One of the factors that helped speed up the events was the interference of the Friar. He bared considerable responsibility for the lovers’ untimely ending; he promoted all their behaviour and their marriage, with the intention of turning their ‘households’ rancour to pure love’. Despite his desperate scheme to re-unite the families, ‘violent delights have violent ends’.
The Friar was Romeo’s confidant, so the actions he took throughout the play were to please Romeo. He therefore did many things that acted as a catalyst; he performed the wedding; arranged for Romeo to go to Mantua; supplied drug for Juliet; and attempted vainly to save her when everything goes wrong. The explanations for his motives or actions could be because he has a sense of superiority, and is afraid of his shortcomings being exposed in the event of failure.
In my opinion, the Friar was responsible for setting in motion, a series of actions which lead to the couple’s tragedy. However, his motives seemed genuine; he acted out of the purest of intentions. The events are, however, fated to happen and in that sense the Friar is an innocent agent of fate.
Others contributed to the tragedy to a greater or lesser degree than the Friar. He has no part in the fatal fight between Tybalt and Mercutio; the Nurse knows as much about the real events as anyone else but shies away from involvement at key moments; the family feud eventually must lead to such a tragedy; all the characters are caught up in a sequence of events that is destined to end in the death of the lovers.
It can be said that the play might have been a comedy up until Mercutio’s death. Tybalt provoked Mercutio in fighting him, resulting in his own death. Mercutio’s affection means so much to Romeo, that we know he cannot help but seek vengeance. It is from this scene; that we start to understand the prologues ‘death- mark’d love’. From here it is clear that a tragic conclusion is inevitable. It was due to Mercutio’s death that Romeo murdered Tybalt out of rage. This led to a number of problems. It is from here a sequence of events, which is beyond their control draws them closer to their death.
Many events triggered from Tybalt’s death; the banishment of Romeo; and the result in Capulet’s rage. Capulet’s change of heart, which is a sense of responsibility for the tragic events in the second street fight, dramatically alters his attitude to Juliet. His tolerance towards Juliet has gone, and he rages at her when she refuses to marry Paris, then threatens to cast her out of the house when she persists. This leaves Juliet feeling alone and obliged to go to such lengths to conceal her marriage.
This brings me to another minor factor which could have caused the tragic ending; Paris’s interest in Juliet. We sense the lovers fighting against time as the wedding with Paris is brought forward. The wedding plan with Paris made her go to the Friar, pleading for a solution. This is when the Friar hatches his desperate rescue plan to save them.
Furthermore, there may have been another character involved in the outcome of the lovers’ death, Prince Escalus of Verona. After the scene of a double murder, he has the opportunity to enforce the death penalty on Romeo. On one hand he claims that ‘mercy but murders, pardoning those that kill’, suggesting kindness is no deterrent, yet he is content to exile Romeo in a paradoxical act of kindness.
When the Prince put Romeo into exile, many negative outcomes aroused from it. The banishment caused the separation of the lovers when they most needed each other. This left Juliet deserted; she even loses her one-time confidante, the nurse. The nurse played an important role in encouraging Juliet to marry Romeo quickly. However, she isn’t there when she most needs her. She feels betrayed as the nurse advises her to marry Paris and to be content- ‘I think it best you married with the County.’ Juliet now feels completely alone.
Romeo, when learns about his punishment of exile, loses his peace of mind. He sees banishment as ‘torture and not mercy’. Romeo’s banishment from Verona meant that he could not hear of Juliet easily, receiving news became a problem. So when the Friar attempts to tell Romeo of his plan, the message is not delivered. So, instead, from the workings of fate, he hears from Balthasar that Juliet’s ‘body sleeps in Capulet’s monument.’ Possibly, Balthasar is the cause of the tragedy, for he caused Romeo to believe in Juliet’s death, and to run to his own. Balthasar’s news sped up the events, causing Romeo to go to Juliet before she awakes. Perhaps if Balthasar had come just a fraction later, Juliet would have awakened in time to explain.
Perhaps it was due to the ‘ancient grudge’ that caused their death. The tragic end of their love is a direct consequence of a main theme in the play: a society at war with itself, they find themselves caught in a society of hatred. It is love against the odds. A Montague and a Capulet in the society never got along, let alone fell in love with each other. This made it virtually impossible for the lovers to speak to their parents; they knew the two families would never accept the concept of their marriage. So they’re only choice was to do it secretly. Perhaps if their parents were more understanding and decided to put a cease to the family feud and discuss the marriage, maybe Romeo and Juliet’s marriage would have been a success.
However, the grudge continued, and the family feud that existed made it so hard for the lovers to cope; they are torn between two different worlds. From the very first moment they met, we were aware of the dangers, the bitterness of Tybalt, the perils of a Montague being discovered in the Capulet orchard, and the street fighting in the heat of the summer. Romeo and Juliet are, however, powerless in a world not of their making and one which they are unable to influence- at least not until they die.
Romeo and Juliet is a play in which you could not pin point who was to blame for the death of the lovers. In my opinion, they all equally contributed to the final tragedy. The Friar sped up the events, encouraging them and supplied them with many negative tools; the fight between Tybalt and Mercutio was the turning point of the play; Tybalt’s death made Capulet angry and change his attitude towards Juliet, and caused Romeo to get banished by the Prince; Balthasar delivered false information of Juliet’s death speeding up Romeo’s arrival to the tomb; the wedding plans with Paris; negative outlooks on relationship from the lovers themselves; the rescue plan failed; nurse betraying Juliet, making her feel alone and deserted; and most importantly the family feud which forced the lovers to conceal their relationship hence always being put in a state of insecurity.
Inevitably as events moves so quickly, mistakes are made, and we start to believe the final catastrophe lies in nobody’s hands but fate. All of the events seem to be pointing at the same tragic ending. In the prologue we are told that the ‘starcross’d lovers’ have an inevitable outcome- their death. The vital message fails to reach Romeo, Juliet rouses herself from her unconscious state fractionally too late to save Romeo and herself. The lovers are driven unstoppably through a sequence of events, and are caught up in a train of circumstances, which is beyond their power to control, it seems inevitability is not without irony.