How Does Emotion Affect Romeo And Juliet

Would situations turn out better if emotions were not a factor? How many decisions are made irrationally and without real thought? In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet the characters are constantly making decisions based on their emotions. Romeo and Juliet were thrown into tough situations with no easy outcomes. Not only were they from rival families, but they were also young teenagers. Emotion engineered the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet through its effect on the characters and how the characters reacted. The emotion of the characters greatly affected the mood that the characters had in the story. One prominent example of this is when Mercutio decides to fight Tybalt. Romeo refused to fight Tybalt so Mercutio said, “What a calm, dishonourable,

One of the first examples of this is when Romeo gets aggravated after Mercutio’s death. Tybalt killed Mercutio after Romeo got in their way, because of this Romeo feels responsible for killing Mercutio. In reply to Mercutio’s death Romeo calls out to Tybalt, “Alive, in triumph! And Mercutio slain! Away to heaven, respective lenity, and fine-eyed fury be my conduct now! Now, Tybalt, take the villain back again!” (3.1.119) After Mercutio was pronounced dead, Romeo was upset because he had just lost one of his best friends. Before Mercutio died, Romeo was just trying to keep the peace but after what happened to Mercutio, Romeo was so angry that he disregarded all reason and continued to fight and kill Tybalt even though he knew that it was wrong. Also, this can be seen when Romeo is in the Capulet tomb and he decided to kill himself. After Romeo runs to Juliet’s bedside he says, “Come, bitter conduct, come, unsavoury guide! Thou desperate pilot, now at once run on the dashing rocks thy sea-sick weary bark! Here's to my love! O true apothecary! Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die.” (5.3.116) Romeo was shocked because he had just found out that his wife, Juliet, was “dead”. Instead of trying to find out what happened to her and discovering the full story, Romeo decided to travel to the Capulet tomb where he would poison himself. Romeo acted on despair and emotion with his decision and overall that caused his death and also Juliet’s. Emotional and rash decision making played an enormous part in the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. Many different characters used their emotion instead of judgement to solve