliet has to leave, but before she goes, she says, “If that thy bent of love be honorable, / Thy purpose marriage, send me word tomorrow, / By one that I’ll procure to come to thee” (Shakespeare 2.2.143-145). After only just meeting a few hours prior, the two are already so in love that Juliet thinks that a proposal is possible. Without their prior meeting and conversations at the party, they would not have been on track to have met, let alone married. The lovers meeting was crucial to the rest of the story as well as all of the other important events to come from their

To avoid marrying Paris, Juliet fakes her death to deceive her family. Romeo is unsuccessfully notified of this and thinks that Juliet is truly dead. He goes to her tomb with a bottle of poison and declares, “Here’s to my love! [drinks] O true apothecary! / Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die. / [falls]” (Shakespeare 5.1.119-120). In an attempt to be with Juliet again, Romeo kills himself to be in the afterlife with her. If Juliet hadn’t faked her death, Romeo wouldn’t have had any reason to kill himself. Upon awakening from her false forever sleep, Juliet sees that Romeo is dead and grabs his dagger, saying, “Then I’ll be brief. O happy dagger! / [snatches Romeo’s dagger] / This is thy sheath; there rust, and let me die. / [She stabs herself and falls]” (Shakespeare 5.3.169-170). Juliet’s fake death was intended to set her free so that she could be with Romeo. In the end, it led to her and Romeo’s true