Romeo Thinking About Killing Himself: 20 Quotes from Romeo and Juliet

In Romeo and Juliet, Romeo’s intense emotions often spiral into despair. As the play progresses, his thoughts increasingly turn toward suicide and death—not only as escape from pain, but as an act of loyalty and love. Shakespeare paints a portrait of youthful passion colliding tragically with impulse, loss, and fate.

1. “Here’s much to do with hate, but more with love. / Why, then, O brawling love! O loving hate!”

Act I, Scene I
Romeo is confused and emotionally overwhelmed. Though not suicidal here, his language foreshadows emotional instability and the paradox of love and death.

2. “I have lost myself; I am not here: / This is not Romeo, he’s some other where.”

Act I, Scene I
Romeo already begins to disassociate from himself. A subtle, early sign of suicidal ideation—he feels emotionally absent, lost.

3. “Love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs.”

Act I, Scene I
A poetic metaphor showing how love clouds his judgment and weighs heavily on his soul—planting seeds of inner darkness.

4. “O, teach me how I should forget to think!”

Act I, Scene I
Romeo longs to numb his mind—an early cry for escape from emotional suffering, which later turns into a desire for death.

5. “Come, death, and welcome! Juliet wills it so.”

Act II, Scene VI
Here, Romeo welcomes death for the sake of love. It’s romanticized, showing how love and death blur together in his mind.

6. “Ha, banishment! Be merciful, say ‘death’.”

Act III, Scene III
Upon hearing of his banishment, Romeo says he’d rather be executed. To him, life without Juliet is no life at all.

7. “Calling death ‘banished,’ / Thou cutt’st my head off with a golden axe.”

Act III, Scene III
He equates banishment with death, reinforcing how deeply he ties his identity to being with Juliet.

8. “Tis torture, and not mercy: heaven is here, / Where Juliet lives.”

Act III, Scene III
Life away from Juliet is like hell to Romeo. The thought of being without her pushes him further toward suicidal despair.

9. “Thou canst not speak of that thou dost not feel.”

Act III, Scene III
Romeo lashes out at Friar Laurence for failing to understand his suicidal feelings. He believes no one can grasp his agony.

10. “What, rouse thee, man! Thy Juliet is alive… / There art thou happy.” (Friar Laurence)

Act III, Scene III
Though not Romeo’s line, this is spoken during his suicide attempt. Friar Laurence stops him from stabbing himself, making this a pivotal moment in Romeo’s contemplation of death.

11. “Come, cordial and not poison, go with me / To Juliet’s grave.”

Act V, Scene I
Romeo buys poison to kill himself, calling it a “cordial”—a sweet remedy. Death, to him, is now healing and reunion.

12. “Well, Juliet, I will lie with thee tonight.”

Act V, Scene I
A clear declaration of suicidal intent. He makes peace with his plan to die beside her.

13. “Let me have / A dram of poison… That the life-weary taker may fall dead.”

Act V, Scene I
He actively seeks poison designed for suicide—calm, resolved, and utterly lost in grief.

14. “Come, bitter conduct, come, unsavoury guide!”

Act V, Scene III
As he prepares to drink the poison, Romeo welcomes death, seeing it as a path to Juliet.

15. “Here’s to my love! [Drinks.] O true apothecary! / Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die.”

Act V, Scene III
His final words are poetic and tragic. Suicide, in his eyes, is the final act of love.

16. “Eyes, look your last! / Arms, take your last embrace!”

Act V, Scene III
Romeo gives a ceremonial farewell to life. His suicide is deliberate, poeticized, and intensely emotional.

17. “O my love, my wife! / Death, that hath sucked the honey of thy breath, / Hath had no power yet upon thy beauty.”

Act V, Scene III
He’s in awe of Juliet’s (apparent) beauty in death—his words mournful and worshipful, as he prepares to die.

18. “A dateless bargain to engrossing death!”

Act V, Scene I
He sees death as an eternal contract—no time left, no return. He’s fully committed.

19. “By heaven, I love thee better than myself, / For I come hither armed against myself.”

Act V, Scene III (to Paris)
Romeo tells Paris he came to the tomb intending self-harm, not violence—another confirmation of his suicidal mindset.

20. “Is it e’en so? Then I defy you, stars!”

Act V, Scene I
He learns of Juliet’s “death” and rejects fate entirely, choosing to take control of destiny—through suicide.

⚰️ Final Thoughts

Romeo’s tragic arc is built on youthful emotion, impulsive love, and ultimately, self-destruction. His suicide isn’t just an act of despair—it’s a final attempt to preserve a love he believes can’t survive in the real world. Shakespeare masterfully weaves love and death together, making Romeo’s journey one of the most heartbreakingly poetic expressions of suicidal passion in literature.