Romeo And Juliet Religion Essay

Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare is the tragic tale of young love tainted by foolishness and shallow lust. At the same time, the underlying theme of the exploitation of religion exists for the duration of the play through unreliable characters. These characters, mainly Friar Lawrence, Romeo, and Juliet, are not held accountable for their negligence because they find excuses in their religion. As a reader, I diverged from my presumption of religion as an undeniable good because the characters’ irresponsibility, stemming from religion, impacted the course of events in the play.
At the beginning of the play, I assumed that religion would be used positively because I had a preconception of religion as the ultimate good. However, there were

Before beginning to read the play, I prejudged religion as a type of savior, which might lead the characters to find peace. The first time I read the play, I read it without too much focus on detail, seeking an understanding of the plot. Even then, I took notice of the motif of religion and made some connections between religion and the play’s tragic outcome. After rereading, I caught multitudinous details where characters behaved irresponsibly, but did not hold themselves accountable, rather, they would shift the blame onto their fate, or fortune. These characters live in a society where religion lacks reliability because those who represent religion, such as Friar Lawrence, are untrustworthy, and because religion is an overused scapegoat. People in Verona seem to believe that their religion dictates everything that happens to them, and even though it is pleasant to be able to thank God, it is harmful when these people do not know how to recognize when they create their own problems. I was greatly disappointed that such an avoidable tragedy occurred because of the characters’ excessive faith in religion, and therefore in Friar Lawrence. In summary, I learned that regardless of what extent one believes in a higher power, religion should not be used as an excuse for irresponsibility because irresponsible actions have catastrophic end