Inconstant Passion with Consequences Essay

Friar Lawrence is accustomed to having Romeo constantly pining for Rosaline and facing despair because of his love for her. Yet, after just one night he forgets all about Rosaline and wishes to marry Juliet; Friar Lawrence’s skepticism is well placed, as Romeo’s impulsive actions betrays his recklessness. After Romeo marries Juliet and consummates their marriage, Tybalt confronts Romeo and slays his best friend Mercutio. Romeo, consumed with revenge, kills Tybalt; only after killing Tybalt does he exclaim to himself, “O, I am Fortune’s fool” (3.1.142). As the result of rash murder, Romeo finds himself in mortal danger because of the Prince’s warning that if Romeo spilt blood, then his life would be the price. He does not take into consideration the consequences of fighting and killing Tybalt before acts; this leads to his banishment from Verona and in turn separation from his love, Juliet. Romeo’s rash actions, that could have easily been avoided, eventually lead him into both difficult and disastrous situations.

Romeo and Juliet both committed suicide with the news that their loved one was dead. Act 3 scene 1 has continuous decisions made with the heart instead of the mind. Tybalt decided to dare Romeo for a duel with so much anger built up in his heart against the Montagues. Mercutio is filled with so much hatred towards the Capulets in his heart that he decides to take Romeo’s place when Romeo declines Tybalt’s duel. Romeo goes to say, “Tybalt, the reason that I have to love thee doth much excuse the appertaining rage to such a greeting. Villain am I none. Therefore farewell. I see thou knowst me not.”(3.1.65-68). Romeo loves Tybalt due to the fact that he is now family and his heart turns down the duel. When mercutio is slain by the hands of Tybalt, Romeo is engulfed with rage. “ Now, Tybalt, take the “villain” back again that late thou gavest me, for mercutio’s soul is but a little way above our heads, staying for thine to keep him company. Either thou or I, or both, must go with him.”(3.1.132-136).With Romeo’s heart drowned in sadness and anger over mercutio, romeo doesn’t use his brain and he kills Tybalt. Overall all of the decisions made with the heart is what lead the the untimely death of the two star crossed lovers, Romeo and Juliet.

On the contrary, fate also shreds Romeo and Juliet’s love with death and melancholy. The two have just been married, and they are at the apex of their love. Before they could even have a proper honeymoon, Tybalt comes with bad intentions. He feels that Romeo has insulted the Capulets by coming to their party. Tybalt ends up killing Mercutio, one of Romeo’s dearest friends, in a fit of rage. Romeo is thirsty for revenge and cannot sit back after his friend has just been killed so he hunts down Tybalt and murders him without thinking of the consequences. He instantly realizes the major flaw in what he has just done when he cries, “O I am fortune’s fool!” (125) Tybalt’s violent nature, which eventually causes his death, is simply a part of fate taking its course. Another instance where fate contributes to ending Romeo’s love with Juliet is when Romeo screams, “Then I deny you stars!” (213) He believes that Juliet is dead and wants to reject his fate by killing himself to be with her in death, but she is not dead. It is incredibly tragic for Juliet when she wakes up from her long sleep to

Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet – popularly considered by many to be the quintessential love story of all time – is a play that we are all familiar with in one way or another. Whether it be through the plethora of portrayals, adaptations and performances that exist or through your own reading of the play, chances are you have been acquainted with this tale of “tragic love” at some point in your life. Through this universal familiarity an odd occurrence can be noted, one of almost canonical reverence for the themes commonly believed to be central to the plot. The most widely believed theme of Romeo and Juliet is that of the ideal love unable to exist under the harsh social and political strains of this world. Out of this idea emerge two

Moments before, Romeo thinks that he could never harm Tybalt, as he has married Juliet, Tybalt now his kin. Romeo states that he “love[s] [Tybalt] better than [Tybalt] canst devise” (3.1.70). But by the death of his dear friend, instead of his love for Tybalt, his heart now despises him. His anger is shown when “for Mercutio’s soul is but a little way above [their] heads,” as his hate is born towards Tybalt, whom he had just moments before loved, stating that “[his] name [he] tender as dearly” as his own (3.1.72-73,131-132). His hate turns murderous as he tells Tybalt that Mercutio is “staying for thine to keep him company” (3.1.133). As Romeo states that “thou or I, or both, must go with him” (3.1.134), the duel breaks out, leaving Tybalt slain, his kinsmen now his foe. The hate and revenge that Romeo felt caused love to turn to zeal for Tybalt's blood. His belief that he must not hurt his kinsmen but love him, the reminder that fights were not allowed by the prince, ended with the spilled blood of Mercutio. The death of his friend turned love to hate, the hate that killed

