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Rational Decisions In Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet

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The main message of Romeo and Juliet is that decisions that are made solely on emotions can have tragic results and that thinking rationally before making decisions can result in better outcomes. The play shows that impulsiveness can lead to tragedy. The decisions made by characters that think rationally usually have better outcomes. The play also shows that emotions can cloud the characters’ judgment forcing them to make bad decisions. In the play, Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare shows that making decisions based on emotion alone can have tragic results, showing the importance of thinking rationally before making a decision. The play, Romeo and Juliet, shows how impulsiveness can lead to tragedy. Throughout the play, characters often …show more content…

An example of a character that makes rational decisions is Friar Laurence, who usually makes plans that have a lot of thought put into them. Friar Laurence’s plan to reunite both Romeo and Juliet was well thought out. Instead of just accepting their separation, he devised a plan to get them both reunited. He decides to give Juliet a potion that makes her appear dead for 42 hours and after she takes it, she will be transported to the tomb. (IV.i.Lines 68-76) He then will send a letter to Romeo telling him to come and help Juliet get out of the tomb after she wakes up and take her away with him to Mantua. (IV.i.Lines 114-120) Although the plan failed in the end, it was due to the actions of Romeo. Romeo got news from Balthasar that Juliet was dead before getting the letter from Friar Laurence, causing him to come to Verona and die with her. (V.iii.Lines 119-120) After she wakes up, she sees Romeo’s corpse and kills herself. (V.iii.Lines 169-170) Friar Laurence’s plan was well thought out and it was the actions/decisions of the other characters that ruined his plan to reunite both Romeo and Juliet. Lord Capulet's decision to postpone Juliet’s marriage was thought out carefully and rationally. In Act 1, Paris asks Lord Capulet if he can marry Juliet. Lord Capulet says that Juliet is too young and he should wait 2 more years until she is ready to marry. (I.ii.Lines 5-11) By postponing the marriage, Lord Capulet gives Juliet time to grow up and mature. He is considering the fact that Juliet is still too young and might not be ready for the responsibilities that come with being a wife or even a mother. Delaying the marriage also shows that he isn’t hungry for power and status. He knows that by marrying both Paris and Juliet, he’ll gain both power and status since Paris is related to the Prince. He also tells Paris to make her fall in love with him,

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That she doth give her sorrow so much sway,/ And in his wisdom hastes our marriage,/To stop the inundation of her tears” (IV,i). On the contrary, the wedding is only making her situation worse and causing her to make irrational decisions. Because of Capulets continued hastiness, Juliet goes along with the Friar's incoherent plan. Without Lord Capulet’s wedding plans, the arrangement to avoid the wedding wouldn’t be be created.

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If Lord Capulet never moved up the wedding, there would have been more time for the new to travel to Romeo. He taught was for the better family. It is Lord Capulet's fault because he is too protective over Juliet. Juliet could have just stood up and told him straight forward how she want

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Romeo’s friend Benvolio hears of Juliet’s “death,” and goes to seek out Romeo to tell him about her death. This causes Romeo to see Juliet while she is in the death-like sleep, making him think she is dead. When he sees this, he takes a potion he bought before, and ends his life because life without Juliet would not be a life worth living. Juliet awakes to see Romeo dead, which in turn causes her to end

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Instead Romeo’s servant, Balthasar delivered the news of Juliet’s death to him first. Romeo was so saddened by the news that he went to the Apothecary to buy poison. Romeo went back to Verona and went to Capulet tomb where he saw Juliet’s lifeless body. “And thus with a kiss I die”(5.3.120) these were Romeo’s dying words as he drank the poison lying next to Juliet.

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Juliet did not want to rush into marriage this is why Lady Capulet could have been a factor in the suicides of these two.

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His plan was for Juliet to consent to marry Paris. Afterwards, she will drink a sleeping potion the night before her wedding that will make her appear dead. Friar Laurence gives a letter to Friar John to be delivered to Romeo. The letter was supposed to be delivered just in time to Romeo so he would have enough time to come to Verona and reunite with Juliet as she woke up. However, the wedding was rushed to occur a day earlier than planned.

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Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare is a tragic and dramatic play about the awful outcome of love between two immature teens. The families of the two lovers are rivals and have a tension between each other that would oppose the love between Romeo and Juliet. The outcome of Romeo and Juliet ultimately occurred because of the human faults of impulsiveness, irresponsibility, and selfishness. In Romeo and Juliet, the characters are regularly victims of their own impulsiveness.

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Throughout the great tragedy of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, many of the characters acted carelessly, without considering the consequences of their actions. Shakespeare used these characters to effectively emphasize the understanding of how important it is to act with caution and reasoning. The characters in the story often had not accurately analyzed decisions and issues that needed to be resolved, and would often make weak choices, ending in them meeting their fate, or greatly impacted the lives of their surrounding companions or family. Is it problematic to make resolutions without legitimate understanding of the hypothetical outcomes? Based on the words of William Shakespeare in Romeo and Juliet, he proves this point adequately.

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