The Mistakes I made
I carefully snip my blooming flowers as I let my mind wander to my reckless Romeo and wonder
about how he’s feeling. I pick up my basket and proceed into my cell, as I walk, I sigh and furrow my
brow as I recall his melancholy mood as he grumbled about his unrequited feelings for a young woman
named Rosaline. I chuckled remembering Romeo’s tear-streaked face and his trembling voice as he told
me the news of her vow to chastity and how she can never love him back, and quite frankly I applaud her
for that choice because Veronas young men are seeking love in the wrong places and chasing after
something that is just based on infatuation, but perhaps that’s how it is for the youth.
A flurry of hurried footsteps interrupted my thoughts followed by a familiar voice, “Good
Morning Father!”. I smile as I embrace him, he may be troublesome sometimes but he’s like a son to me,
just a young boy capable of being something great. “Whose voice greets me so sweetly this early
morning?”I ask him, if he is up this early at his young age it is most likely one of two reasons, 1: you’re
beginning to age or 2: you haven’t been sleeping. Romeo confirms the latter with enthusiasm that startled
me, “God pardon sin! Were you with Rosaline?” Perhaps he’s no different from the other young men of
Verona, moving on from heartbreak in a flash. He goes on about how he is over Rosaline, which I am
confused about. How? So soon? But what shocks me the most is him asking to be wed by today! I watch
him closely and see his expression brighten as he talks about this new woman, called Juliet, a Caplulet,
who has feelings for him as he does her. Only problem is that she’s from a feuding family that when
joined with the montagues wreaks havoc over the calm streets of Verona. It truly is remarkable how he
went from exclaiming Rosaline as his love and being crushed when he found out the feelings weren’t
reciprocated, to fawning over a new woman. Was his feelings just based on the surface level of intimacy
and infatuation, the rushing feeling being ‘in love’? For which he couldn’t get from Rosaline, but now can
from Juliet. But as quickly this newfound love came to him, it shall leave the same way.
Finally Romeo and Juliet are brought to my cell to get united as one. As a holy man and the only
seemingly responsible adult left in the room, I’m beginning to think this isn’t the wisest idea, I weigh the
benefits and negatives of marrying this young couple. If they were to join hands maybe it will finally reign
peace over Verona and stop the feuding between the Capulets and Montagues, but by agreeing to marry
them is contradicting the very thing I told Romeo about rushing full force into his desires and passions. I
agree to marry them warily, after seeing how they long for each other by their embrace. It doesn’t help
that Romeo keeps saying such worrying things like, “If you join our hands with holy words, then
love-devouring death can do whatever it wants”, and Juliet says similar things from what I’ve heard from
the nurse. They appear to be unable to survive without one another, as though being in love and young is
the trigger that ignites their lethal cravings for one another. The world is the enemy in their eyes, so they
go out and get married behind their parents' backs to prove to themselves that it's real and a true
commitment when in reality, ‘such passionate joys have violent endings. They die in their moment of
triumph, just like a spark and gunpowder destroy themselves in an explosion once they touch’. Yet I
hurried along and married them, and that was where I made one of my many mistakes that cost lives.
​
Not even up to 24 hours and tragedy has struck for the newly wed couple, it seems that fate just
isn’t on their side. And I was right, I said it. Lives were lost, poor Mercutio slain by Tybalt and Tybalt by
who was slain by Romeo. I worry for him and his safety now that he must be banished from Verona. I
worry about how this will affect his newfound marriage seeing as how they can barely breathe without one
another, I sadly replay the news to Romeo who is hiding in my cell and watch his face fall. I know he will
be upset but I didn’t expect him to say banishment is the same as death to him. What an ungrateful child!
The Nurse arrives and it seems Juliet is weeping the same way Romeo is, showing how similar they are in
that way, mourning the death of their love that has not yet died. I try to reassure him and put some sense
into his head by telling him to stop behaving with so much emotion and suggest a simple and slightly
far-fetched plan. If all goes well and according to plan it surely will be okay. Or so I tell myself…
​
Another worrying obstacle was brought up concerning Juliet, but I’m willing to take a risk and
give Juliet a potion made of my herbs to avoid the unwanted marriage with Paris, by making her appear
dead for 48 hours. Another simple solution right? Undoubtedly, doing this is treading uncomfortable
territory and betraying all I’ve known as a man of the church. I have to wonder if taking these great
lengths for this couple will strike me across the face in the end.
Later…
​
I find myself looking at the corpses of three young people that had been taken from us far too
quickly. How could I go and do something this foolish, as a man with holy orders I should be ashamed of
myself for thinking I could solve this so easily, not taking into consideration the very real lives involved.
Now myself and everyone involved must bear the consequences of my actions, a dead montague, capulet
and kinsman of the prince. I rashly used people like how I used my plants and herbs, experimenting with
them until I get the results I want, so I confess to get myself out of this. Thankfully the people of Verona
see me as a respected man and let me go, unsurprisingly, I see Capulet and Montague conversing together
in a civil manner at the funeral, bringing one good thing that came out of this disaster, bringing peace to
Verona once and for all. But all this has educated me many things about what love is for the young people
these days, Romeo and Juliet have showed me that the fleeting nature of youth and passion when hand in
hand clash, ripping and clawing at each other until there is nothing to remain and both lovers involved end
up in an unfortunate situation and in their case, six feet under. It has taught me a valuable lesson that can
be useful to us all to take things slow with the person we love if we don’t want to meet tragedy face to
face in the end.