Love caused Romeo and Juliet to take many risks. Romeo speaks to Juliet at the balcony while she is in the middle of private thought. (II.ii) It was a great risk for Romeo and Juliet to talk to each other from the balcony because one of the Capulets could catch Romeo. However, they desperately wanted to see each other and talked anyway. In Act 3 Scene 1, in response to Tybalt’s threat to fight, Romeo says “Gentle Mercutio, put thy rapier up.” (III.i.50) Instead of fighting Tybalt or fleeing from him, Romeo tries to take the pacifist approach and tell Tybalt to put his sword away and stop fighting. Because of his experience with Juliet, Romeo

Although love is typically a positive emotion or concept, it is most often truly a more negative notion, due to its consequences. Love is known to bring people together in the beginning, but also tends to customarily pull or even break people apart by causing chaos and rivalry. The loss of love could even cause insecurities to surface. In Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, one of the lovers, Helena, is scorched by love’s misfortunes when it comes between her and her ex-lover, Demetrius.The misfortunes of love force Helena into becoming an insecure woman who allows her emotions to cloud her judgement.

Romeo’s hate towards Tybalt for killing Mercutio leads him to make irrational decisions. He is so blinded by hate, that he kills Tybalt. Up until Mercutio’s murder, Romeo loves Tybalt for his relation to Juliet. This can be seen when Romeo says “ but love thee better than thou canst devise till thou shalt know the reason of my love;”(3.1.65-66). The murder of Tybalt prompts Prince Escalus to sentence Romeo with banishment to Mantua where he learns of the so-called “death” of his Juliet. This news urges Romeo to visit the nearest chemist to ask for a vial of poison that will “disperse itself through all the veins”(5.1.65). The hasty decision to use this poison as a means of death stems from the unknown hate between the two families as well as the death of Mercutio and Juliet. Juliet had no other option than to turn to the sleeping poison, for fear that if she didn’t take the potion, she would have to marry Count Paris. Lord Capulet threatened to disown Juliet if she refused to marry Count Paris, as her parents had wished. Romeo and Juliet’s hate for the feud between their families is what prompts them to end their

His impulsive behavior is displayed when he seeks vengeance that built after his friend was killed by his new cousin, Tybalt. In the story Romeo states, “Either thou or I, or both, must go with him”(3.1.191). In this statement to Tybalt, Romeo is implying that he intends to ensure that Tybalt is slain even if it means that he himself must perish. He succeeds in defeating Tybalt in a one on one confrontation. Once Tybalt is dead, the young lover is banished, and a domino effect ensues on the rest of the characters. His banishment leads to the end of both Juliet and his mother’s life as a result of being separated from his mother and a plot concocted between Juliet and the Friar. In addition, Romeo hastefully goes from loving one beauty to loving another. Despite the two being complete strangers they both wish to marry each other. When he informs Friar Lawrence of his change in heart the Friar states, “These violent delights have violent ends”(2.6.9). Friar Lawrence's says this to warn Romeo of the consequences of his wish to conduct the marriage so quickly. To prevent a cease in the relationship due to no real bond between the two ‘lovers’, the Friar tries to use language to prevent him from being rushed into love. This impulsive behavior Romeo indulged caused things to escalate quickly leading to the demise of himself and Juliet’s star-crossed love for each

Romeo’s love for Juliet caused the deaths of Tybalt and Mercutio. If Romeo had not fallen in love with Juliet, her cousin, Tybalt, would not have been angry at Romeo and wanted to kill him. Tybalt would not have killed Mercutio and Romeo would not have had to kill Tybalt in return. Romeo cannot fight Tybalt because his wife, Juliet, is a Capulet, “...But love thee better than thou canst devise Till thou shalt know the reason of my love and so, good Capulet, which name I tender as dearly as my own, be satisfied” (Shakespeare 3.1.66-69). This quote proves Romeo’s love for Juliet is so strong he resisted fighting Tybalt because he now loves the Capulet name, which caused Mercutio’s death as well.

