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Dylan Archer

Ms. Woelke

Pre-AP English 9A

10 December 2018

The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet

In William Shakespeare's ​The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet​, which takes place around the

thirteen hundreds in Verona, Italy, two young adults marry in secret while their households are in

conflict with each other. However, Romeo and Friar Lawrence, the man that married the two,

changed and affected the lives of their own characters, other characters, and future events in a

negative way. They do this by making rash unreasonable decisions, causing unnecessary grief,

plotting a secret wedding and faking a death.

Romeo and Friar Lawrence affect their own lives by making quick and irrational

decisions when Romeo murders Tybalt and Friar Lawrence foolishly puts blood on his own

hands. Very shortly after witnessing Mercutio fall to Tybalt’s blade, Romeo seeks out Tybalt and

states that “either thou or I, or both, must go with him,” and in response, Tybalt states that

Romeo “shalt with him hence” They then fight and Romeo slays Tybalt his cousin

in-law,(Shakespeare 3.3.134-137). The “him” that is repeatedly mentioned refers to Mercutio

and they say things like “must go with him” meaning to the grave as he is dead. Furthermore,

Romeo acting on his rage and vanquishing Tybalt directly led to him getting banished which will

permanently keep him from his family and more importantly, his new wife. A short while later,

Juliet’s father made an arrangement to wed her to nobel Paris and in response, she would

threaten the Friar in stating “give me some present counsel” or she is going to kill herself so, the
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Friar will answer by giving her a potion, all the while stating that drinking this “distilling liquor”

will make her seem dead for forty-two hours,(Shakespeare 4.1.67-96). In agreeing to give Juliet

the potion and allowing her to fake her own death, he forced upon himself partial responsibility

for whatever she chooses to do with this potion and because of these unreasonable actions, he

ends up painting blood on his own hands. To summarize, Romeo’s hotheaded actions cost him a

happy being with the love of his life and a caring family while on the other hand, the Friar aids

Juliet in faking her own death, permanently burdens his conscience.

These two men also had a largely negative effect on their friend’s and family’s lives

through the unnecessary grief caused by them. Towards the end of this tragedy, Romeo goes to

Juliet’s tomb to end his own life where he runs into Paris who is there for the same reason and

Paris tried to “apprehend thee for a felon” as he believes that Romeo has come to defile Juliet’s

tomb, soon after, Paris states “oh I am slain” as he had just been defeated by Romeo in a

duel,(Shakespeare 5.3.69-72). In this situation Romeo affected another's life by murdering him in

cold blood, this heinous act could have been avoided by simply explaining the marriage. At this

point, Romeo has murdered two young men due to his temper and reckless actions leaving a

gaping hole in the lives of all their loved ones. Moreover, the Friar allowing Juliet to fake her

own death causes unfathomable grief for the young woman’s family to the extent of causing her

nurse to cry out “O woe, O woeful, woeful, woeful day!” while also compelling her mother to

describe the day as “accursed, unhappy, wretched, hateful day!”(Shakespeare 4.5.49-55). Very

few people can understand the unadulterated pain and grief that comes from losing a child, even

more so on a major day in their life such as on a wedding. Yet again, the Friar could have just
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explained the situation and all of this been avoided by the simple action. To explain, the young

Romeo and “wise” Friar Lawrence caused unbelievable tournament for those in their lives.

Lastly, these two troublesome miscreants also had a harmful effect on future events by

taking young lives from the world when they faked the gullible Juliet’s death and plotting a

secret wedding. After first meeting Juliet, Romeo travels to the Friar’s cell and asks that “thou

must combine by holy marriage” himself and the beautiful Juliet in response the friar states that a

man’s love “lies in their eyes” and “not truly in their hearts” and even still the holy man that he

will be ‘thy assistant” and marry the two,(Shakespeare 2.3.62-98). Agreeing to perform this

secret wedding, against his better judgment, partially causes the deaths of Romeo, Juliet, and by

extension, Paris. All of these people could have had a positive effect upon their city but, instead

just caused pain and heartache. To add on, in the final moments of Romeo’s life, he commits

suicide with poison mere moments before Juliet awakens and as she sees Romeo’s dead body,

she takes a dagger and states “there, rust and let me die” after stabbing herself,(Shakespeare

5.3.175). Romeo’s haste to take his own life causes Juliet to be struck with grief and take her

own life stealing the young beauty from the world. This sad death was too early for all and could

have yet again been easily avoided.Overall, Romeo and the Friar steal several incredible lives

from the world.

Finally, Romeo and the Friar negatively affect future events, their own lives, and the lives

of those around them. In conclusion, these negative effects are clearly visible in Shakespeare’s

text through the rash decisions, unnecessary grief and secrecy that was shown by Romeo and

Friar Lawrence.