Romeo and Juliet Theme of Foolishness and Folly

"Wisely and slow – they stumble that run fast," a priest warns an impetuous young lover in Romeo and Juliet. But nobody spends much time pausing to think in Romeo and Juliet. Passionate love and passionate hatred propel the characters to immediate action. Fate may have a hand in the deaths of Romeo and Juliet – who both commit suicide rather than live without each other – but so does rashness and haste. Thinking his love is dead, Romeo kills himself to be with Juliet. If he had waited only a few minutes longer, he would have discovered that Juliet was actually alive. Youthful foolishness leads to Romeo and Juliet's tragic end, but so does the foolishness of those older and supposedly wiser – including Friar Laurence, who comes up with the disastrous plan to fake Juliet's death.

1. Which characters are guilty of acting hastily or foolishly in the play? What are the consequences of refusing to act "wisely and slow"?
2. Does the play ever critique the Capulet/Montague feud?
3. Why does Romeo commit suicide, exactly? What happens just moments after he takes his life?
4. In the last lines of the play, the Prince says, "Some shall be pardon'd, and some punished" for their roles in the tragedy. To which characters do you think he refers?

The play suggests that the long-standing Capulet/Montague feud is completely ridiculous – it's not clear what caused the feud to begin with and its consequences (the deaths of Romeo and Juliet) are senseless.

Although the Friar warns against rash and foolish behavior on more than one occasion in the play, he too is guilty of folly in Romeo and Juliet.