In act two scene three Friar Lawrence says ‘wisely and slow, they stumble that run fast’, meaning that when someone rushes into a decision they will fail. When Friar Lawrence says this to Romeo he has a cautious tone, suggesting that bad things will happen from Romeo’s impetuous love for Juliet.
Impetuosity is when someone acts upon their thoughts before they think about whether it’s the best thing to do.
Another example of Romeo’s impetuosity is when he becomes depressed about how much he is in love with Rosaline. He explains that ‘the all-seeing sun Ne’er saw her match since first the world begun’. Romeo uses bright, celestial words to describe his love for Rosaline.
Then in act one scene five Romeo changes his mind. On line 51 he says ‘Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight’. When saying this Romeos means that even though he claimed to love Rosaline he has never loved someone as much as Juliet. He says this in a fascinated and loving way. This sudden love for Juliet again shows his sudden urge to jump into another rushed decision.
Later on in the play another character notices Romeo’s impetuosity. Juliet says ‘if they do see thee they will murder thee.’ Juliet is telling Romeo that he shouldn’t have gone to the mansion to speak with her. Romeo made the decision to see Juliet because of how much he loves her but didn’t stop to think about the consequences. Throughout Romeo’s conversation with Juliet, Juliet continually replies to Romeo’s talk of love with words of worry for his safety.
In this play Shakespeare changes the normal view of a woman in the era of Romeo and Juliet by making Romeo very weak minded, obsessive and impetuous in contrast to Juliet who is strong minded and more cleaver.
Act three scene one is the turning point of the play where Mercutio is ‘slain’ and Tybalt is killed when Romeo wants revenge this then leaves the Prince of Verona no choice but to exile Romeo.
At the start of the scene we can see Romeo’s angry when he says ‘Fire eyed fury be my conduct now’. But when he says this the reader straight away knows that Romeo is going to do something stupid that he will regret later.
From Romeo killing Tybalt he has caused himself to be exiled which means he can’t see Juliet. He has also killed a Capulet which is going to have a negative result on the couple’s relationship.
Juliet is strongly affected by Romeo being banished because she has only just married and she is full of love and happiness whilst unaware of the ‘murderous events of the day’.
From the murder of Tybalt Romeo is exiled from Verona, this makes Romeo ‘distraught’ saying that his punishment ‘Tis torture, and not mercy’. His tone is very unhappy making the reader feel sorry for Romeo despite the fact that he has murdered.
Towards the end of the play Romeo is still really impetuous. After Romeo finds out about Juliet’s death he straight away decides that he will ‘lie with thee tonight’, this shows that he is even impetuous when making decisions about his own life. He also thinks about killing himself earlier on in the play when ‘He offers to stab himself, and Nurse snatches the dagger away’.
When Romeo gets confronted by Paris at Juliet’s grave he explains that Paris should ‘tempt not a desp’rate man’ and ‘fly hence and leave me’. As soon as Paris argues Romeo says ‘wilt thou provoke me? Then have at thee boy’ killing Paris without any hesitation or regret. Final Romeo shows his impetuosity at its greatest when ‘with a kiss I die’. Without Romeo realising that Juliet is not dead he commits suicide.
Romeo’s impetuosity is a major catalyst in creating the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. This is because of the amount of decision he made which then resulted in bad outcomes.
