Tragedy in Romeo and Juliet Analysis

disaster in Romeo and Juliet AnalysisAt the he finesse of the runs guinea pigs of feuding families, ill-timing, and mis prospect lies the true factor that defines Romeo and Juliet as a catastrophe the impulsive and reckless decisions of the newborn loers determine, in near way, the tragical outcomes that ar mistakenly attri preciselyed to serving through and throughout, and Shakespeares exaggerated figure serves as chaste instruction of what can happen when wefts of this magnitude are made unadvisedly. Although caboodle does play a part in the action mechanisms of the play, it scarcely when serves as instruction to the protagonists. Fate is responsible for maintaining raw(a) order and, as long as this is achieved, the destiny of the heatrs lies in their induce decisions. Fate serves as a guide, giving clean lessons to the protagonists and even warns them of future disaster. Despite the bounty of the stars, however, they continue to rebel and this, in turn, leads to their demise.A uncouth device of Shakespearian cataclysm is the tragic f rightfulness, in addition kn avow as hamartia, defined as an inherent defect or shortcoming in the hero of a tragedy, who is in opposite respects a superior being favour by fortune (hamartia, def.). Ultimately, the tragic flaws of both Romeo and Juliet are their beliefs that, without regard to the exemplifications and pleader of a higher order much(prenominal) as fate, they are above the laws of man they make decisions without regard to upshot or accountability for the funny farm they produce. It is diaphanous in Romeo and Juliet that the impulsive actions of the protagonists are non attri onlyed to inexperience in youth, moreover rather a reflection of their tragic flaws. In the poop act of the play where her father asks where she has been, Juliet replies, Where I have learned me to regret the sin of disobedient opposition (4.2.17-18). Shakespeares earshot, of frame, knows that this stat ement is merely Juliets method of sustaining intermission at home until she can go through with her plan to parry her give devastation. Regarding the father-daughter patriarchal structure during this prison term, however, her spoken communication are a decided reflection of what is expected of her in obeying the laws her father demands. This is, perhaps, Shakespeares way of ironically revelation his moral lesson to his audience through the very(prenominal) spirit who provides the example, disclosure what Juliet should do. These words expose her knowledge that obedience provides order, and subsequently, the audience is less sympathetic to her beca mapping she does not listen to her own words, those of beggar Laurence, or the standards of fate.Romeo also reveals his awareness of the Princes law and suggests its importance for social order. In the beginning of Act 3, when Mercutio and Tybalt are fighting, Romeo comes between them and says, The Prince expressly hath forbid this bandying in Verona streets (3.1.82-83). Romeo key outms to abandon his recklessness here, but it doesnt fail long he kills Tybalt nevertheless a few lines later. Granted, he is revenging his friends expiration, but this action marks the beginning of the deadly chaos clearn throughout the remainder of the play. Although he doesnt agree that a tragic flaw leads to the lamentable closing curtain of the play, Fredson Bowers, in his article Dramatic Structure and Criticism Plot in Hamlet, does, however, believe that the closing in Romeos decision to fight Tybalt involves a personalized resource that carries moral duty and is therefore morally determinate (210).As the reader can see, tragedy follows a course of increasingly insalubrious eccentrics, and following the scene which marks the prefigure of no return for Romeo, in this case the murder of Tybalt, indulgence inevitably follows. A. C. Bradley describes this sequence of events in sexual congress to chance by stat ing that, any large admission of chance into the tragic sequence would certainly weaken, and might destroy, the sense of the causal connection of character, deed, and misfortune (Bradley 64). Character re pitchs the tragic flaw the deed is the climax that leads, then, to madness which is the accelerator pedal for catastrophe. Romeos madness becomes more than than unembellished as the reader can see his actions become increasingly less reasonable, beginning with the climactic scene and solo closing with his death. Romeos madness is displayed through both his irrational actions and the reactions of Friar Laurence and Romeo himself. by and by Romeo learns of his banishment from Verona, his response, in both language and action, provokes Friar Laurence to proclaim, O, then I see that madmen have no ears (3.3.61). Here, he recognizes the madness, so quickly evident in Romeo, spawned from Romeos banishment following the death of Tybalt. Later in the play, Romeos madness intensifies to such an extent that he himself recognizes it when he says, The time and my intents are savage-wild, more fierce and more inexorable far than empty tigers or the well-off sea (5.3.37-39). Here, Romeos admission of his madness is Shakespeares way of explicitly informing the audience that Romeo has indeed lost his sensibilities. The madness seen in the previous lines leads directly to catastrophe, videlicet the death of Romeo. His insanity, before an internal strife, is now outwardly admitted to Paris when he says, Live, and hereafter say a madmans mercy bid thee run outside (5.3.66-67). These lines represent Romeos submission to his madness as he rushes to his intended suicide. more than akin Romeos insanity, Juliet experiences symptoms following the climactic scene of the play. This is recognized by Juliets beget when she states, Some trouble shows much of love, but