Impulsive Decisions Through Romeo and Juliet Love Play Written By William Shakespeare

Everyone at least once in their life had done an action without thinking of the consequences. There is no better example of this than the play Romeo and Juliet written by William Shakespeare. Impulsive decisions will have consequences and these consequences can lead to your and your loved one's demise. The first impulsive decision that will lead to Romeo and Juliet's demise is the rush to marry each other and not telling their parent they would do so. The second example is when Romeo fights and kills Tybalt.

The final example is when Romeo and Juliet kill each other. These examples will show that impulsive decisions will lead to great consequences.

By getting married too quickly, Romeo and Juliet both reveal their impulsive nature. They didn't even take the time to think about their decision and future consequences of their actions. They fall in love too quickly, causing their lives to be ruined by their future dreams where they want to be with each other.

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Romeo and Juliet are now forced to hide their love for each other and sneak around their families. 'Wisely and slowly, Friar Laurence tells Romeo they stumble that run' . Friar Lawrence warns Romeo not to rush but to take his time and think things through, which is not what he is doing. Romeo doesn’t take this advice and ends up doing the opposite of what Friar Laurence said. That one decision will be his most fatal and will cost his life and the love of his life, Juliet as well.

As they tried to hide their love and keep it secret, the initial impulsive act of marriage forced Romeo and Juliet into additional irrational behavior.

Impulsivity is also shown in the play when Romeo fights Tybalt because he kills his friend Mercutio, causing Tybalt to be killed and leading to his banishment. Romeo killed Tybalt by impulse, before thinking he acted instead, he was angered by the death of his friend Mercutio and decided to fight Tybalt. Romeo could have thought of the consequences of his actions and could have taken some time to think, rather than killing Tybalt out of rage. The impulsive behavior of Romeo leads to him to being banished from Verona, causing Juliet to act irrationally as well. This quote from Romeo and Juliet 'Now take back the villain' explains the anger of Romeo against Tybalt. This is an example of external conflict because Romeo and Tybalt were in conflict by fighting each other to death. Then there is another external conflict between Romeo and Juliet. When Juliet learns about Romeo's banishment she can’t think properly and thinks about the bad, which also results in her acting impulsively quickly.

When Romeo gets the news of Juliet's death, he automatically believes his friend Balthazar's news immediately when he says, “Her body sleeps in the Capel’s monument, and her immortal part with angels’ lives. I saw her laid low in her kindred’s vault, and presently took post to tell it you”. Acting impulsively once again, Romeo then decides to buy a bottle of poison. He then goes to the Capulet tomb where he is met by Paris and decides to fight him because he is angered about the death of the love of his life Juliet. This is another impulsive decision by Romeo and he ends up killing Juliet. Than Romeo drinks the poison and dies right before Juliet wakes up, the most serious impulsive act and consequence is shown. When the apothecary was asked by Romeo to give him the poison, he was clearly desperate and did not think through his actions. Romeo believes his friend Balthazar's news immediately when he says, “Her body sleeps in the Capel’s monument, and her immortal part with angels’ lives. I saw her laid low in her kindred’s vault, and presently took post to tell it you”. Because Romeo did not receive a letter personally, he assumes that the news is true. He would have lived to know that Juliet was alive and well if he didn't drink the poison impulsively. He would also have received Friar Laurence's second letter. This scene shows dramatic irony because the audience knows that when Romeo takes the poison and dies, Juliet is about to wake up. When Juliet wakes up she is also impulsive seeing her love Romeo lie dead on the floor she decides to kill herself with a dagger.

Juliet, like Romeo, makes a lot of important decisions throughout the play, many of which are based on emotional impulsiveness, leading to the tragic ending of the play. Her impulsiveness is shown when she agrees to marry Romeo, someone she has only met Romeo that day: “If that thy bent of love be honourable, / Thy purpose marriage, send me word tomorrow” . Juliet tells Romeo that if he truly loves her, they should get married the next day, and that she will follow him anywhere. She will give up her entire life just to stay with a man she just met. She bases her decision on her love for Romeo she thinks is reciprocated so strongly that they should get married, regardless of the fact she barely knows anything about Romeo. Additionally, when Capulet decides to marry Juliet to Paris, she again shows her impulsiveness by threatening to kill herself unless Friar Lawrence helps her evade the marriage “Give me some present counsel, or, behold, ‘Twixt my extremes and me this bloody knife. Shall play the umpire, arbitrating that. Which the commission of thy years and art. Could to no issue of true honor bring. Be so long not to speak; I long to die. If what thou speak’st speak not of remedy” . This quotation takes place when Juliet goes to the church to visit Friar Lawrence to see if he can help her avoid this marriage. She threatens to kill herself with the knife, as she ‘longs to die’. Juliet is feeling agitated, confused, and is starting to become slightly angry because she cannot marry Paris as she is already married to Romeo.But, if she tells her parents she cannot get married to Paris because she is married to Romeo, she would have to explain how and when they got married and who helped them. All of these thoughts are most likely going through her brain, making her more agitated. This explains the impulsive decision she makes when she fakes her death, which ultimately leads to the tragic ending of Romeo and Juliet.

Finally, Friar Lawrence makes a lot of impulsive decisions throughout Romeo and Juliet, many of which are based on his hope of ending the fight between the two families and his fear of being disgraced for helping Romeo and Juliet. His impulsiveness puts the play in motion, as he agrees to conduct the marriage ceremony between them, which can be seen when he says “In one aspect I’ll thy assistant be; / For this alliance may so happy prove, / To turn your households’ rancour to pure love” . The Friar hopes that the marriage might end their families fight. But, he is so blinded by his hope that he does not realize that rather than ending their fight, it would only make the two families more angry. In this, he makes a important decision that effects the end of the play, as the marriage will ultimately lead to the deaths of the two lovers. The Friar also makes an impulsive decision when Juliet comes to him for help to escape her marriage to Paris. He conceives a impulsive plan on the spot in which he tells her to drink a potion that will make her seem dead the next night. He continues by telling her “Thou shalt be borne to that same ancient vault. Where all the kindred of the Capulets lie. In the meantime, against thou shalt wake, Shall Romeo by my letters know our drift, And hither shall he come; and he and I will watch thy waking and that very night shall Romeo bear thee hence to Mantua”.

This other part of the Friar’s plan details that once Juliet wakes in the Capulet vault, Romeo will be waiting to take her away. This shows his impulsiveness, rather than confessing to the authorities, he wants to make Romeo and Juliet’s relationship succeed. Another factor that is clouding his judgment is his fear of being ridiculed for trying to help two teenagers from feuding families be together. This is shown when Juliet wakes up in her tomb and realizes that Romeo is dead the Friar tells her to quickly come with him as he hears the watchman, and details how he will place Juliet in a convent where no one will question her. He fears discovery as his reputation may be ruined if it was discovered that Juliet is still alive and that he, a Friar who should have known better, helped a thirteen year old fake her own death. The moment the Friar makes his first impulsive decision of agreeing to help Romeo and Juliet get married, he dooms both of them.

All of these examples show that impulsive decision making has negative consequences. In the case of Romeo and Juliet, the impulsive behavior lead to there deaths. Rushing into marriage, killing Tybalt leading to Romeo's banishment and Romeo killing himself after he hears the news about Juliet's death then Juliet does the same lead to there death. If they had taken theretime and thought of the consequences beforehand they wouldn’t be dead now. But as shown the play Romeo and Juliet shows the great consequences of impulsive decision.