Romeo and Juliet

Who is to blame?

Romeo and Juliet' tells the story of 'a pair of star-crossed lovers' and sends the reader into a whirlwind of love and passion of the timeless love story. Torn between the families, in what seems to be a never ending family feud Romeo and Juliet is one of the most romantic stories ever told, filled with forbidden and undeniable love. The play 'Romeo and Juliet' was written around 1594-1596 and perhaps William Shakespeare's most famous play. It's so famous in fact that people are still reading it over 400 years later. It has had many interpretation over the years, one of the most recent, 'Romeo and Juliet', was a film and released in 2007, it was a modern interpretation yet with the same script text as the original. The play is still loved and has been used and altered in many forms for example ballets, musicals and there have been many plays and film editions of the beloved Shakespearean classic.

In the play there are two main families the Capulets and the Montgues, who are sworn enemies and hate each other deeply each family has a child. Juliet, from the Capulets and Romeo from the Montgues, the pair fall in love and through out the play the reader sees the desperation of the characters and their longing to be together. They marry, with help from Friar Laurence their trusted ally. Unfortunately, Shakespeare was fond of tragedy s and this was one to, the lovers take their lives.

The reader or the watcher already knows that by the start of the play because in the prologue it tells the grisly events to come though it interests thee audience to understand how such a grave circumstance could occur, not only that but it is a world famous play so most already know the story, if not in detail then at least the plot. Also in Shakespeare's time the population isn't as educated as it is today and as a result it was harder to grasp their attention so writers would use the prologue as a way to achieve their attention.

The prologue tells the ending, the two lovers commit suicide but the question is who is to blame for their deaths?

I think the following characters are to blame for the tragic deaths of Romeo and of Juliet;

Lord Capulet, Lady Capulet, Juliet's Nurse, Paris, Juliet herself, Tybalt, Romeo, the Prince, Balthazar, Mercutio, Friar John and lastly Friar Laurence.

I don't think that Lord or Lady Montague are to blame at all, they don't seem to have a pivotal role, except on being the parents of Romeo one of the main characters but are not to blame for his or Julie's deaths. I also do not think that Benvolio – Romeo's friend is to blame, he wasn't really involved as much as the other characters and didn't really play a part in their deaths. The Apothecary is the one who supplied Romeo with the poison which he used to take his own life, though he supplied him his death he isn't really to blame he was paid to do it, it's his job and if he didn't make it then Romeo would have probably travelled and found a different Apothecary to make the drug for him. Though it was illegal to supply it, it isn't his fault, he wasn't the cause as to why Romeo wanted to commit suicide.

I personally think that everyone contributed to the deaths of Romeo and Juliet, some more than others but were focal points and key to the play, in most cases without the event or person then perhaps neither Romeo or Juliet would have died.

Lord Capulet

Lord Capulet was the leader of the Capulet family, whom lived in Verona and was in battle with their enemies – the Montgues, Juliet was his daughter.

Lord Capulet was one of the more rather flamboyant of characters. He made quick decisions and was often seen as bad tempered and violent.

In Act 3 Scene 5, Lord Capulet informs Juliet of the 'good' news of the plan for her to wed County Paris. He was persist and demanded her to wed him, he calls her 'young baggage' this implies that he had little respect for his daughter, her wishes or feelings, describing her as 'baggage' as if he is suffering from having her, like she is a burden to him and that could be why he was so insistent on the marriage to be relieved of her because in Shakespearean times girls were seen as a bad thing, because you had to pay to maintain them, like they weren't worth the effort as if the were a burden or 'baggage' on their family.

Lord Capulet also calls Juliet a 'hilding' which means a worthless creature which again portrays how little he respects her, his anger and feelings towards Juliet at that time.

He also says 'my fingers itch' 'itch' means strike, so it conveys his violence and foul temper that over her rejected Paris he scolded her so and wanted to strike her.

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Lord Capulet also calls Juliet a 'hilding' which means a worthless creature which again portrays how little he respects her, his anger and feelings towards Juliet at that time.

He also says 'my fingers itch' 'itch' means strike, so it conveys his violence and foul temper that over her rejected Paris he scolded her so and wanted to strike her.

