HUMAN ACTIONS IN ROMEO AND JULIET In the
play Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare, two
teenagers are controlled by a chain of human actions. Act 4,
scenes 1,3 and 5, are a good representation of the web of
human actions that cause tragedy between the pair of “star
crossed lovers” (prologue). One example of human actions
being dominant in those particular scenes is Friar Lawrence.
His actions, while being in good intent, caused much of the
pain for the other characters in the book. His first action was
to offer his help to the depressed Juliet, thinking that maybe
he could “spy a kind of hope” (Act 4, sc i, ll 68). His actions
then led him to think of the fake death which he tells to her.
“Hold then, go home, be merry” (Act 4, sc i, ll 89), he tells
her, while he gives her the poison and plans to give Romeo a
message describing the plan. He doesn’t however, make
sure Romeo gets the message which is probably the most
crucial human action in the play. The other example of
human actions controlling the plot is Juliet. In those scenes
she acts in ways which seriously affect her life and the rest of
the play. First, she comes to the Friar looking for help. “I
long to die, if what thou speak’st speak not of remedy” (Act
4, sc i, ll 66-67) is her attitude towards her situation. She
then accepts the friar’s solution and decides to take the
poison. “Give me, give me! Oh tell me not of fear” (Act 4,
sc 1, ll 121) are her words spoken to the friar. Her actions
here are to be brave and to rush into the plan. Her actions
are more important than the friars in this scene because she
has all the control. The friars actions are mostly suggestions
and thoughts while her actions are the ones that are physical
and are actually put into use. This scene isn’t the only scene
that demonstrates human actions controlling the play. For
example, in the very first scene, Tybalt and Benvolio fight
causing a certain amount of tension that sets the play up for
some of the major events that happen later. Another
example of this is when Romeo and Juliet meet, Romeo goes
out of his way to see her again, once more, setting up the
plot. The web of human actions gets larger and stronger until
finally, the two biggest human actions occur and the two
main characters lay dead. Lay dead because the actions they
took led them to suicide. This incident, as tragic as it is,
could probably have been avoided. If the actions that were
taken by the characters had been planned better and the
consequences had been thought about maybe a better
outcome would have been reached. For example, if Friar
Lawrence had thought about what would happen if Romeo
didn’t receive the message in time, he probably would have
taken better precautions. Or maybe if Romeo had thought
twice about killing Tybalt, he would have realized that it
couldn’t help getting closer to Juliet. Therefore, my advice in
this situation is to think hard about your actions. Don’t be
caught up in the outcomes of them like Romeo and Juliet
did.