Romeo and Juliet, one of Shakespeare's most famous work of art, takes place in the thirteenth century in Italy, Verona and later Mantua. The setting of the play is rich and elegant, everyone dresses well, and lives in fancy surroundings. Impulsive behavior can lead to catastrophic results while being easily preventable, just by thinking before acting. Many stories have characters whose tragic flaw is acting with impulsive behavior, which ends up affecting the overall ending, Romeo and Juliet is a classic example of this. William Shakespeare illustrates the result of impulsive behavior with the actions of Romeo Montague, Juliet Capulet and Friar Laurence.
Romeo Montague, son of the Montagues, is a very flawed character whose impulsive behavior led to the death of not only himself but also his beloved Juliet. Romeo is at a ball at the Capulet’s house, he believes he is in love with a woman named Rosaline, until he sees Juliet: “Did my heart ever love till now? Forswear it, sight, /For I ne’er saw true beauty till this night” (I, v,
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Friar Laurence gives Juliet a potion to make her fall asleep because he thinks it will help her be reunited with Romeo. Friar Laurence explains to the Prince what happened to Juliet: “Then I gave her-so tutor’d by my art- /A sleeping potion; which so took effect /As I intended, for it wrought on her /The form of death” (V.iii.242-245). This shows that Friar Laurence was impulsive because he makes the quick decision of giving the sleeping potion to Juliet without considering the consequence if Romeo were to find out before he was informed of the plan. This impulsive behavior results in the death of Paris, Romeo and Juliet because Romeo kills Paris in order to get to Juliet and both spouses were consumed by grief when they thought each other was dead, therefore killing themselves. The Friar’s impulsivity plays a role in Juliet’s decision to harm