He seems incredibly forceful, demanding her to wed, he says 'Go with Paris to Saint Peter's church or I will drag thee', this again shows his violence, persistence and rude nature. Juliet, already married to Romeo who she loves dearly obviously didn't want to marry Paris and even after begging and pleading with her father for her not to need to wed to Paris he still demands her too and threatens if she says no, threatening to 'drag' her to the church.

Lord Capulet also threats to throw Juliet out onto the streets, to disown, leave her to fend for himself, he also expresses how little he cares for her and doesn't care if she died and how enraged he was for her to defy and disobey him. He says 'Out on her' shouting, demanding her immediate remove, yelling at Juliet and his wife saying how she wants her out of his house for as long as she defy s him.

It is partially Lord Capulets fault because he was arrogant and tried to pressure Juliet to marry Paris, he was unsupported also his hate for the rival family made it hard for Juliet to have feelings for Romeo or to express the feelings. Lord Capulet was also impulsive and possessive. He first sets up the wedding for Paris and Juliet then decides to move it forward which made complications for Romeo and Juliet, things were rushed as they are very much during the play.

Lord Capulet threatens Juliet a lot in the scene, he also says 'Get thee to church on Thursday or never look me in the face', he's threatening her, telling her that unless she marries Paris on Thursday then he will never want to she her again, he thinks she worthless, like a possession. He is very possessive over her and regards her and under him 'Send for the County, go tell him this I'll have this knot knit up by morning' he treats it like an obstacle to get over a hurdle not as as if Juliet has real feelings and that he can just have that 'knot knit up' by a wave of his hand, he feels in control and he is.

Lady Capulet

I don't think Lady Capulet is much to blame, but she isn't helpful to the situation either. She isn't really like a mother to Juliet the Nurse was, but that was how things was then. Juliet begs her mother not to “cast me not away” as her father did but her mother is un supportive, she could possibly be frightened of Lord Capulet. Once Lord Capulet has left and Juliet has pleaded with her mother to delay the marriage she replies by saying 'talk not to me, I'll not speak a word. Do as thou wilt, for I have done with thee.' This basically means that she doesn't want to speak to Juliet, she won't answer even if she did she could do what she wants because she is done with her.

This conveys Lady Capulet as a weaker character, perhaps ruled by her husband Lord Capulet and also cruel and uncaring towards her daughter Juliet the way she says 'I have done with thee', implies that she washes her hands of her and wants nothings to do with her any more which isn't the behaviour you would expect from a mother.

Lady Capulet is partially to blame because of her lack or help, support and guidance. She could have acted more like a mother to Juliet.

Juliet's Nurse

Juliet's Nurse is more, in my opinion, to blame than her mother because unlike her mother Juliet confided in the Nurse and in some way relied on her for moral support and help in situations like the one she was going through at the time.

The Nurse, before showered Juliet with praise and attention, she had also helped be the go between for Romeo and Juliet earlier in the play.

Nurse encourages Juliet to see Romeo 'Go, girl, seek happy nights to happy days', she is basically encouraging the very young and inexperienced to go have fun, meet boys.

She always helps arrange their marriage and helps her, encourages her to marry Romeo 'Then hie hence to Friar Laurence' cell...There stays a husband to make you a wife'

The Nurse helped their marriage a lot, she practically planned it for them!

She stays loyal to Juliet even after Tybalt was slain by Romeo but she later gave up on trying to help her united with Romeo and betrays Juliet by trying to convince her into marrying the County Paris. She mostly did it because of Juliet's father Lord Capulet who was very forceful with his opinion and made sure his were always the right opinion.

She says 'I think it best you married with the county' after helping Romeo and Juliet to get together for so long, she turns and says it's for the best but Juliet just feels betrayed. She tries to make Paris look better than Romeo 'O, he's a lovely gentleman!' she also tries convincing Juliet that Romeo isn't with it 'Romeo's a dish clout to him' The Nurse wasn't helpful to Juliet in that scene, she felt betrayed by her trying to say Romeo is bad, Paris is much better and that she should marry Paris instead. She also says ' an eagle, madam, hath not so green, so quick, so fair an eye, As Paris hath' to try and persuade Juliet into marrying Paris which she doesn't for she is married to and deeply in love with Romeo.

