Inevitable Coincidence Q#2

I think this extreme tragedy between Romeo and Juliet was caused by both their situations and all characters' personalities, and I also think this tragedy cannot be avoided. The whole story happened too fast to give readers time to think why decisions were made in the story. I believe that all decisions were made to reflect who the characters are, what situation they were in and their character's fate. Because of the time period difference we cannot completely understand the situation as people who lived in that time period, but we can feel how strong characters' emotion are. This tragedy happened because of those strong emotions and the situation they were in.

Some people might say that if Friar Lawrence's plan worked, this tragedy could be avoided. However, I don't agree with it because if the enmity between Capulet and Montague still exist, they would never let Romeo and Juliet be together which meant the end of the world to them. I truly believe that if these two family force them to apart they will finally choose their own way to be together forever which is suicide. In this book, there are so much foreshadowing of suicide, and all these foreshadowing reflects Romeo and Juliet's extreme personality which caused they made suicide decision. For example, when Friar Lawrence tried to give a solution to help Juliet with the marriage between Paris and her, she showed her decision which is if she cannot be with Romeo she would rather be dead. “Do thou but call my resolution wise, And with this knife I’ll help it presently. (shows him a knife) God joined my heart and Romeo’s, thou our hands”(Act4 Scene1 54-57). Not only Juliet showed her death wish, but also Romeo showed his decision when he knew that he would be banished. “Calling death “banishment,” Thou cutt’st my head off with a golden ax And smilest upon the stroke that murders me”(Act3 Scene3 21-23). As we can see, if they cannot be together, they want to be dead, so no one can stop them anymore. Unfortunately, I cannot see any hope that Romeo and Juliet be together happy and peaceful like a fairy, and their personal belief won't be changed no matter what happens, so this tragedy cannot be avoided.

Situations can also always influence and change people's decisions and emotions, and when people under different emotions they might do things in a more extreme ways. For example, when the Tybalt came to revenge, Romeo began with a great attitude, “Tybalt, the reason that I have to love thee Doth much excuse the appertaining rage To such a greeting”(Act3 Scene1 33-35). However, after Tybalt killed one of his best friend Mercutio, he became too angry to make a smart decision which can avoided him to be banished, but no one can be completely calm in this situation. Another example is that when Juliet was forced to get married with Paris, she drunk potion to make others think she was dead, so she didn't have to marrie Paris, but she was not impulsive even when she heard Romeo's banishment and Tybalt's death. We can see that a extreme situation can force people to make extreme decisions especially when the person reacts so impusively and so often.

When all these characteristics and situations get together, this extreme tragedy happened, even though we do not like this kind of story, we still enjoyed the moments which showed the love between Romeo and Juliet. However, they were two extreme people in many extreme situations, and finally they went to the end. I wish that if there was only one coincidence less, the whole story would be different, but this is the destiny and this is Romeo and Juliet!