Tiffany McIvor

Mrs. Stewart
ENG ID
Dec. 18, 2015

Romeo & Juliet: The Consequences of Impulsive Actions

In life, a persons impulsive attitude may cause extreme consequences to that said person.
In William Shakespeares play, Romeo and Juliet, he focuses on the short, yet intense, journey of
two young lovers whose families rivalry causes the ends of their lives. The journey takes place
over a course of approximately four days in 1300 Verona, Italy. The characters Juliet Capulet and
Romeo Montague fall hopelessly in love with one another. Juliet's parents, Lord Capulet and
Lady Capulet, want nothing to do with Romeos parents, Lord Montague and Lady Montague.
There is no apparent reasoning for this bitter feud, but it has been long lasting. This causes
Romeo and Juliet to have their relationship in secrecy, and eventually, end their own lives for
each other. Romeos friends Mercutio and Benvolio take this journey along with him, while
Juliets Nurse takes the journey along with her. Other characters in the play are Paris, the man
whom Lord Capulet wants his daughter Juliet to marry; Prince Escalus, the prince of Verona;
Tybalt, Juliets violent enjoying cousin; Friar Laurence, the town priest; and many others.
Through the characters of Mercutio, Romeo Montague, and Juliet Capulet, William Shakespeare
demonstrates that ones impulsive behaviour causes suffering to ones self.

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Mercutio causes himself suffering by acting impulsively when he fights Tybalt instead of
Romeo. Tybalt challenges Romeo to to a duel because he knows that he crashed the Capulets
party the previous night. Romeo will not fight Tybalt considering he is Juliets cousin, so
Mercutio volunteers to fight Tybalt instead. During the fight, Mercutio receives a serious wound
which causes his death. Before the fight Benvolio asks of Mercutio: I pray thee, good Mercutio,
lets retire: / The day is hot, the Capels are abroad, / And, if we meet, we shall not scape a brawl,
/ For now, these hot days, is the mad blood stirring(III.i.1-4). This proves that Mercutio is
impulsive because Benvolio knows that if they encounter the Capulets, Mercutio will fight them
because it is his instinct, as result of the family feud. His impulsive behaviour is what would
motivate him to make the poor decision of fighting, and the high temperature of the day is just
adding on to the motivation. He ends up fighting Tybalt, who unfortunately is an excellent
fencer. During the fight Romeo steps in and tries to break it up, but he only makes it worse.
When Romeo steps in, Mercutio cannot defend himself against Tybalt because he does not want
to hurt Romeo, so Tybalt ends up stabbing Mercutio from underneath Romeos arm, because
Tybalt does not care if Romeo gets hurt or not. This is how Mercutio gets his wound. After the
fight, when Mercutio is dead from his fatal injury, Benvolio says to Romeo: O Romeo, Romeo!
Brave Mercutio is dead! / That gallant spirit hath aspird the clouds, / Which too untimely here
did scorn the earth (III.i.116-118). This shows that Mercutios impulsive behavior causes
himself to suffer because since Mercutios impulse motivates him to duel against Tybalt rather
than Romeo, he ends up getting fatally injured. If he was not as impulsive, he would not have
fought Tybalt and would not have caused his own death. Mercutios impulsive behavior causes

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the end of his life, but Romeos impulsive behavior causes the end of his life in his home,
Verona.
Romeo causes himself to suffer by being impulsive when he gets banished from Verona
after fighting Tybalt. After Romeo finds out that his good friend, Mercutio, was killed during his
duel with Tybalt, Romeo seeks vengeance by slaying Tybalt. After the most recent fight between
the opposing families, Prince Escalus declares that the next fight will end in prosecution.
Romeos father, Lord Montague, points out to the Prince that Romeo only did what the law was
going to do to Tybalt anyways, since Tybalt had started a fight with the Montagues. In result, the
prince only banishes Romeo from Verona, rather than executing him. Before Romeo duels
Tybalt, he says to him: Alive in triumph, and Mercutio slain! / Away to heaven, respective
lenity (III.i.122-123). This proves that Romeo is impulsive because before thinking about the
consequences of him fighting Tybalt, he automatically determines that he needs to kill Tybalt,
and duels him straight away. If he had thought about his actions first, he would not have been
punished. The fight started very quickly, and ended very quickly as well. After the fight the
Prince of Verona says: And for that offence / Immediately we do exile him hence . . . / Else,
when hes found, that hour is his last (III.i.186-195). This shows that Romeos impulsive
behavior causes himself to suffer because, in consequence to his impulsive action to duel Tybalt,
he is banished from Verona. This causes him to suffer because he can no longer be with his
friends, family, but most importantly, his true love Juliet. In Romeo and Juliet, Romeo states that
he would rather be executed than be forced apart from Juliet. Although Romeo is suffering

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because he is banished from Verona, Juliet is suffering because her impulse ended her life, like
Mercutios did.
Juliets impulsive behavior causes herself suffering when she kills herself after the
realization that her true love, Romeo, is dead. In the Capulet monument, when Juliet wakes up,
she finds Romeo has poisoned himself and is dead, because he thought that she had died. The
evening before, Juliet's father declares that Juliet will marry Paris the following morning, so
Friar Laurence gives Juliet a poison that makes her fall into a death like sleep for forty-two
hours. They do this so her parents will think she has died and will put her in the Capulet Tomb.
Romeo is never informed that Juliet is only sleeping, so he poisons himself to be with her. When
she wakes up and finds her true love dead, she uses Romeos dagger and stabs herself in the
chest so she can be with him. Before she kills herself she says to herself: I will kiss thy lips; /
Haply, some poison yet doth hang on them, / To make me die with a restorative (V.iii.164-166).
This shows that Juliet is impulsive because the intensity of her love for Romeo causes her to act
before thinking. In result she kills herself so she can be with him. After the town finds out about
the death of Juliet, Friar Lawrence tells them: And she, too desperate, would not go with me, /
But, as it seems, did violence on herself(V.iii.162-163). This proves that Juliet causes her own
suffering by acting impulsively because she impulsively kills herself after seeing her love dead,
instead of thinking about how she is young and has a full life ahead of her. Her impulsive attitude
ended her life, with the motivation of her love for Romeo Montague.
In conclusion, William Shakespeare establishes that ones impulsive actions causes
torment to ones self through the characters of Mercutio, Juliet Capulet, and Romeo Montague.

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Mercutio causes himself harm by acting impulsively when he duels against Tybalt, filling in for
Romeo, and ends up receiving a fatal wound. Romeo causes himself to suffer by acting
impulsively when he kills Tybalt after Tybalt kills Mercutio, because Romeo refused to fight
Tybalt. Juliet causes herself to suffer by acting impulsively when she stabs herself in the chest
after she realizes that Romeo has poisoned himself to be with her, because he believed she had
died. William Shakespeares play, Romeo and Juliet, teaches society that one needs to think
about ones actions before one does them, and if one doesnt, there could be extreme
consequences.

Works Cited
Shakespeare, William. Romeo and Juliet. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1982.