The three main characters that I have chosen to blame for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet are Tybalt and Lord and Lady Capulet. There are several reasons behind each of my choices, and I am going to start with Tybalt.
Tybalt is a nephew of Lady Capulet and he is exceedingly keen to fight with the Montagues and also, he wants to attack Romeo at the Capulet party. Later in the play he kills Mercutio, which insights Romeo to kill him. Tybalt has a great effect on Romeo, and he stirs up Romeo’s anger. The quote ‘Uncle, this is a Montague, our foe: a villain that is hither come in spite, to scan at out solemnity this night’, backs up these point exactly.
The next characters I have chosen are Lord and Lady Capulet and once again I have found several reasons to back up my view. The actions both characters perform throughout the play are common with the period of time in which the play was written. These beliefs are shown in this quote, ‘Here in Verona ladies of esteem are made already mothers.’ Furthermore, I feel that Lord Capulet especially must take part of the blame as he pressurises Juliet into marrying Paris. I would have thought that Lord Capulet’s reasons for this pressurisation are due to him having a financial interest in Paris, as well as preferring him, and hating Romeo. An illustration of these interests is shown in one of his famous quotes, this being ‘woo her Paris, get her heart, my will to her consent is but apart and, she agreed, within her scope of choice lies my consent and fair according voice’. Another point is ‘Doth she not count her blessed unworthy as she is’. Shakespeare has proved both points, these being the ways in which Fathers acted in these times, and the point of his favouritism for Paris.
Moreover I can see several other characters that I would blame for the deaths; although they aren’t the main culprits or that they had massive inputs. Shakespeare suggests that both Friar Lawrence and Paris must bear a portion of the blame as Friar Lawrence supplied the sleeping potion to Juliet, and also Paris, as he asked Juliet’s father, Lord Capulet, to arrange a marriage for them. An example of this can be seen in the text ‘I tell thee what, get thee to a church, Thursday, or never after look me in the face’. This reveals a fraction more information on the reasons behind the two star crossed lover’s deaths. To conclude this section, I can see that it isn’t just Tybalt and the Two Capulet parent’s faults.
Fate is a massive ingredient in the play, as it is important throughout, especially in the well written prologue. Fate is something that is destined to happen to someone or something, it this scenario it affects both Romeo and Juliet as it was by chance that they fell in love together. For example ‘from forth the fatal loins of these two foes, a pair of star crossed lovers take their lives’. This quote is an extract from the prologue, and it reinforces the idea of fate throughout the play. As well as fate, we are constantly reminded of the ‘deaths’ throughout the story, by such quotes as ‘I dreamt my lady came and found me dead’ and also the quote ‘all this is but a dream, too flattering-sweet to be substantial’. The constant reminder helps to keep the readers memory active, and it is also very affective and clever by bringing in small pieces of information about the future deaths.
To conclude this mammoth essay, I would say that the two characters I have chosen are definitely the right characters to choose as we can see by all the evidence, they had the most input and dealings with the two deaths. Another final example of these inputs includes ‘I will withdraw, but this intrusion shall, now seem sweet, and convert to bitterest gall’. As we can clearly see, Tybalt is the nephew of Lady Capulet and he protects the Capulet’s with his life. This shows a very protective view. As for Lord and Lady Capulet, they both are heads of the house, and are powerful within the family. The aspect at which I have viewed the comparisons I expect would have been similar to Shakespeare’s audiences as the characters thought and feelings are the same, whoever views it. If this play was in the 21st century, I expect that it would work out very differently, especially since technology has advanced by leaps and bounds since the period of when the play was written. As for fate, I can see that it was a very powerful and meaningful part of the story line, especially since it was involved with the deaths. To summarise, I believe that there are several characters that are to blame for this demise. Shakespeare expresses the actions of these characters in different, but effective ways, and it is successful to all audiences.