Juliet's Nurse is to blame because she helped her to marry Romeo, then later changed her mind leaving Juliet without the advice she wanted and feeling betrayed and loss of a dear friend so she consults the Friar and gives her the potion, which leads to the gruesome misunderstanding that ended with the death of the 'death-mark'd lovers'.

I think the Nurse is more to blame than Lady Capulet but less to blame than Lord Capulet.

If she had offered her advice Juliet might not have gone to the Friar and wouldn't have taken the potion.

Paris

Paris is probably one of the least to blame, although his desire to marry Juliet was the reason why it was hard for her and Romeo to be together and in turn made her go to the Friar. At the end of the play he is killed by Romeo but it doesn't make much of a difference to why Romeo and Juliet committed suicide, but because he wanted to marry Juliet is caused a lot of problems for the 'star-cross'd lovers',

So Paris isn't directly to blame but as he wanted to marry Juliet it meant Lord Capulet put pressure on her, she went to the Friar for the fake poison which resulted in their deaths, so due to his infatuation with Juliet, he, is also to blame for their deaths.

Juliet

Juliet is also to blame for her own death and of Romeo's. Juliet was very quick to marry, also she was the one to propose to Romeo 'Thy purpose marriage send me word tomorrow' Romeo and Juliet eloped, they were very fast to marry, marrying only the next day! Also she was mean to the Nurse, whom she thought betrayed her calling her an 'ancient damnation'. Disappointed with the Nurses advice, Juliet goes to see the Friar who supplies her with the potion. If Juliet had not taken the potion then Romeo would have never believed her to be dead and she eventually could have run away with him but a problem with that was that she was due to wed County Paris the next day, so she had to do it that night or marry him, so Juliet didn't have much of a choice. She even commented on how the relationship was going to fast 'I have no joy in this contract, it is too rash, too un advised, too sudden'.

I think Juliet is to blame for her and Romeo's death because obviously she killed herself but I think she is less to blame than her father because even though she killed herself she didn't have much of a choice, she was in a hard and frustrating situation also she didn't mean for it to kill Romeo and had no reason to.

Tybalt

Tybalt, having died earlier on in the play doesn't seen like a likely choice but Tybalt was a violent character, always wanting to duel. When Romeo went to the Capulet ball he was seen by Tybalt who was Juliet's cousin, he found it insulting for a person from the enemy family to be and their party so he challenges him to a duel. Tybalt though it justified ' It fits when such a villain is a guest. I will not endure him'. At the time of the duel Romeo was a bit love struck, he didn't want to fight, Mercutio however did. Because Tybalt murdered Mercutio, Romeo murdered Tybalt this led to Romeo being banished. Because he was banished he was away from his love Juliet. If he wasn't banished then they could have informed him of the plan and he would have know, not committed suicide thinking his beloved was dead so she, as well would not have killed herself.

Romeo

Romeo was rash and fickle, even the Friar had noticed 'so it's true that a young man's love lies in not in their heats but in their eyes'. Romeo made quick decisions like Juliet, he shouldn't have killed Tybalt, if he hadn't he wouldn't have been banished!

Romeo kills himself once he sees what he thinks is Juliet dead. He buys a poison from an apothecary 'Here's to my love! (drinks) O, true apothecary, thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die'.

Romeo was madly in love with Rosaline at the start in the play but Mercutio convinces him to go to the Capulet ball and 'examine other beauties' which he does and falls in love with Juliet. If he hadn't gone to the ball, he wouldn't have fallen in love with Juliet, they could have lived or Tybalt wouldn't have seen him, challenged him and Romeo wouldn't have slain him.

Romeo is to blame, he committed suicide, he killed Tybalt and Paris, he was quick to marry Juliet and fickle to get over Rosaline so quickly.

Prince

The Prince doesn't have a main role but he spared Romeo when he killed Tybalt, he could have had him executed but instead he banish him, little does he know that he'd rather die than be away from Juliet, it causes problems, like the letters not getting to Romeo.

'Romeo away be gone! The citizens are up and Tybalt is slain!' is what the Prince said when he banished Romeo from Verona. So the Prince is to blame but nowhere near as much as the other characters.

