Romeo and Juliet's Suicide

            In William Shakespeare’s play, Romeo and Juliet there is one thing I never can really fully understand about the play and also the one thing I never really liked in particular was Romeo and Juliet’s choice to use suicide as a means to an end. I understand that the play is a tragedy about young lovers and the idea that most people received from the play, is a person would rather die than go through life without someone that they love. I don’t like the idea that they were so quick to choose suicide to escape their problems. It seemed as if whenever times got too tough, they wanted to end their life. In Act 3, Scene 3, after Romeo finds out from Friar Lawrence of the news he is banished by the Prince, for killing Tybalt and the Nurse enters telling Romeo that Juliet is stricken with grief over the death of Tybalt, Romeo makes an attempt to kill himself but Friar Lawrence stops him before he succeeds.

In Act IV, Scene I, Juliet visits Friar Lawrence after the argument with her father about her marrying Paris and she stated, “Be not so long to speak; I long to die.” In this particular scene in the play, Juliet also seems to be running out options so she appears to be leaning towards her quickest way out which is death. I can understand why death seemed to be the inevitable for both Romeo and Juliet because Romeo’s character always appealed to me as somewhat as a loner which is true once he becomes banished and Juliet after the fight with her father, is left with either marrying Paris or being throw out onto the streets.

I agree with the idea that the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet somewhat romanticizes suicide because they are two young people, who appear to only have each other but they can never truly be together because of tragic circumstances. The tragic circumstances ultimately lead to Romeo and Juliet’s suicides. I was first introduced to this play when I was about ten years old and at the time, I thought how crazy can two people be to want to die because they think they can’t be together. As a kid, I never really grasp the concept of suicide in Romeo and Juliet. It seemed totally idiotic that someone would want to die for love instead of fighting for it. Now that I am older and I have learned more on Shakespeare and Romeo and Juliet, I know that the play wouldn’t be a tragedy if Romeo and Juliet didn’t die by the end. I also believe that as a play, it is much more entertaining for Romeo and Juliet to die for the sake of their love. It is much more heartbreaking because they are young lovers. Although, I still believe suicide was not their only option and the play still could have been as tragic if they both had died by some other mean.