Examples Of Evil In Romeo And Juliet

The Evil in the Good
As writer and poet T.S. Eliot once said, “Most of the evil in this world is done by people with good intentions.” He furthered this idea by talking about believing one has good intention is not the same as actually having good reasoning. This idea can be applicable in every situation and scenario. In everyday life, it is clear to see that good motives don’t always have good results and can cause more harm than intended. This is also a present theme in many works of literature, including T.S. Eliot's poems and various Shakespearean plays. In fact in Romeo and Juliet, undeniably one of Shakespeare's most popular plays, this is a very common idea shown throughout. Many characters don’t understand the consequences of their

Upon finding out of Romeo's banishment, Juliet goes to the Friar and desperately says “Be not so long to speak. I long to die/ If what thou speak’st speak not of remedy” (4.1.67-69). Juliet asks the Friar for “remedy” which shows that all she needs is hope and some help, some guidance .By saying she “longs to die” she shows that desperation and just how intense it is. She needs Friar to help or she will kill herself at this moment. When Juliet comes to the Friar she is so devastated, and with his good intentions of helping her, he tries to. He devises a plan to help which in the end, ends up being the death of Romeo and Juliet. When beginning his plan, he tells Juliet, “Hold, daughter. I do spy a kind of hope,/Which craves as desperate an execution/As that is desperate which we would prevent” (4.1.70-73). The Friar recognizes the “desperate” situation, that “craves” a plan to prevent an even worse outcome. Seemingly, foreshadowing the devastation the plan will have, creating an even more desperate situation for Juliet. The Friar recognizes that this is made in a desperate moment that the outcome should be, in the best case, less desperate. The Friar is trying his best with his plan for Juliet to pretend to have killed herself. When the plan ultimately fails and she is only in

When the Friar hears the watch coming in the tomb, he says, “Stay not to question, for the watch is coming./Come, go, good Juliet. I dare no longer stay” (5.3.64-65). The friar tells Juliet to “come” with her because “the watch is coming” and he “dare no longer stay.” Showing that this is a moment of fear and desperation since the watch is coming and by being in there he is risking himself and Juliet. However when Juliet does not come with her, he doesn't care because in this moment he just is saving himself and doesn't care if Juliet comes with him. This a very selfish act which results in Juliet being alone in the crypt with her dead true love. Juliet looks on the ground to see her dead love and sees the poison that has ended his life. She looks at it and says “What’s here? A cup, closed in my true love’s hand?/Poison, I see, hath been his timeless end/ O churl, drunk all, and left no friendly drop” (5.3.167-169).Romeo left Juliet no “friendly drop” of poison for her to drink and end her life. Her “true love” lays there dead and she now sees that it is time for her to kill herself. Now that the Friar has left Juliet by herself, provided no comfort or kindness, Juliet can now kill herself and be with her love. Had the friar not left her out of selfish intention, perhaps the outcome would have been different. In the Crypt, the Friars