Shakespeare’s portrayal of actions and their consequences
“Sooner or later everyone sits down to a banquet of consequences.” -Robert Louis Stevenson. Stevenson, a novelist and poet, explains that everyone commits regrettable actions and eventually always have to face the consequences that comes along with it. This belief is portrayed in William Shakespeare’s work, Romeo and Juliet, a tragic play that presents two youths, Juliet Capulet and Romeo Montague, that met and fell in love at first sight. However, they are forced to keep their relationship a secret for their families, the Capulets and Montagues are bitter enemies. Because of this secrecy, misunderstandings arise and reckless decisions, along with their irreversible consequences, are …show more content…
Tybalt, craving vengeance against Romeo, hungers for a fight. However, in the wake of marrying Juliet, Romeo only wishes for peace. Mercutio reacts to Romeo’s seemly surrender in disgust and exclaims, “O calm dishonorable, vile submission!/ Alla stoccata carries it away. (draws his sword)/ Tybalt, you ratcatcher, will you walk?” (III, i, 69-71). Here, the word, “walk” is another way of saying “fight”. In saying “calm dishonorable, vile submission” and, “will you walk”, Mercutio views Romeo’s peaceful actions as a sign of weakness and deliberately picks a fight with Tybalt. Furthermore, Mercutio calls Tybalt a “ratcatcher”, an nickname inspired by Tybalt’s infamous title, Prince of Cats. Despite the noble tone emitted from the original title, Mercutio degrades it, turning Tybalt’s title into an insult. Instead, he uses this insulting metaphor to further taunt Tybalt into fighting him. In the end, Mercutio did succeed in fighting Tybalt. However, the fight lead to the downfall of Mercutio. With the death of Mercutio, Romeo inevitably flies into sorrow-filled rage and kills Tybalt, resulting in Romeo’s banishment from Verona, separating the two newly-wedded lovers. Thus, with the support of metaphors, another stone had been paved into the path heading towards the lovers’ …show more content…
The words “bitter conduct” and “unsavory guide” also indicates that poison is personified as the guide that will lead him to his death, revealing what Romeo’s cause of death will be. Here, the words “come” that came before “bitter conduct” and “unsavory guide” demonstrates how Romeo welcomed the poison and drank it willingly. However, the irony of this situation is that the underlying reason to Romeo’s will to die is Juliet’s death. Yet the poison that Juliet took was not intended to kill her, thus when Juliet wakes up, moments after Romeo’s death, she kills herself in despair upon finding him. As a result, in the solace of personification, Romeo’s hastily made decision took both their lives, the final touch to these star-crossed lovers’ tragic