Romeo and Juliet

Actions are Greatly Affected by Emotion

Emotions are a part of life that affect a lot of what we do, and how we act. Throughout “Romeo and Juliet”, emotions have affected characters’ decisions a great deal. Firstly, Tybalt attempts to pick a fight Mercutio towards the middle of Act III. Tybalt insults Mercutio, and a duel between the two breaks out. Because Mercutio had his feelings hurt, and his family name threatened, he fought Tybalt gallantly. Unfortunately, Mercutio was stabbed by Tybalt under Romeo’s arm. Since Tybalt killed Mercutio, Romeo felt extreme sorrow for Mercutio. Romeo also felt outraged that Tybalt had done such a thing, and felt it necessary to duel Tybalt. Romeo killed Tybalt, but wouldn’t have had to had he not felt the deep melancholy and rage that he did. Later on in the play, towards the end, Romeo comes to the Capulet’s tomb, where Juliet has supposedly been buried. He finds Paris there, who had brought flowers to his soon-to-be-wife. At the tomb, Paris accuses Romeo of murdering Juliet. Because Romeo is so annoyed, and irritated by such false allegations, he duels Paris. Paris falls to Romeo’s sword. Romeo then examines Juliet, and proclaims that he cannot live without her. Romeo has felt such a deep depression, feeling the fear of continuing life without Juliet by his side, and in turn drinks poison and dies. Soon after, Juliet awakes and finds Romeo lying on the ground dead. Juliet too declares how it is not possible for her to live without Romeo. Because Juliet is so emotionally distraught, she stabs herself with Romeo’s dagger, thus killing herself. Emotion has played a key role throughout the entire Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, as many character’s decisions are based by it.