much grief shows palliate many want of wit (3.5.72-73). Although bird Capulet believes she is seeing Juli ets despair over Tybalts death, her visible display of sorrow is derived directly from her grief over Romeos banishment, and this grief is but the maiden sign of a creeping irrationality that entrust lead Juliet to her end. Her irrationality lapses into madness as Juliet begins to hallucinate before alcohol addiction Friar Lawrences potion, as can be seen when she says, O, look Me regains I see my cousins ghost seeking out Romeo that did spit his body upon a rapiers point (4.4.57). Directly after this statement, she drinks the potion, an act that even Friar Lawrence deems desperate (4.1.69), exorcising, through her action, the madness that has acutely built up in her since Romeos banishment.Throughout Romeo and Juliet, fate is referenced in many different ways, save all passages reckon to be directed to the same idea of a higher former watching over the natural order (Kastan 16) of the characters, but the protagonists of the play use fate as a source in which to place pluck so not to be held accountable for the decisions they make. Throughout, this higher power has been named the stars (1.4.107), fortune (1.2.57), heavens (4.4.121), fate (3.1.114) nature (3.2.80), and each time Romeo or Juliet makes a rash decision and lay outs the consequences of the same, they complain that fate is the cause. Fate serves as a help for the new(a) couple, however, and this becomes evident in that, each time the play reaches a critical point important to the plays outcome, the protagonists are warned. This idea of warning from a supernatural or ghostly source is a common strategy in Shakespearian tragedies. Here, Romeo is first warned in a pipe dream which Mercutio calls Queen Mab (1.4.53), right before he is about to accomplish Juliet for the first time. The dream warns him not to go to the Capulet ball, and fate further guides his decision by planting uncertainty in his decision as a warning of what impart happen if he does go. Romeo states, I fear too early, for my header misgives both(prenominal) consequence yet hanging in the stars (1.4.106), and although he is impact by this warning and aware of the consequences if he goes, only five lines later, he ignores the warning with On, lusty gentlemen (1.4.113). This is an active decision by Romeo to go to the ball, yet in the previous sentence, he says Direct my sail (1.4.113). Thus, although Romeo receives help from fate through guidance, warnings of impending disaster, and the free volition to avoid decisions, he repeatedly makes bad choices of which he is not imparting to take responsibility, but rather, blames the very source that helps him. Another example of this warning comes when Romeo is leaving for Mantua, and this is the last time Juliet sees him. This time, both have a niping of impending doom. Juliet says, O God, I have an ill-divining soul Methinks I see thee, now thou art so low, as ane dead in the bottom of a tomb (3.5.54-56), and Romeo responds with, And trust me, love, in my eye so do you. teetotal sorrow drinks our blood. (3.5.58-59). Juliets lines are spoken just three lines after she asks Romeo if they volition ever see each other again. Of course, they do not meet again, and these lines mark the next phase of chaos, death, and bad decisions which conclude the play. There are, however, both more references to dreams that correctly reveal encounters, tragic in nature, which could have been avoided. First, Juliet imagines dismission mad inside the Capulet tomb, blatantly declaring a warning from fate that is being played inside her own daylightdream. When she says, O, if I wake, shall I not be distraught, envisioned with all these hideous fears, and, in this rage, with some great kinsmans turn out as with a club dash out my desprate brains (4.4.49-53), her concerns are real a proclamation of fates warning that this rash action will finally lead to her demise, a warning which she promptly dismisses as she drinks the vial only a few lines later. The second of these references to dreams lies in Romeos statement, I dreamt my lady came and engraft me dead strange dream, that gives a dead man leave to think (5.1.6-7). Romeo does not recognize the implications of this dream, which serves as the voice of fate. Instead, his irrationality spins this capacity into a form that he is willing to accept, as is seen by the following lines, and breathed such animateness with kisses in my lips that I revived and was an emperor (5.1.8-9). due to Romeos maddening obsession with his infatuation, he is unable to decipher the true message of this dream. His irrational actions have set him on a path that will lead to his death.A.C. Bradley believes that tragedy is generally found around a character of prominence and is a story of human actions producing exceptional calamity and ending in the death of such a man (Bradley 64). This element of tragedy, consisting of specialized actions that lead to a catastrophe and result in the de ath of a prominent character, is a classic theme among Shakespearean tragedies. One of the closely common aspects of this basis is the element of death, both foreshadowed and realized, as a cobblers last to the deranged actions of the principal(a) characters in Shakespeares works. This theme can be seen in many of his plays, such as Hamlet and Othello, but none more so than Romeo and Juliet, where the theme of death is never-endingly reiterated from the initial prologue to the completion of the play. For instance, when paralleling the young lovers courtship to the different stages of the play, one can see these recurrent statements explicitly stated, all of which indicate deaths impending arrival as the natural conclusion of the couples consistent irrational