Passion vs Reason Essay Example

to hide their love and get married behind the families' backs. If there was less emotion in the feud or between Romeo and Table, Table would not have killed

Mercuric, and then Romeo never would have killed Table. Romeo would not then have been banished and the lovers would not have been separated from Verona. A selfish emotion, known as greed, is one that compels several characters in the play, especially the Capsules, to want more, and this also helps lead to the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. When Lord Caplet angrily says to Juliet talking about County Paris, "A gentleman of noble parentage, of fair demesnes, youthful, and nobly trained, stuffed, as they say, with honorable parts, proportioned as one's thought would wish (3. . 80-183), all he wants is for Juliet to marry him. This is because, the a man?" Capsules want a higher rank to get into the royal family, and thinking Juliet should want this too, they force her into marrying Paris, without knowing she is already married to Romeo. This unfortunate event of Gullet's parent's' greed causes her to need a plan to not marry Paris, which will eventually lead to the fake death of Juliet and the real death of Romeo.

If Gullet's parent's were not so selfish and listened to their daughter, they would have seen that she cannot marry Paris because she is already in love with Romeo. Love, which is always known as a happy emotion is very compelling, and can cloud judgment Just like it did in Romeo and Juliet, contributing to their eventual deaths. In the quote from Romeo right before his death, "Here's

to my love! (drinks the poison) O true apothecary, Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die" (5. 3. 129-131), Romeo is acting on his passionate love of Juliet.

Romeo and Juliet have only Just married, and they have acted so quickly to marry and make other hasty decisions that separated them, and now they are willing to go to the extreme to be together. However, if Romeo were not so extreme with his emotions, Juliet would have woken front her sleeping potion, and they would not have had to die to be together. Another emotion that influences the actions of the characters within this play, and leads to the tragic deaths of Romeo and Juliet is lust.

As soon as Romeo and Juliet catch a glimpse of each other, they have to be together, and without even knowing one another. As Juliet says in one of the early scenes of the play, "If he be married my grave is like to be my wedding bed" (1. 5. 9. ), Juliet says she has to be married to Romeo or she would die, and she has not even met him yet. Juliet is acting on lust since she has only Just seen Romeo, and immediately she knows she wants to be with him. This is seen several times in the early scenes of the play with Romeo and Juliet.

They often are so impassioned with the thought of one another that they rush the relationship and marry only the day after they meet. If the lovers had not been so quick to lust for each other they would have realized it would have

been smarter to take it slower and involve their parent's in order to end the feud and be together in the long run. The characters may have believed that they were acting seasonably throughout these events, but, since the play takes place over a course of four days, one can see that some hasty decisions must have been taken to compel the play that quickly.

Moreover, if the characters had acted upon reason versus passion, the play would not end tragically. If at any point in the play a character would have taken the time to think logically, the characters could have worked out their differences in a civil matter. For example, when Juliet went to Friar Laurence after Juliet realized she could not marry Paris, the Friar Laurence should have told the truth of Romeo and Gullet's love to the families. Instead, they are too quick to think that Juliet must fake death to be with Romeo.

If they would have acted out of reason at this time, the two families should be able to see that they were blinded by each others hate to realize that their children Just wanted to be together. If the characters in the play were not so emotional, or did not act on their emotions so early in the play, the play could have ended happier without so many tragic deaths. However, when strong human passion so thoroughly clouds reason, the inevitable outcome, as Shakespeare so poetically depicted in the story of Romeo and Juliet is likely to be tragic.