Romeo himself is partly to blame for the final tragedy. He is a great believer in fate; he blames many events in the play on fate. For example, when he kills Tybalt, he exclaims:
‘O, I am fortunes fool!’ (Act 3, Scene 1)
Personally, I don’t believe that killing Tybalt was an act of fate, because Romeo has the ability to control himself. I believe killing Tybalt was the biggest contributing factor and was a catalyst to the tragedy to the final tragedy as it caused his banishment, which caused the Friar to make the plans for the potion, which was the event that directly caused the tragedy. This attitude of blaming fate for things that go wrong means Romeo never regrets his actions and contributes to the fact that he doesn’t think before he acts. Romeo doesn’t seem to think about the consequences of his actions in other parts of the play. In the balcony scene in act 1, Romeo does not seem to care when Juliet warns him he will be killed if he is caught:
JULIET: ‘… The orchard walls are hard to climb,
And the place death, considering who thou art,
If any of my kinsman find thee here
ROMEO: ‘For stony limits can’t hold love out’ (Act 2, Scene 2)
This is an example that Romeo lets his feelings dictate his actions, and I believe this was an important factor to the tragedy of the play. His actions could be seen to have been caused because of a ‘teenage’ attitude or even because of the social conventions of the time. Even though he didn’t want to duel Tybalt because of his marriage to Juliet, he still did because of his pride. At that time, to turn down a duel was seen as being a traitor to his family.
Romeo is a good example of another theme in the play which is haste. Many characters, especially Romeo make hurried decisions which contribute to the final outcome. For example, when Lord Capulet thinks Juliet is mourning Tybalt’s death, he brings her marriage to Paris forward to Wednesday as he thinks it will cheer her up. This does the opposite, as Juliet was mourning because Romeo had been banished. This added to her desperation and she turned to the Friar who made the plans for her to drink the potion, which led to the tragedy.
The whole play is filled with haste. It only lasts for five days, from Sunday to Wednesday. Shakespeare's intention was to not give the characters or audience anytime for thought or to reflect on the events. Right from the start, on the hustle and bustle in the streets of Verona, the play starts on a rushed note with a fight scene. There is no plot setting or an introduction to the characters, but the whole play is just action and every event can be seen as a cause of the tragedy. It seems that the lovers are caught up in the events and that there is no way out and because there is no sub-plot in the play all the attention is on the lovers. This adds to the audience’s tension as they know the tragedy is inevitable. As the plot moves so quickly, then mistakes are made. The message vital to the Friars plan fails to reach Romeo. Juliet wakes from the potion too late to save the lovers lives.
I believe the person who is mainly to blame for the tragedy is the Friar. He has a very close relationship with Romeo and he is aware of his families' feud. His actions in the play have dramatic effects in deciding the final outcome. He performs the wedding ceremony, arranges for Romeo to go to Mantua, he gives the sleeping potion to Juliet and makes little attempt to save her when things go wrong. The main reason he performs the wedding ceremony is because he believes it will bring the two families together:
‘To turn your households rancour to pure love’
He seems to be nervous about the wedding as he says: ‘These violent delights have violent ends’.
His plan had already started to work as Romeo didn’t want to fight Tybalt, but when Romeo was banished his plan was doomed for failure.
He then makes another plan for Juliet to escape to Mantua. This plan is even riskier than the first, and it causes the final tragedy. I believe the Friar is too optimistic that his plans will work. He shouldn’t have interfered in their love in the first place, as it only made matters worse and the lovers ended up relying on him as he was their last resort and he was the only person who took their love seriously. Although he meant well, he only made maters worse with his ambitious plans.
Although I believe fate is certainly the main theme of the play, Romeo and Juliet wouldn’t still be a popular play today unless Shakespeare’s intention was more complex. There are a number of other factors that also contributed. The social convention at the time the play is set contribute. Romeo and Juliet felt that not many people would take their love seriously, as marriage in the 1590’s was for money rather than love. Juliet’s family were interested in marrying her to Paris because he was a Count (Sir) and was related to the Prince of Verona. The parents were responsible for deciding their daughters’ marriage but Romeo and Juliet decided to ignore these conventions by getting married and by refusing to marry Paris. Their attitudes have some relevance to the teenagers of today because they are quite rebellious. They are an example of strong willed youth acting against society’s prejudice. This kind of teenage attitude can be seen in all periods of history. They could be perceived as a pair of carefree teenagers who don’t care about others. Romeo lets his feelings dictate his actions and Juliet disobeyed her parents. This also could have been because the play was set at the time of the renaissance and Romeo and Juliet were following a new way of thinking by going against the accepted social conventions. This new way of thinking adopted by the lovers causes clashes in the play. For example when Romeo gatecrashes the Capulet’s party Tybalt wanted to duel Romeo, as this type of challenge was accepted as normal according to the conventions. This incident led to the chain of events that caused the fights in act 3 scene 1, in which Tybalt killed Mercutio and Romeo Killed Tybalt.
Throughout the play, there is a sense of doom, or weight in the language Shakespeare uses. Shakespeare uses contrasting words to show the contrast between the unconditional love of Romeo and Juliet to the hate of the feud.
‘Pale as lead’ (act 2, scene 5)
The contrast between the two words is what makes it effective. He used the word pale to describe getting old and lead is heavy. This is what provides the contrast between the two words.
For example, Romeo sees Juliet as the light in the darkness of the feud:
‘A rich jewel in an ethiops ear’ (Act 1, scene 5)
Shakespeare uses similes such as ‘pale as lead’ (act 2, scene 5) and metaphors such as:
‘Where on a sudden one hath wounded me,
That’s by me wounded;’ (act 2, scene 3)
He also uses personification such as:
‘Now old desire does in his deathbed lie,
And young affection gapes to be his heir’ (Act 2, prologue)
All these examples of language techniques used makes the play feel heavy when read. This adds to the tension the audience feel as they know that the tragedy is inevitable. This doom could be because of the time the play is set. It is set in a time when the whole country is anxious. This is because Queen Elizabeth was ill and there was no heir to the throne. This could be why Shakespeare decided to set a play where the audience know that the tragedy is just round the corner.
To conclude, I do not believe any particular person or theme was to blame, although the Friar made the largest contribution to the tragedy. The tragedy was down to a number of wrong decisions made by the main characters, and by coincidences. Social conventions, haste and fate all contribute to the tragedy.