actions. The first of these decisions occurs before Romeo is to attend the Capulets ball. He begins to feel himself traveling down an unnatural path and says, my mind misgives some consequence yet hanging in the starsof a d espised life, closed in my breast, by some vile forfeit of untimely death (1.5.106-111). Although Romeo, to some extent, feels fates warning and the consequences of his actions, he proceeds to Capulets ball, taking his first tint toward his in the end tragic end. Furthermore, after they meet, Juliet at a time decides he is married and says, my grave is like to be my wedding bed (1.9.131-132) before she even learns the name of her idol. This is only the first of many such examples of an irrational thought process that will continue throughout the equipoise of the story examples of this unreasonable belief that death is their only alternative further displays their refusal to accept the occurrence and work toward a solution. Instead, death provides an easy solution. By limiting herself to only two options, Juliet consistently bases her decisions on this belief, despite all warnings that she is essentially running headlong to her own death. The next step in the progression of thi s affair, the marriage of the young lovers, is yet again marked by the presence of death. Upon arriving at Friar Lawrences booth for the proximate ceremony, Romeo declares that, love-devouring death do what he dare it is enough I may but call her mine (2.5.7-8). Once again, the presence of death is foreshadowed at a pinnacle point, and Romeo and Juliet make another aberrant decision. By explicitly challenging death, Romeo is seemingly aware that his mortality is imminent, but he still continues down this path. He does not consider that Juliets actions are mirroring his and prima(p) her to the same conclusion.The couples impetuous drive toward rash decisions is unmistakable throughout the rest of the play. Although they are aware that the opportunity of their continued relationship will ultimately never be presented, the two protagonists pursue death from the beginning. These examples solidify the telephone circuit that Romeo and Juliet is a prime example of Shakespeares lesson t hat death as a natural consequence of the impetuous actions of those who disregard the admonitions of fate.Throughout the realm of Shakespeares tragedies, another theme persists. While the protagonists in Shakespearean tragedies make conscious choices determining their own paths, most commonly against the subtle and blatant warnings of fate, there is a constant element that renders the execution of these decisions compulsory this idea is known as situational conflict. In his article Art and Artifice in Shakespeare, Elmer Edgar Stoll states, The core of tragedy is situation and a situation is a character in contrast, and perhaps also in conflict, with other characters or with circumstances (Stoll 69). This idea that there must be a conflict to a tragedy is not a novel idea, but the idea that there must be a situation in conflict with character or circumstance suggests that an creator would need to define this situation, either implicitly or explicitly, at some point prior to the c limax of the story. Following this design of creating a situational conflict that will force the protagonists to make decisions that will lead them down either fates implied path of natural order or along a course of their own devising, a tragic plot must contain an action that forces this conflict. Shakespeare was not oblivious to this motif in fact, the construction of his tragedies suggests his acceptance of this usher as a method of depicting a tragic plot. In the bulk of Shakespeares tragedies, there is a common event that, apart from the climax and generally between the middle and end of the first act, explicitly defines this situation. The act typically causes conflict in the protagonists state of affairs, which sets the stage for the downward whorl of decisions that the characters make. While in most cases influenced by another character in the play, such as Iagos announcement of his plot to deceive Othello or Lady MacBeths persuasion of MacBeth to kill King Duncan, this t riggering event causes the protagonists in Shakespeares tragedies, either immediately or inevitably, to make the initial decision that will decide their fate. Romeo and Juliet does not differ from this scheme the triggering event and the situational conflict are both present within the same location stated previously. Specifically, this event is caused by the attempts of Benvolio and Mercutios to conciliate Romeos concerns about attending the Capulets ball. While Romeo initially agrees to accompany them to the event, he currently shows no interest in the nights activities. He says that he will be a candle-holder and look on, and shortly thereafter begins to question his decision to attend the ball at all when he states, we mean well in going to this masque, but tis no wit to go (1.4.38, 1.4.46-47). Although he is persuaded by Benvolio and Mercutio, the final decision to attend is ultimately made by Romeo. This choice places Romeo in a situation where conflict is eminent he walks i nto the stomach of the Capulets and woos a lady who he knows, by being present at this event, has ties to his enemy. Therefore, although Benvolio and Mercutio attempt to persuade Romeo to attend the ball and examine other beauties (1.1.221), his choice to do so is the triggering event. This is Romeos first chance to decide whether or not to enter into a situation of conflict and, as with many of Shakespeares tragic protagonists, Romeo makes the wrong choice.There is some debate about the effectiveness of the moral lessons in Shakespeares tragedies. In his article Shakespeare, Walter Raleigh believes, There is no moral lesson to be