Irrational Decisions In Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet

720 Words3 Pages

Impetuous people often deflect blame after making irrational decisions. In William Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet, the immature young lovers justify their emotionally driven and impulsive decisions with outside forces and devotion to each other. Romeo’s callowness is displayed when he believes fate is responsible for his rash decisions; Juliet is unable to acknowledge her recklessness due to her loyalty to him. Romeo uses fate as an excuse to act imprudently, disregarding any consequences that might come from it. His extreme decisions are a product of his weakness; he lets his feelings cloud his judgment. When Romeo receives the news from Balthasar that Juliet has died, his first words are, “Is it e’en so?—Then I deny you, stars!—...Well, …show more content…

Just hours after their first encounter, Juliet confesses that she believes their newly formed relationship is moving too quickly. Romeo, feeling unsatisfied with this, abruptly asks for her hand in marriage. She responds, “I gave thee mine before thou didst request it… My bounty is as boundless as the sea,/ My love as deep. The more I give to thee,/ The more I have, for both are infinite.” Juliet reconsiders her feelings for Romeo and concludes she is ready to marry him, contradicting her previous views on their relationship. She justifies this heedless choice by convincing herself she is in love with a man she has just met and knows nothing about. She does not properly evaluate the consequences that their marriage implies, considering the hatred their families have for one another. Therefore, her agreement to the marriage occurs not due to confidence that it is the right decision but due to the validation that her feelings for Romeo provide. Juliet ignores her instincts due to her inexperience with love. When Lady Capulet discloses Paris' marriage proposal to Juliet, she runs to Friar Lawrence, hoping to find a way out of it. After listing a series of ways that she would commit suicide rather than marry Paris, Juliet admits, “(Things that to hear them told have made me/tremble),/ And I will do it without fear or doubt,/ To