William Shakespeare was born on 26 April 1564 (died 23 April 1616), in Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire. Shakespeare was a poet, playwright and actor and wrote approximately 38 plays, 154 sonnets and two long narrative poems. Shakespeare wrote many successful plays such as Julius Caesar, Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet. Romeo and Juliet was written in the mid-1590s in London and is still considered one of the greatest plays ever written. It is a play based on a long dispute between two families, the Montagues and the Capulets, and takes place in the cities of Verona and Mantua, Italy, over the course of four short days. From constant arguments to deaths and exile, Romeo and Juliet continue to love each other until the end. The show starts off feeling a little happy and a little comical, but ultimately ends up as a tragedy. In this essay I will analyze how Shakespeare presents the consequences of Romeo's impulsive behavior. Romeo's first impulsive behavior is not long in coming. Romeo is arguing with his cousin Benvolio about whether to attend the masquerade banquet at the Capulet house. Although Romeo is a little hesitant at first, thinking that it is dangerous and inappropriate to enter the Capulets' house with Benvolio and Mercutio since they are Montagues “And we mean well in going to this guise, / But it is not intelligence to go . ” (Romeo), eventually changes his mind and ends up going. This clearly shows that Romeo, being young and immature, cannot make the right decisions and lets the spark of the moment take over him without clearly thinking about the consequences of his actions. He even claims to have learned in a dream that going to the party was a bad idea, which Shakespeare foreshadows Romeo's death... middle of paper ......not so irrational and so impulsive before killing himself he would have thought to at least speak to Brother Lawrence before doing so. If he had spoken to the Friar, he would have known that Juliet was not really dead and that everything had been staged so that they could be together. Unfortunately, because he wasn't really thinking rationally, he failed to do the above-mentioned things and drank the poison minutes before Juliet woke up. When Juliet woke up and realized that their plan wasn't working, she decided to end her life so she could be with her loved one for eternity. In essence, most of the tragic things that happened in the play were due to Romeo not sitting down and thinking calmly and carefully about what consequences his actions would bring. This impulsive behavior has led him to problematic and poorly made decisions, which end in this tragic ending