With this night’s revels, and expire the term
Of a despised life clos’d in my breast,
By some vile forfeit of untimely death.”
Sadly Romeo is right about this, and throughout the rest of the play we see many more examples, from both Romeo and Juliet, that they think they shall die. The Friar also who helped these “star-crossed lovers”, finally admits that he could do nothing to help in the path of fate, with appears to have worked against them:
“A greater power than we can contradict
Hath thwarted our intents.”
Perhaps nobody was responsible, merely a series of terrible, un-fortunate accidents. A lot of bad luck. Had any one of so many things been different, Romeo and Juliet could have survived. The main case of tragic chance that we have in this play is that Romeo and Juliet, mortal enemies, fall in love. On top of the big coincidence, there are a number of other coincidences in the play, all with tragic outcomes. The first being the Paris should be Juliet’s suitor just as she is falling in love with Romeo. Another is that the Friar Lawrence’s letter is not delivered, Romeo kills himself just before Juliet wakes, The Friar arrives at the Capulet’s vault just after Romeo has taken the poison. If these coincidences had not happened then the play would not have been a tragedy at all. If Romeo had arrived at the vault a few seconds later, or Juliet had woken a few seconds earlier then they would have been able to run away together. When shown examples like this it is hard to argue that the deaths did not happen by chance. These coincidences or chances happen to keep the audience on the edge of their seat. Having all the unfortunate events happen normally without a hint of chance would have made the play more boring and would of lost the audiences rapt attention.
Possibly, it was Romeo and Juliet’s lust for one another that made this happen. They knew that it would be impossible for them to be together yet they carried on despite knowing this.
The feud played an enormous part in the deaths of these children. We are introduced to the feud within the prologue and see constant signs of its presence throughout the play. The audience is given no indication as to why he family’s are arguing therefore we cannot take sides. If it were not for the feud then Romeo would not have been banished for avenging Mercutio’s death. The fight would not have taken place in the first place. Romeo and Juliet would have been allowed to marry in the first place and so they need not have died. The feud certainly started all of the problems in this tragic story of love and hate.
Again, this relates to the feud. Capulet seems perfectly happy to let Romeo and his friends come as uninvited guests to his party. Possibly, this is a sign that he is tired of the fighting. Possibly, Capulet would have not minded if Romeo and Juliet had talked about their love for each other to their parents. We cannot tell what Lord and Lady Montague would of done as there are not many places in the text where we can see what their personalities are.
I believe that every character in this story played a pat in these two lovers tragic deaths, no matter how big or small. However, I feel that these characters in particular played a large role in bringing about their deaths.
I think that the Friar played the biggest part of all in the deaths of Romeo and Juliet, he was the most at fault. Firstly, Friar Lawrence married Romeo and Juliet in secret. He had the power to start this love affair but he let it carry on knowing that the consequences, should it be found out that they were married, would be awful. The Friar was the only one with the chance to stop Romeo and Juliet, yet he married them! The Friar could have told the family’s about Romeo and Juliet which may of caused more arguments but could have resolved the feud without the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. Friar Lawrence also acted against his own instincts by letting Romeo and Juliet carry on seeing one another. He says:
“Theses violent delights have violent ends”
Secondly the Friar came up with the plan which would all go so horribly wrong. He didn’t have to get involved in it at all but he choose to and made the whole situation a lot worse. He schemed, plotted, and came up with a ridiculous plan where so many things could and did go wrong.
Lastly he ran out on Juliet in her hour of need. After planning the whole thing he chickened out once it all went wrong. He could of easily helped Juliet and at least she could have lived yet he choose to run and therefore she stabbed herself.
The nurse did not play so much of a part in the deaths as the friar however she did enough to contribute to them. Once again she could have gone and told Lord and Lady Capulet about Juliet and Romeo but she didn’t. She also was all for Juliet and Romeo getting married but when she met Paris she decided that perhaps Juliet should marry him as well as already being married to Romeo.
Obviously Romeo and Juliet played a big part in their deaths but they were the innocent parties. They merely fell in love with on another. They were the victems of adolescent passion. They did not know when they first met that they were sworn enemy’s.
As you can see from all this evidence that I have presented to you it was not one thing that led to Romeo and Juliet’s deaths but many, many things. I do not think that you can place the blame on just one thing when so many things contributed to it.
