“Her in Verona, ladies of esteem,
Are made already mothers. By my count,
I was your mother upon these years.”
The Nurse holds a great responsibility for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. The Nurse is Juliet’s closest friend. She is not particularly a clever or sensitive woman. The Nurse, however, is very protective of Juliet. She warns Romeo to be true to Juliet.
“If ye should lead her in a fool’s paradise…
Truly it were an ill thong to be,
Offered to any gentle woman. And very weak dealing.”
The Nurses’ decision to encourage the relationship between Romeo and Juliet causes their passion to strength which makes them commit suicide over each other. The Nurse does nothing to warn Juliet of how an involvement with a Montague might cause problems to Juliet and her family.
“His name is Romeo, and a Montague,
The only son of young great enemy.”
The Nurse helps Juliet in her romance with Romeo. She carries the messages of secret meetings.
“Hie to your chamber. I’ll find Romeo
To comfort you…”
Hark ye, your Romeo will be here at night.”
The Nurse is very loving and fond of Juliet and would do nothing to hurt her.
“Well sir, my mistress is my sweetest lady.”
The Nurse acts as Romeo and Juliet’s messenger. She is asked by Juliet to discover Romeo’s identity. Near the beginning of the play, the Nurse admires Romeo.
“Why he’s a man of wax.”
The Nurse does not want to see Juliet get hurt as Juliet is still young and inexperienced.
As the play goes on, the Nurse becomes distant from Juliet especially after the death of Tybalt. She starts to turn against Romeo.
“Will you speak well of him that kill’d your cousin?”
“Shame come to Romeo.”
When Juliet is left with an impossible ultimatum – marry Paris or be thrown out
on the streets, she turns to the Nurse for comfort. However, she advises Juliet to marry Paris knowing she is already married to Romeo. This shows the Nurse’s weakness of character.
“I think it best you married with the county.”
The Nurse mentions to Juliet that the second marriage is better than the first.
“I think you are happy in this second match.”
From this moment on Juliet is left alone and has no one to turn to but the Friar.
No less at fault for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet is Friar Lawrence. When he first appears in the play, he is talking of how good intentions can sometimes have bad results.
Friar Lawrence is the person that agreed to take these newly lustful children into the marriage ceremony in the hope that it will end the feud between the two families.
“Doth with their death bury their parent’s strife.”
“To turn your households’ rancour to pure love.”
I think the Friar should never have married Romeo and Juliet because they are two children who are marrying at a young age. This means they are not capable of making major decisions on their own and they are rushing into things. This statement can be proved about Romeo because when he is banished he bellowed like a baby. The Nurse has to make young Romeo act like a man just to think of Juliet instead of himself.
“Hold thy desperate hand!
Art thou a man?
Thy tears are womanish.”
Even though the Friar’s intentions are good, he never should have married Romeo and Juliet just to stop the feud between the two families. In the end this was proven to be the motivation for the two children killing themselves.
“These violent delights have violent ends.”
The plan to end the feud between the two families comes to grief as Romeo is banished. Romeo turns to Friar Lawrence who tries to console him and find a solution for the problems. The Friar suggests that Romeo should go to Mantua where he will try to meet with Juliet. The plan does not work and so Romeo accuses fate.
“Unhappy fortune.”
The Friar is also to blame for the tragic deaths because when Juliet is to marry Paris, she has no one to turn to for comfort since the Nurse betrayed her. Juliet turns to Friar Lawrence for a solution. He gives her a sleeping potion which is used to make it look like she is dead so she does not have to marry Paris.
“Take thou this vial, being in bed,
And this distilling liquor drink thou off.”
The Friar will send Romeo a letter and he will return to Verona for Mantua and he will be with Juliet when she wakes up. However, the Friar’s plans go wrong leading to the tragic deaths of Romeo and Juliet. This means the Friar’s good intentions lead to bad results.
To some extent the Prince of Verona is to blame. He has power to act and stop the feud between the two families. It is unjustified of him to send Romeo away from Verona as a punishment for killing Tybalt when it was Tybalt’s own fault for killing Mercutio.
“Who now the price of his dear blood doth owe?”
“And for that offence
Immediately we do exile him hence.”
Nevertheless, at the end of the play he accepts some responsibility for what has happened.
“And I for winking at your discords too.”
The Prince also tries to bring the two families together.
“See what a scourge is laid upon your hate,
That heaven finds means to kill your joys with love.”
Mercutio is also to blame. He was a loyal friend to Romeo. Mercutio’s attitude to the quarrels and fighting makes the situation worse. He sees the feud as a game and that attitude leads him to die and Romeo’s banishment.
Even though I am blaming certain people for the tragic deaths of Romeo and Juliet, I have to consider that Romeo and Juliet had an affect on their own fates.
Firstly Romeo is to blame. He acts hastily throughout the play, He is a romancer because the opening of the play shows Romeo in love with Rosaline and then he falls for Juliet.
When Benvolio told Romeo to
“Go thither and…
Compare face with some others that I will show.”
He is unknowingly setting the stage for the suicides of Romeo and Juliet. Romeo at first will not go but Benvolio persuades him. When he sees Juliet it was love at first sight.
When Romeo and Juliet decide to get married, they are bringing their suicides closer to being reality. This unforeseen dilemma puts the two in as much blame as anyone for their own deaths.
Romeo should not have married Juliet so suddenly. He also acts violently and without thinking when he kills Tybalt in revenge which led to his banishment.
On the other hand, Juliet is responsible for her own death because she should not have deceived and disobeyed her parents by getting married to Romeo behind her parents back when they told her she was going to marry Paris.
“The valiant Paris seeks you for his love.”
Like Romeo, she rushes into the marriage. She knows that she is already engaged to Paris at the time of the ball when she first meets Romeo.
The most important reason for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet would be fate. The prologue suggests that fate is to blame.
“Star-crossed lovers” and “death mark’d love.”
Romeo blames fate or misfortune for everything that goes wrong.
“O, I am fortunes fool.”
“Some consequences yet hanging in the stars…
By some vile forfeit of untimely death.”
Juliet however, does not blame fate for the things that go wrong. She blames he birth instead.
“Prodigious birth of love is to me
That I must have a loathed enemy.”
I have come to my conclusion that the tragic deaths of Romeo and Juliet are the consequences of the actions of several people. Benvolio is to blame because he told Romeo to go to the Capulet’s party. Romeo and Juliet did not foresee the difficulties in marrying secretly. The Friar did not know the consequences of his actions when he married the couple and fate was to blame for the deaths.