Balthazar

Balthazar had a very short part and only really appeared at the end of the play as Romeo is trying to break into the Capulet Vault to see his beloved wife. Romeo orders for Balthazar to leave, if he had put up a fight for just a while longer Juliet would have awoken before Romeo would have poisoned himself. If he had been cautious and listened to his worries he could have stayed and prevented their deaths but he didn't cause there deaths either.

So Balthazar isn't really to blame for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet, but simply if he had know he could have prevented it.

Mercutio

Mercutio could be the one who is most to blame, which would be strange considering he died early on but if Mercutio had not convinced Romeo into going to the Capulet ball life for them would have continued as normal. Also if he hadn't got involved and into a fight with Tybalt, he would not have died, and Romeo wouldn't have stepped in which meant he banishment which lead to his death. Another thing is that Mercutio called with his dying words 'A plague on both your houses' tempting fate on the families cursing them for their pointless feuding. So Mercutio is partly to blame but couldn't be help responsible because he didn't mean to intervene in a way that would have a negative effect on his friend, Romeo.

Apothecary

The Apothecary is the one who had supplied Romeo with the required drugs that were used to commit suicide but it was his job, he did what he was asked to do, his profession doesn't need him to care. So the Apothecary isn't to blame for their deaths but he did supply Romeo with something to use to commit suicide.

If the Apothecary had not supplied the poison Romeo probably would have ask others for poison but there could have been a chance he wouldn't have found out the truth and survived.

Rosaline

It is not Rosaline's fault that she did not have feelings for Romeo as he did for her at the beginning of the play. If she too had feelings for Romeo then Romeo and Juliet's lives would have been spared but it would have meant more death over the years because the family feud would not have been resolved so they would have continued to fight needlessly.

Friar John

Friar Laurence had given Friar John the important letters that he was supposed to deliver to Romeo, unfortunately due to him the letters did not arrive so Romeo being un aware of the plan assumed Juliet had really past away so committed suicide because he couldn't bear to live his life without her. If he had delivered the letters then they would have survived.

Friar Laurence

Friar Laurence was continually offering his advice and helping where ever he could unfortunately sometimes it made things inconsiderably worse.

He married the couple in the first place, which could be said as a bad idea because they were young and without there parents consent he was thinking of how nice it would be of the families stopped fighting.

Instead of giving the letter to Friar John he should have giving it to someone more reliable or make time so he could talk to Romeo personally, Romeo would have understood and not killed himself which leads to Juliet killing herself.

Romeo knows nothing of the potion that the Friar gives to Juliet 'Take thou this vial, being in bed. And distilled liquor drink thou off'.

The Friar marries them, helps badly in some cases, supplies the drug, doesn't get the message delivered to Romeo and doesn't manage to 'steal' Juliet away once he finds Romeo dead instead he must leave her, moments later she kills herself.

Friar Laurence has a big part to it he controls much of the play. If he had ensured the letter got to Romeo, made a slightly weaker potion or not married them at all then the situation could have be overt id.

Love, Hate, Mab and Fate.

Love and Hate play key parts in the play, opposites, the love that Romeo and Juliet feel for each other but the hate that the families have for each other.

Was the play directed by fate or purely by coincidence. There is a powerful nature oozed through the story but the love that Romeo and Juliet feel for each other, the prime factor, leads to the true genre of the famous play, tragedy. This becomes apparent when Tybalt sees Romeo and from that point forward he is utterly determined to have Romeo killed but Romeo was madly in love with his cousin Juliet. The play caught between love and violence parallel to each other. Romeo and Juliet share and intense passion and love to them means everything but the families force themselves like a wedge between them, overpowering and separating the lovers. A famous line is one of Juliet's 'deny thy father and refuse thy names and I'll no longer be a Capulet, so Juliet would be prepared to give up everything she knew and loved to be with Romeo.

There are pre munitions through t the play for example Friar Laurence warns Romeo about the love he shares with Juliet 'these violent delights have violent end. Love moderately'. Romeo and Juliet's love knows no bounds as this timeless love classic with such a great nature is preserved and cherished still long after the writers death.

Romeo and Juliet's extreme and boundless love was of such a great nature that it could only be preserved by death.

Could Fate be the reason? Could fate be to blame for the death of Romeo and Juliet?