Romeo and Juliet, the Greatest Love Story

What kind of person leads himself to his own suicide? In William Shakespeare's tragic comedy, Romeo and Juliet, Romeo Montague is Juliet Capulet's young lover who, ironically, leads them both to their own suicides while trying to save their love. In the play, Romeo and Juliet are the children from Verona's most famous feuding households, whom fall into a forbidden love. Through out the play the two lovers try to make their secret marriage work. But they constantly find themselves facing obstacles such as Romeo's banishment, Juliet's other marriage arrangements, and the Friar Laurence's complicated schemes. Eventually Romeo ends up killing himself believing that a posing Juliet is really dead, only for Juliet to awaken and kill herself after finding a dead Romeo. Rome leads themselves to their own suicides through his nearsightedness by proposing too soon, rashness by killing his wife's cousin, and foolishness by senselessly killing himself.

Romeo proves himself to be nearsighted as he decides that he wants to marry Juliet the very night they meet. After he meets Juliet, unknowing of her surname at the time, at the Capulet's party, he decides to woo her later that night and convince her to marry him the next day. As Juliet tries to leave he insist he wants "Th' exchange of thy love's faithful vow for mine" (2.2.127) Despite all reason and the fact that he'd met her only hours before, he proposes to her that night. He never stopped to think or consider the consequences that might come with marrying Juliet. He acted on impulse of what he wanted at that moment and not how it might affect their futures. And what makes him even more nearsighted is that he completely blinded to the obvious facts that their families hate each other, and he doesn't know how they'll react to their actions. Some might even consider him to be rash.

Though his nearsighted actions seem unintelligent so is being rash and nothing could show to be rasher then when Romeo kills Juliet's cousin, Tybalt, directly after he marries her. It's the day after the Capulet's party and Romeo has just married Juliet in the Friar's cell. Once they part ways, Romeo walks into Verona and where Tybalt and his friend Mercutio begin to fight, and Tybalt kills Mercutio. Romeo instantly pursues Tybalt and says that Mercutio is "Staying for thine to keep him company./ Either thou, or I, or both, must go with him." (2.2.127-128) Romeo has literally just walked out of his marriage ceremony and turns to fight Tybalt to the death, to avenge his friend. In this scene, Romeo is stupidly caught up in his emotions that cause him to immediately challenge Tybalt. It's almost as though he'd forgotten he'd married his cousin moments before hand. All he saw was his best friend dead, and allowed himself to be swept away by his emotions, his only mindset on revenge. He proves he's rash by allowing his emotions to rule him without a thought of sense or consequence that ends him up in banishment from Verona.

The resulting banishment of his rash actions enables him to know what is happening in Verona and Romeo also shows that he is foolish when he kills himself without thinking through the situation, not knowing Juliet's really alive. When the Friar's letter never reached Romeo in Mantua, Balthazar tells him that Juliet is dead. Romeo then buys a poison and rushes to Verona to die in the Capulet's tomb with Juliet. When he finds Juliet, he describes her as "Death hath sucked thy honey of thy breath/ Hath had no power yet in thy beauty./ Thou art not conquered. Beauty ensign yet/ Is crimson in my lips and in thy cheeks/ And deaths pale flag is not advanced." ( 6.3.92-96) Here Romeo is going on about how beautiful his so thought deceased wife is, and how she doesn't even appear dead.... This is one example of how foolish Romeo really is. First off, it's common knowledge, even back then, that when someone has be been dead as long as he believes she has, that they would never look that alive. Romeo should've had enough common sense to realize that before continuing on to kill himself. And what makes him really foolish is that he just ranted the obvious that Juliet appear to be alive. Once again he didn't think and killed himself which leads Juliet to kill herself.

All through out William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet, Romeo leads himself and Juliet to their own suicides because of his nearsightedness, rashness, and foolishness. By proposing to his family's enemy daughter, he proves to be nearsighted, not considering any consequences. He also very rashly kills his new wives cousin, Tybalt, in the heat of the moment after Mercutio's murder. This eventually leads to his banishment which leads to further complications. And finally he senselessly and extremely foolishly kills himself after ranting the obvious that Juliet looks- and really is- alive after an unreasonable amount of time. And Juliet in turn commits suicide after finding her dead husband. Because Romeo is nearsighted, rash, and foolish, he never really thought his and Juliet's complicated relationship through, and led them to their suicides while ironically trying to save their love.