Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is a timeless love story about two teenagers who fall in love, get married, and eventually kill themselves. Throughout history, mental health has not been as acknowledged as it is today, though the signs were still there. Throughout Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, both Romeo and Juliet exhibit warning signs of their mental health that will eventually lead to their mutual demise.
Romeo exhibits a warning sign about wanting to kill himself which could lead to their mutual demise. Romeo has just recently killed Tybalt in retaliation for Tybalt killing Mercutio. The Prince then banishes Romeo from Verona. In Romeo and Juliet, Romeo states “As if that name,/ shot from the deadly level of a gun,/ Did Murder her; as that name’s cursed hand/ Murdered her kinsman. O tell me, friar, tell me,/ In what vile part of this anatomy/ Doth my name lodge? Tell me, that I may sack/ The hateful mansion.” (3.3.102-08) According to the National Institute of Mental Health, an important risk factor for suicide is taking about killing yourself and even attempting suicide. As we see in the quote and the National Institute of Mental Health, Romeo was indeed hinting about
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She also describes being better off dead than being married to Paris. Juliet has recently lost a loved one, Tybalt, and her terrific mother thinks that making her marry someone is a good idea. Juliet describes her feelings towards marrying Paris by saying “Therefore, out of thy long-experienced time,/ Give me some present counsel; or behold/ ‘Twixt my extremes and me this bloody knife.(4.1.60-62). This shows that she does not wish to be married to Paris and would rather die. According to Hola, feeling trapped is an important factor that contributes to suicidal tendencies. The side effects of these thoughts eventually lead to the demise of Romeo and