Juliet is a young Capulet not quite fourteen years old; she is gentle, loyal, obeys her parents ‘good father’ and thinks for herself however she too like Romeo is impulsive. When she first meets Romeo she falls for him instantly ‘my only love sprung from my only hate’. However once she falls in love with Romeo she matures in a way and is more practical. She goes against her parents’ will, when they want her to marry Paris whom she does not love ‘he shall not make me there a joyful bride. She is also like Romeo in that she does not think of the consequence of her actions when she first fell in love with Romeo. She is loyal to Romeo, as she is worried about him getting caught on her balcony warning him ‘The orchard walls are high and hard to climb, and the place death, considering who thou art,’ She is different from Romeo in the fact that she does not blame fate for the things that go wrong, she blames her birth, ‘Prodigious birth of love is to me, that I must love a loathed enemy.’
Friar Lawrence is a holy man with good intentions but is persuaded to make risky decisions by Romeo and Juliet, such as agreeing to marry them without their parents’ consent ‘I love company’. He gets too involved and it is then left up to him to ensure that everything goes smoothly as planned. He goes against Juliet’s parents by agreeing to marry Romeo and Juliet but he has a good reason for this and hopes he will ‘ turn your households rancour to pure love’. Friar Laurence respects both families’ wishes however he also wants to stop the feuding of the two families and in order to do this, he believes that marrying Romeo and Juliet will bring peace. In fact the total opposite happens, as it is the lovers death that brings the houses together and not their marriage. Friar Laurence’s plan for Juliet is that she is to take a potion to make her ‘stiff and stark and cold, appear like death’ on her wedding day; she will then be taken to the Capulets’ vault. Juliet is very pleased to receive the potion from Friar Laurence, ‘Give me, give me! Oh tell me not of fear!’ Though the Friar is concerned about what he is doing, he warns her ‘These violent delights have violent ends’ and seems to recognise the potential for disaster in their union. The plan to unite the families soon fails as Romeo is banished. This time he makes another plan that is as risky as the first. The plan goes wrong and he accuses fate, ‘Unhappy Fortune’ although the friar tells Romeo to stop blaming fortune when he kills Tybalt. Juliet, who now faces the rest of her life with Paris, turns to the Friar for a solution. Friar Laurence is one of the main people to blame for the tragedy, as it is his plans that went wrong. But from Romeo and Juliet’s view he possesses qualities of kindness and optimism. He always has a solution for their problems even though they weren’t exactly great. He also could be considered a coward because he ran away and didn’t help Juliet at the bitter end.
Lord and Lady Capulet as well as the Montague’s are partly responsible for the death of the ‘star-cross’d lovers’ as they keep the feud going when they have the authority to stop it. Lady Capulet demands revenge after the death of Tybalt ‘For blood of ours shed blood of Montague’. Romeo’s parents seem caring and loving, but Juliet’s parents, especially Lady Capulet are very cold hearted and uncaring, and force Juliet into marrying Paris without seeking her approval. ‘She shall be married to this noble earl’. However Lord Capulet is a bullying father who considers Juliet his property and expects to be obeyed. He even goes to the extent of abusing Juliet, ‘disobedient wretch!’ when she defies him. Because of the fact that Juliet has uncaring parents, she has no one to advise her, and therefore relies on the nurse.
The nurse acts irresponsibly and her idea of love is physical rather than emotional or spiritual. She begins the play as a comic character, however by the end of the play, the audience are questioning her part in the tragedy. The Nurse is one of Juliet’s closest friends. She is not particularly clever or sensitive and does nothing to warn Juliet of how her involvement with a Montague might cause problems to Juliet and her family. In Act 1 Scene 3 Lady Capulet is discussing the possibility of marriage to Paris she makes jokes ‘A bump as big as a young cockerels stone’ and finds it very amusing. Even though the Nurse may be very simple minded and bawdy she is very loving, fond an loyal to Juliet asserting ‘Well sir my mistress is the sweetest lady’
The Nurse appears to have got too carried away with the situation with Romeo and is eager for Juliet to marry, but she offers no advice or caution to Juliet, although she clearly knows that Juliet is young and inexperienced. She makes no effort to suggest that this will be a problem. Like Friar Laurence she goes behind her employers’ backs acting as Romeo and Juliet’s messenger, such as when she is asked by Juliet to discover Romeo’s identity. At first the Nurse admires Romeo, ‘Why he’s a man of wax’, but warns him not to lead Juliet into a ‘fools paradise’, mostly because Juliet is young. After Tybalt’s death she turns against Romeo ‘Will you speak well of him that killed your cousin?’ and condemns him ‘Shame come to Romeo’. When Juliet needs the Nurse most ‘Comfort me, council me’, the Nurse betrays her cruelly and appears not to understand the nature of Juliet’s love. It is at this point that Juliet dismisses the Nurse, ending their friendship. I think that the Nurse is partly, to blame. I don’t think she seriously realises what could occur if things got out of control. The Nurse is not at all well intentioned and had no understanding of Juliet’s love for Romeo, as all what she thought about was the physical side to sex.
Tybalt is a hot-tempered and aggressive person. His attitude is summed up in one sentence ‘what, drawn and talk of peace! I hate the word as I hate hell, all Montagues and thee’. Again at the ball when he overhears Romeo he is angered and looks for his sword but is stopped by Lord Capulet. Tybalt is always looking for trouble and will not back off; he tries to provoke Romeo and declares, ‘Romeo, the love I bear thy can afford, no better term than this - thou art a villain. Romeo attempts to sort out the situation peacefully but Tybalt is fiercely aggressive. I think Tybalt should take some blame in the tragedy, as it is his actions that kill Mercutio, which leads to his own death and Romeo’s banishment.
The Prince is the ruler of Verona. He tries quite hard to keep the peace, but not enough to stop the tragedy; he gives threats ‘your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace’, however does not carry them out as he has the chance to enforce the death penalty on Romeo. For example after the deaths of Mercutio and Tybalt the Prince tells the citizens of Verona ‘who now the price of his dear blood doth owe?’ in other words he seeks justice for these murders. If he had tried harder to prevent the quarrelling and carried out more of his threats the feud might have cooled. However at the end of the play he accepts some of the responsibility for what has happened ‘Winking at their discords?’ and begins to regret it. He also tries to bring the two sides together, ‘What a scourge is laid upon your hate, that heavens finds means to kill your joys with love’
I do not think that one person is wholly to blame for the downfall of the lovers but Friar Laurence plays a large part in the tragedy, mainly because of his complicated plans, which require accurate execution, and in the end failed. Friar Laurence need not have granted the requests of Romeo and Juliet without carefully considering the consequences. I do not think fate played a part in the play as there are too many mistakes made by the main characters. They alone control their actions so should be held responsible.
