However, there is reason to believe that the Friar was not at fault for the deaths and was simply doing what he thought best. The Friar was a romantic at heart and believed in true love, who hoped that with the union of Romeo and Juliet would come the reconciliation of their families. He said, “For the alliance so happy prove to turn your household’s rancour to pure love”. We can defend the Friar by saying that, because of his position, his dishonesty served to satisfy the families and prevent stirring up chaos. He obviously valued his job a great deal. Also, Juliet almost forced the Friar to give her a way out of marrying Paris by pulling out a knife and threatening, “Do thou but call my resolution wise and I’ll help it presently” which gave him no choice but to help her and Romeo in the interest of saving her life.
It is fair to say that Romeo and Juliet had substantial roles in their own demise. Firstly, Romeo was fickle and should not have rushed into marriage considering his history with women. He was “in love” with Rosaline at the beginning of the play, and moved onto Juliet following his rejection. Another reason is that Romeo killed Tybalt, which in turn was the reason that he was banished to Mantua. If he had considered the consequences and refrained from violence, this would not have happened. He acted in haste when he killed himself, thinking that Juliet was dead, saying, “O true apothecary, the drugs are quick, thus with a kiss I die”. If he had had the benefit of hindsight, he would have realised that it was not wise to take his own life. Juliet also played a part by manipulating the Friar into marrying her and Romeo.
Another main influence on the tragedy was Capulet. When Juliet stood up to him and refused to marry Paris he called her “baggage” and “tallow-face”, and ordered her to “get to the church o’ Thursday or never after look me in the face”. Juliet may have got the impression from this sentence that her father did not love her nor have respect for her and so she would not be missed if she ran away with Romeo. A 16th century audience watching the play would have been shocked and horrified at Capulet’s insults and would then see him as a villain, driving his daughter to her own death with his abuse.
We perhaps should not lay all of the blame on Capulet, though, because it is fair to say that he was looking after the best interests of Juliet and his family. It is ironic that he relented to let Juliet marry Paris after previously feeling that she was too young to do so. He thought that she was grieving for Tybalt and that the excitement of marriage would help her overcome this. In fact, she cried for the fact that her husband had been banished to Mantua. Also, arranged marriages were commonplace in at the time – a girl’s father would choose her husband, so Capulet must have believed he had found a rich, eligible young suitor in Paris. We can imagine his disappointment and humiliation when Juliet rejected him, because this would bring shame on the family. Far from being cruel, he would have been looking after the family’s best interests by disassociating himself from Juliet if she did not marry Paris.
The “ancient grudge” mentioned at the beginning of the play influenced many of the events in Romeo and Juliet. The feud had continued for generations between the Montague and Capulet families and was passed on to even the servants. When Romeo and Juliet fell in love, they knew they would have to marry in secret because their families would have been outraged and most likely have disowned, them – demonstrated when Juliet said, “my only love sprung from my only hate”. The feud caused Tybalt to hate Romeo and want to fight him, leading to Tybalt and Mercutio’s death and then Romeo’s banishment. Subsequently, he and Juliet died. Hatred and love are similar in the way that they make people behave, as Tybalt’s hatred for Romeo ended in him killing Mercutio, and Romeo’s love for Mercutio made him kill Tybalt.
The themes of fate and destiny are prevalent in Shakespeare’s play. For example, there is a reference to the stars at the beginning of the play, when Romeo and Juliet are referred to as “star-crossed lovers”. At the time, people were extremely religious and believed that the alignment of the stars had relevance to the events in their lives. There was an extreme sense of foreboding around the time of Mercutio’s and Tybalt’s deaths. “A plague o’ both your houses” were the words uttered by Mercutio after he was slain, perhaps influencing the fate of the houses of Montague and Capulet. Romeo then said, “This day’s black fate on moe days doth depend: this but begins the woe others must end”. It was as if Romeo was predicting his own fate. A sense of foreboding was lent to the play by the dreams of the characters. Juliet had a dream in which she envisioned Romeo dead:
“O God, I have an ill-divining soul! Methinks I see thee, now thou art so low, as one dead in the bottom of a tomb. Either my eyesight fails or thou look’st pale”.
Then, later on, Romeo had the same dream – “I dreamt my lady came and found me dead. Strange dream that gives a dead man leave to think!”
Ultimately, I believe that fate was the biggest influence of the lovers’ deaths, because this play was written for a 16th century audience who would have deeply held superstition. They believed that the patterns of the stars dictated events that happened in their lives, hence the term “star-crossed lovers”. Romeo and Juliet could never be together because it was written in the stars that they would never be happy.
