Thoughtlessness In Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet

Dictionary.com defines a thoughtless person as one who is devoid of or lacking capacity for thought. Thoughtlessness as a character trait is depicted very well in the play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare in the character Romeo Montague. In this famous play, Romeo’s thoughtless and immature characteristics such as his inability to listen to adult’s advice, his impulsive manner and his simplistic feelings of love clearly cause the tragedy to occur.

One way that Romeo’s thoughtlessness and immaturity caused the tragedy to occur is through his simplistic feelings of love. Moments before Romeo sees Juliet he is moping about how his love, Rosaline is unable to return his feelings, but as soon as he lays eyes on Juliet everything changes for

In addition, when Romeo asks the nurse who Juliet is and it is revealed she is a Capulet, Romeo’s family’s enemy, he acts as if his life is over despite having just met her. When the nurse informs Romeo that Juliet’s mother is Lady Capulet, Romeo says to himself, “Is she a Capulet? O dear account! My life is my foe’s debt.” (1.5). Romeo acts as if his life is over when he finds out that he will never be allowed to be with Juliet, despite the fact that he doesn’t know her and was only in her presence for a few minutes, thus proving his shallowness. (need one more quotation) Furthermore, another immature quality Romeo possesses that makes him a cause of the tragedy is his inability to listen to adult’s advice. When Friar Lawrence tells Romeo that he is rushing into love with Juliet, and advises him that he should wait a little while before he and Juliet marry, Romeo fails to listen to the Friar’s advice. Friar Lawrence warns Romeo, “Wisely and slow. They stumble that run fast.” (2.3). Despite these wise words, Romeo still decides to marry Juliet later that day. He tells Juliet’s nurse the plans, saying,

Bid her

He chooses to marry Juliet only hours after he first lay eyes on her, and this rush into marriage is a reason Romeo and Juliet die at the end of the play. If they were not married, they would not have been so attached, and may not have killed themselves when they saw that the other was dead. In addition, Prince Escalus informs the feuding Capulets and Montagues that they will be punished for fighting each other, but Romeo ends up ignoring this rule and fights Tybalt. When Romeo interferes with Tybalt and Mercutio’s fight, getting Mercutio killed, he is filled with rage at Tybalt. Despite knowing that he will be punished for fighting and harming Tybalt, when Tybalt tells Romeo he is going to die, Romeo responds saying, “This shall determine that.” He then fights Tybalt and kills him. Romeo chooses to ignore Prince Escalus’ rule that the Capulet and Montague families shall not fight, and is in turn banished from Verona. This makes everything between Juliet and himself difficult as he is so far away. If Romeo had not been banished, he and Juliet may have had a better chance at being happy together and the tragedy may not have occured. Finally, Romeo also displays his inability to listen to adults when Peter, a servingman of the Capulets talks to Romeo about a party the Capulets are holding. Peter tells Romeo that, “My master is the great and rich Capulet, and if you