read, except accidentally, in any of Shakespeares tragedies (Raleigh 66). John Dryden, on the other hand, argues, in his article entitled The Grounds of Criticism in Tragedy, that tragedy is an imitation of one entire, great and probable action not told, but represented which by moving in us fear and pity, is contributive to the purging of those two pass ions in our minds (Dryden 24). The conscious decisions of the characters in Shakespearean tragedy are not only pertinent to the advancement of the tragic plot, but also morally determinate. Shakespeare reveals this idea through fates warnings, the dialogue of the characters, imagery, the advice of characters such as Friar Laurence, finally, in the epilogue, a common element in Shakespeares tragedies.The translation of a morally determinate action is significant in the sway of free will versus fate in Romeo and Juliet because it signifies that the character is aware of the aftermath and nevertheless makes a choice that is inherently fatal (210). This allows for an exchange of the audiences charity for the lovers with a feeling of contentment in knowing that, instead of a dismal observe of fates inevitable defeat of innocent lovers, the protagonists have attend of their lives and pursue tragedy through their own disobedience. The audience is able to be intimate the play because they too have free will to determine their own fates, yet they also come away with the lesson Shakespeare teaches about the moral responsibility of ones actions. Although the interjection of fate has been discussed previously, the moral reprehension announced by some of the characters in the play regarding Romeo and Juliets actions also serve as a pecker by which to gauge the moral accountability of the couples actions. For instance, Friar Lawrence is appalled by Romeos exploits with Juliet at the Capulets ball, which is evident when he states, Is Rosaline, that thou didst love so dear, so soon forsaken? Young mens love then lies not truly in their hearts, but in their eyes (2.2.66-68). Essentially, Friar Lawrence is expressing his distaste in the misdeed of his decision to wed another woman not a day after his lamentation for Rosaline. This decision is morally reprehensible because it exposes the fickleness of Romeos love and the significance of entering into a marriage without understanding the significance of such an act. This type of reaction is evident again when Friar Laurence castigates Romeo, this time for his cissy tears and unreasonable fury (3.3.110). Here, Friar Laurence remarks, Hast thou slain Tybalt? flag thou slay thyself, and slay thy lady that in thy life lives by doing damned hate upon thyself? (3.3.135-137). Romeos decisions, in this case, are blameworthy because of the selfishness of his statements of suicide, as he does not consider Juliets welfare. He is further subject to blame when one contemplates Romeos previous actions and his failure to recognize the mercy that the Prince has shown him. His selfishness is directly related to the confounded nature of Romeos decisions rather than considering the implications of his decisions, he initiates a course of action based on his brash and reckless predilection. The epilogue in Romeo and Juliet repeats the events that unfold in the private counsel of Friar Lawrences cell, and bit his ac count describes the rash actions of Romeo and Juliet, he openly accepts responsibility for his own part in the scandalous event. Friar Laurence is quickly pardoned for his misdeed. The outcome of the epilogue reveals the moral lesson one must face responsibility for his or her actions, and it is better to accept the outcome than to run away. This is evident when Friar Lawrence pronounces, if aught in this miscarried by my fault, let my old life be sacrificed, some hour before his time, unto the rigour of severest law (5.3.266-268). He accepts complete responsibility for his part in the events that lead to the young lovers deaths and implies his precognition that his actions could result in punishment, indicating that the Friar considered this before acting and juxtaposing this with the actions of Romeo and Juliet. By revealing to the audience both an avoidable situation and the reasons for the tragic ending, Shakespeare succeeds in providing a moral lesson that serves to purge the passion (Dryden 25).The implementation of a tragic flaw, madness, neglecting fates warnings, death, a triggering event, actions which are morally determinate, and the moral lesson provide a clear view of Shakespearean tragedy. The causal relationships between the elements of tragedy, combined with common literary features associated with plot, identifying the triggering event that presents the situational conflict which will lead to the climatic peak of the narrative, the resulting madness that builds in the principals, the ineluctable conclusion of death, and the consummate lesson learnt upon the end of the tale. Throughout this chronology, each step is traversed by a morally determinate adjudication based from, in this case, the main characters tragic flaws, and neglecting the karmic guidance offered by other characters as well as by their own admissions of feelings and dreams. Romeo and Juliet adhere to each of these elements, not on a scarce occasion or two, but continuously and doggedly throughout the course of the story, with each factor intertwining with another to form the basis for which the primary idea related to the main characters decisions may rest Romeo and Juliets actions were undertaken too impetuously, and while fate did play a role in attempting to advise the young couple as to the natural order of their situation, they exercise their free will to interminably disregard these warnings and set themselves down the slippery slope that results in their undoing.