What Are Romeo And Juliet's Downfall

Do humans have free will? Or, is our every action decided on by other people? In reality, almost every decision we make with our own individual conscious. The play The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, is about two lovers, Romeo and Juliet, from rival families whose love caused unfortunate consequences for everyone around them. Romeo and Juliet were tragic heroes whose deaths are caused by their own faults and inability to make decisions without minor characters telling them what to do.
Romeo causes his own downfall, with his impetuous and reckless nature. Upon seeing Juliet for the first time, Romeo lovingly says, “Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight! / For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night” (1.5.54-55). Romeo is extremely lovesick and unsure what to do with himself without Rosaline. But, within a matter of seconds of seeing Juliet he completely forgets about his love and sets himself up on a collision course with disaster. Romeo’s impetuousness causes him great trouble after seeing his cousin-in-law, Tybalt, murder his best friend, Mercutio. Momentarily after Tybalt returns to the scene of

Romeo’s decision making skills amongst other flaws like impulsiveness and rashness, led him down a path that ended in his death. Juliet’s blind devotion to Romeo and haste in decision making left her feeling helpless and alone upon the realization that death was her only remaining viable option. The many minor characters in the play all helped push Romeo and Juliet’s already harmful decisions towards a place where they both ended up dead. Throughout the course of the play, it becomes very apparent that it’s not fate that causes the problems for Romeo and Juliet, but the disastrous decisions of everyone in the play combined, that create the plethora of problems that our two main characters have to deal