Romeo and Juliet Large Quiz- Essay

Our class has just finished reading “Romeo and Juliet,” so Mrs. G decided to give us a large quiz on what we have learned about the play. Part of our quiz was to pick a question and write a longer essay about it for homework over. I chose to write about how the tragic ending of “Romeo and Juliet” was caused by avoidable circumstances and personalities.
The most prevalent circumstances that resulted in the death of the majority of the characters were the feud between the Montagues and the Capulets. This is clearly shown by the fact that throughout the play, none of the characters actually mention why the two families hate each other so much. Instead, they only blame the association with each family for the reason they hate each other, such as when Juliet asks Romeo to “deny thy father and refuse thy name,” instead of going into the reason that the families have this deep hatred or that he should reject something more specific than his father or family name. The feud also drives most of the plot in a way that is unnecessary if there was not a feud, as Romeo and Juliet would not have needed to sneak around and most of the situations in the play. The feud supports the idea that circumstances helped caused the deaths in “Romeo and Juliet.”
One of the main characteristics that caused the tragic ending to “Romeo and Juliet” was the way that many of the characters involved were highly impulsive.  This causes many of the problems for several different reasons.  The rash decisions made by Romeo in particular causes many problems.  He decides to kill Tybalt to revenge Mercutio’s death, without thinking about the consequences of his actions.  Friar Lawrence is also highly impulsive that causes problems for many of the characters when he agrees to marry Romeo and Juliet because he accepts Romeo’s explanation of “When and where and how We met, we wooed, and made exchange of vow, I’ll tell thee as we pass, but this I pray, That thou consent to marry us today.” (Act 2, Scene 3)
Many of the entire situations were avoidable as the events that occurred were a direct result of the feud and the character’s impulsive behaviors.  Without the feud, there would be no reasons for half of the events to carry on.  The reason that most of the actions in the play occurred was because they stemmed from the romance being kept in secret from most of their family members.  This causes problems for not only Romeo and Juliet themselves and their families, but also for the entire community as a whole.  This is shown by the impact it has on the Prince.  If the romance between Romeo and Juliet had not happened, the entire community would have been a safer place.  There would have been no need for them to hide their affections from the parents which caused them to do things that upset them regarding the actions of their families.
These ideas around the tragic events throughout the play stem from the characters and the circumstances that can be applied to more than just “Romeo and Juliet.”  It is a common idea that is posed in many books, movies, and television shows. It is a question that all poeple can think about when they are exposed to a fictional or even real world.

Google.com