The conclusion felt rushed :(

So it seems odd, to me at least that the priest of all people gave Juliet the poison necessary to fake hear own death. There were a hundred other courses of action that the priest could and should have recommended. I don't mean to rag on someone as legendary as William Shakespeare, I know I will never accomplish what that man did, but with recognition comes criticism. I'm attempting to summarize the ending in one word, and 'rushed' is what keeps popping into my head, not stupid, reckless, love, or even tragedy but instead rushed.

*Now you can burn me at the proverbial stake*

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Originally Posted by Kale Dane

So it seems odd, to me at least that the priest of all people gave Juliet the poison necessary to fake hear own death. There were a hundred other courses of action that the priest could and should have recommended. I don't mean to rag on someone as legendary as William Shakespeare, I know I will never accomplish what that man did, but with recognition comes criticism. I'm attempting to summarize the ending in one word, and 'rushed' is what keeps popping into my head, not stupid, reckless, love, or even tragedy but instead rushed.

*Now you can burn me at the proverbial stake*

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The thing about Romeo and Juliet is that it is a tragedy in the fact that they die but they have no tragic flaw- 'the folly of youth' is a flaw more present in the comedies. Their fall wouldn't have come about as naturally as Othello or Macbeth's and thus this plan that will go wrong is devised. One could say that Shakespeare is exploring fate vs. chance, as he does in a lot of his plays, but Romeo and Juliet is a very early play. He hadn't attempted a tragedy before (although Titus Andronicus is listed as a tragedy, it's more an attempt at a gory revenge drama, a popular genre back then. Richard III is sort of a tragedy but it's actually a history)- he was good at complex plotting (perhaps why he included the poison plot at the end) and so he might have experimented with putting that into a tragic situation. Romeo and Juliet, at least by Shakespeare's standards, feels more of an experiment than a masterpiece.

Many of his plays have moments that are less than sublime, yes I agree they may seem rushed. But whatever the problems with the plots (which were often not his own,) the style the finesse, and particularly the insight with which he dilivers them, is unparalled.

I agree that it felt rushed but this could have been the desire of Shakespeare.
Juliet approached the Friar with the intention of killing herself if she were to marry Paris which left the Friar having to come up with a solution on the spot. Working with herbs and potions he may have just returned from researching that very potion and it was the first thing that came to mind.
The possibilities are endless but I do feel that the rushed feeling was due to everyone acting spontaneously and it was just the way it was written.