Secondly Tybalt sends a decree for a fight and he kills Mercutio. This is shown by “I will not budge for no man’s pleasure, I”. This reveals that Mercutio wants to have a fight with Tybalt. Tybalt wants to have a fight with Romeo the most but Mercutio gets in the way. Mercutio feels that he must stand by the Montague’s. He feels he needs to be a true Montague and fight. Romeo retaliates and kills Tybalt in anger and revenge for his friend. This is apparent in the line “Either thou or I, or both, must go with him. This conveys that Romeo felt he had to get revenge for Mercutio but he really didn’t mean to kill Tybalt and couldn’t believe that he’d actually done it.

Mercutio, similar to Tybalt is a fiery combatant, onry, and quick to fight. However, Romeo’s own actions to stop the duel between Mercutio and Tybalt would result in Mercutio motivating Romeo’s rage. Without Mercutio’s desire to battle Tybalt, Romeo never would have discovered his vengeful side. On page 868 of Prentice Hall’s Literature, Volume Two, lines 107-113, Romeo realizes his actions, “This gentleman, the Prince’s near ally, My very friend, hath got his mortal hurt In my behalf-my reputation stained With Tybalt’s slander-Tybalt, that an hour Hath been my cousin. O sweet Juliet, Thy beauty hath made me effeminate And in my temper soft’ned valor’s steel!” This shows the boiling anger building within Romeo, ultimately brought on by himself and

As a friend of Romeo’s, Mercutio supports the Montague’s in the ancient feud. An example of Mercutio defending the Montague’s is when Tybalt, a member of the loathed Capulet family, abuses Romeo and Mercutio intervenes on Romeo’s behalf. Attempting to restore peace, Romeo gets between the two combatants and Mercutio “hath got his mortal hurt” (Page 149; Act 3, Scene 1) on Romeo’s account. In spite of his “life shall pay the forfeit of peace” (page 17; Act 1, Scene 1), Romeo seeks revenge on Tybalt as he loves his murdered friend. As Romeo kills Tybalt out of love for Mercutio, Shakespeare suggests that love conquered the thought of being penalized with death.

Once love is found, any obstacle presented will neither diminish nor terminate that love, even when tragedy strikes with the loss of a loved one. Tybalt, the cousin of Juliet is one of the Capulet’s that despises the Montague’s and he will do anything in his power to kill them all, and once he confronted Romeo, he met his fate and died by Romeo’s sword. The Prince arrived to the scene and said “Romeo slew him, he slew Mercutio” (III.i.181), him referring to Tybalt, and once realized, he banished Romeo out of the city. Once Juliet discovered the truth about Tybalt’s death and Romeo’s banishment she said in grief “Romeo is banished- to speak that word is father, mother, Tybalt, Romeo, Juliet, all slain, all dead- Romeo is banished” (III.ii.122-124). Her heartache for Romeo’s banishment more than her cousin Tybalt’s death shows that he is her life, her world, and her breath, and without him she would be nothing and life as she knows is would end, even through tragedy and anguish.

At first, Friar Lawrence questioned how Romeo could fall in love with a different person right after he was rejected from Rosaline, telling Romeo that men must fall in love through their eyes. Even though he frustrated Romeo, Friar Lawrence agreed to marry Romeo and Juliet together to bring peace between the Capulets and Montagues. For a short moment, Romeo was against almost every statement coming from Friar Lawrence, a wise and holy man. Even though Friar Lawrence had a point, Romeo, acting irrational, deflects the friar’s words and counters them with untrue statements. “‘Thou chid’st me oft for loving Rosaline.’ ‘For doting, not for loving, pupil mine.’” (Shakespeare, Line 81-82). This shows how inexperienced, irrational, and weak Romeo is when it comes to love. His only experienced coming from loving Rosaline who put him in a depressed state after rejecting him. This weakness shows yet again when Romeo was unable to save Mercutio and blames his love for Juliet to be the