Choices: Acts Three and Four

[Diana]

What choices have Romeo and Juliet made so far? What choices have been made for them, and by whom (or what)? Why?

[Iaan Song]

Romeo and Juliet has made many choices so far in the story.For instance, Romeo and Juliet decided to get married without telling their parents. Boy, I know, that is shocking, but its true. Next, Friar has decided to help out Romeo and Juliet by getting notifications through a person, since Romeo is shunned. However, there also were many instances where people made decisions for Romeo or Juliet. For instance, the Capulets decided that Juliet should marry with Paris, but we all know, Juliet didn't want that happening. Next, Prince has made a decision for Romeo, that Romeo shall be shunned forever, until the Prince says that Romeo is not. There, as you can see Romeo and Juliet's unfortunate love is not only tangled by their actions, but also by the words of the other people.

[Ryan]

Throughout the past 4 days or so that takes place in the book, Romeo and Juliet both make a great amount of choices. For one, they make the choice of "forbidden love" in a sense. They are from two different families, each having a long history of hatred toward each other, for whatever reason it is. Though even though according to their families they should hate each other, they made the choice to fall in love with each other. Getting married also fits into this choice of forbidden love, especially since they didn't tell their families. The choices made for them were, for example, Lord Capulet's choice to marry her to Paris. Though by now, it just seems like he was being selfish, possibly trying to get into the Prince's family. Though the choices made for them might have been in good heart. In my mind, my opinion on Lord Capulet seems to bounce back in forth, selfish for himself, or selfless for Juliet. But either way, the choices they have made, and the choices others have made for them might have been fate, a sort of twisting and turning maze of the stars to determine the inevitable.

[Joelle]

In Act 3 Scene 1, Romeo makes two choices regarding his battle with Tybalt. At first, Romeo refuses to fight Tybalt, saying, "I do protest I never injured thee/But love thee better than thou canst devise" (3.1, 69-70). He makes this choice because he doesn't want to fight his new cousin-in-law, right after marrying Juliet. After Tybalt kills Mercutio, Romeo makes the choice to avenge Mercutio, saying, "And fire-eyed fury be my conduct now." (3.1, 129). He makes this choice for himself, because although he isn't thinking about the consequences of fighting Tybalt, he wants to avenge Mercutio's death.

In Act 3 Scene 5, Lady Capulet tells Juliet about a choice she and Capulet have made for her. "The County Paris, at Saint Peter's Church/Shall happily make thee a joyful bride." (3.1, 119-120). Her parents make this choice for her because they want to make sure that Juliet marries someone who will support her throughout her life. Later, Juliet makes a choice of her own; to take the sleeping potion the Friar gave her. At first, she has many fears about the potion, saying, "What if this mixture do not work at all?...What if it be a poison, which the Friar/Subtly hath ministered to have me dead...How if, when I am laid into the tomb,/I wake before the time that Romeo/Come to redeem me? There's a fearful point." (4.3, 22, 25-26, 31-32) but in the end of the scene, she drinks it. Juliet drinks the potion because of her dedicated love to Romeo, and although he is banished, she can't stand the thought of marrying someone else.

[Joelle]

Caputlet makes the choice that Juliet will marry Paris. He does this because loves her and only wants the best for her. You can tell because before he tells Paris that Juliet will marry him, Capulet first asks Juliet if she is okay with the marriage. The choice that the Capulets and Montagues hate eachother is made by Romneo and Juliet's families. However, as Ryan mentioned, Romeo and Juliet both make the choice of "forbidden love". Although they have just met, they made the decistion to get married and leave behind everything they have for eachother. They do this because they feel like they are meant to be together.

[Charleston]

Throughout the story, Romeo and Juliet make a number of choices, the biggest of which, of course, was falling in love and getting married. Their supposed to hate each other since their from opposite families.
Romeo makes the choice of avenging Mercutio and killing Tybalt, which gets him exiled from Verona.
Juliet makes the choice of defying her family and leaving them all for Romeo. She chooses to not marry Paris and drink the potion which she doesn't even know works or not.
All of these choices that Romeo and Juliet made were for each other.