As a tragedy, Romeo and Juliet demonstrate many decisions that eventually ruin the lives of characters in the play. These decisions show how loyalty, when prioritized over other values, can cause more harm than good. There are many examples in the play where characters commit acts that harm themselves or the people around them in order to show that they are loyal to their families. Initially loyalty to family may seem harmless, however, throughout the play we see that both families are willing to kill over their loyalties. By the end of the book, the
My first piece of evidence on how it hazes our decision making so that our actions are not in the best interest of the people around us is that on page 121 Mercutio is killed by Tybalt. He was killed by Tybalt but if Romeo had not gotten in the way then Mercutio would not have had a chance to stab him. Romeo had too much trust in his cousin that he did not think he would take advantage of Mercutio's position. Romeo did not look into the past and realized that the hate between the families would not simply disappear when he got in the way. From this we can learn that with loyalty comes trust that can be exploited and cause death. The death of Mercutio leads Romeo into a rage which ends with Tybalt's death.
…show more content…
This is shown on page 225 when Paris tries to fight Romeo over Juliet's honor. Initially Romeo shrugs him off essentially saying that he would not like to see an angry greaver. However Paris doesn't listen to Romeo's warnings and attempts to fight. Romeo wins but Paris tells him to lay his body in the tomb which Romeo does. I think that Paris knew that Romeo was a better fighter but because of his pride he cared not if he won or lost, he only cared about his loyalty. Through this we see that loyalty can lead us to pick fights we know we cannot