The tragic play Romeo and Juliet ends in death for the two main characters. This death is caused by a chain of events that starts early on in the play. The chain of events that cause these two deaths could have been stopped but was not because the characters in the in the play acted before they thought about what to do. This hastiness ultimately led to the death of the two star-crossed lovers, Romeo and Juliet. Friar Lawrence warns Romeo of being too hasty by saying, “Wisely and slow; they stumble that run fast,” but Romeo seems to not listen to him. There are many instances throughout the play in which the characters don’t quite think out their actions beforehand.

The first example of people being to hasty is in the very beginning of the play during Act 1. Sampson, in the beginning, sees Abram, a Montague, and says, “I will bite my thumb at them, which is disgrace to them if they bear it,” This biting of his thumb proves to be a poor choice as later on a whole battle between Montague and Capulet breaks out in town. Being hasty happens again in Act 2 when Romeo decides to sneak into Juliet’s garden, listen in on her monologue, and then tell her that he is there. Juliet starts expressing her love to Romeo, unaware that he is there and then Romeo says, “I take thee at thy word.”  Juliet then realizes that Romeo is there and she gets very embarrassed. Romeo is hasty again in Act 3 when Tybalt challenges Romeo to a duel. Romeo refuses to fight so Mercutio steps in and fights for Romeo. Romeo hastily tries to break up the fight by saying, “Tybalt! Mercutio! The Prince expressly hath forbid this bandying in Verona streets,” and by using his sword to create a barrier between them. By doing this however, Mercutio gets hit by Tybalt’s sword and Mercutio falls to the ground and dies. The next event in the play in which people are not thinking about their future actions is in Act 4 when Juliet decides to drink the vial of “death” potion. Juliet says, “ Romeo! Here’s drink. I drink to thee,” thinking that this potion can reunite her with Romeo. This causes everyone to think that she is really dead which will eventually cause her real death. The final example of being to quick to act in Romeo and Juliet is when Friar John decides that he could not deliver the letter to Romeo. He goes back to Friar Lawrence and says, “I could not send it (here it is again).” This hastiness causes much trouble as this makes Romeo think Juliet is actually dead. He is filled with grief so he goes to Juliet’s tomb for one final look at her and then drinks poison to kill himself. Juliet then wakes up from her “death” and realizes Romeo is dead. This fills her with grief so she kills herself with a knife.

Being hasty can lead to very dire consequences. In Romeo and Juliet it led to two lovers dying. It is better to think before you act than to be hasty and maybe kill someone unintentionally.