Another piece of bad luck is that Juliet is to marry Paris. She won't get out of it very easily and it is impossible for her to marry when she is already married to Romeo.
Friar Lawrence's letter doesn't get to Romeo and so this causes a lot of trouble because Romeo thinks that Juliet is dead. Balthasar then sees Juliet's funeral and tells Romeo the news, "Then she is well, and nothing can be ill, her body sleeps in Capels' monument"- Balthasar. He is telling Romeo that she is dead and where her body lies. This doesn’t help at all because Romeo now definitely thinks that she is dead because Balthasar saw her funeral.
Another really bad piece of bad luck, is when Friar Lawrence doesn't get to Juliet's tomb in time and arrives just after Romeo kills himself. After, Juliet wakes up seconds too late and kills herself, "O happy dagger. This is thy sheath, there rust and let me die". She is saying how she wants to die and then she does it.
Fate is another element of tragic love stories and pops up a couple of times in "Romeo and Juliet". "I defy you stars"- Romeo. He says this after he killed Tybalt and is angry and upset here. In the prologue, it says "A pair of star crossed lovers".
In most tragic love stories, the love between two people is secret. It was secret in Romeo and Juliet's case. They had to keep it secret, mainly because of the family feud. They would have never been allowed to be together if their families knew about it.
Another element is that the story ends with their parting by death, "Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die"- Romeo. Romeo says this just before he dies, when he takes the poison. "O happy dagger. This is thy sheath, there rust and let me die"- Juliet. She says this just before she kills herself. She was very upset that Romeo was dead and so she killed herself as well.
These are the elements, which come under the genre of tragic love stories. They make up the tragic love story that "Romeo and Juliet" is.
Romeo and Juliet have been bought up in different ways and their parents are also quite different. Lord and Lady Montague seem much closer and loving towards Romeo than Lord and Lady Capulet have towards Juliet. Lord and Lady Monatgue seem to get along with each other and are concerned about Romeo's welfare, "Right glad I am, he was not at this fray"- Lady Montague. She shows concern for Romeo here, and doesn't want him getting involved in the fights with the Capulets. Lady Montague also died of grief because Romeo was banished, which shows that she did love and care about him. I get the impression of Lady Montague as an over protective parent; I see this because of her death over Romeo's banishment.
Lord and Lady Capulet don't seem to get on with each other. They don't show any love for each other or Juliet and force her into an early marriage with Paris. Lady Capulet probably sees this as a reasonable thing to do as she was married off at a young age. Lady Capulet talks quite horribly to Lord Capulet, because she calls him "A crutch", and tells him "You are too hot", when Juliet wouldn't marry Paris. This is quite offensive language to use and I don't think she cares about him at all. It doesn't help Juliet seeing her parents not showing any love for each other because she could have turned out the same way and be as bitter as her mother but she doesn't show this when she meets Romeo.
Lord Capulet is a bit of a womaniser, which shows that he doesn't respect his wife. At the Capulet's party, he asks women to dance with him, "Ah, my mistresses, which of you will now deny to dance?"- Lord Capulet. Here, he is flirting a bit and likes the attention from the women.
Lady Capulet wishes that Juliet was dead, which shows that she is not a loving and caring parent, "I would the fool were married to her grave"- Lady Capulet. Here, she is saying that she wants Juliet dead, just because she refuses to marry Paris. This is a bit harsh and no one should wish his or her children dead. This shows her bitterness. She doesn't wish to help Juliet when she asks for it either, "Talk not to me, for I'll not speak a word, do as thou wilt for I have done with thee"- Lady Capulet. She is very bitter here and is ignoring her daughter and refuses to help her, which is a cruel thing to do.
Lady Capulet doesn't feel comfortable talking alone with Juliet, as she has to call back the nurse to avoid embarrassment, "Nurse give leave awhile, we must talk in secret. Nurse come back again"- Lady Capulet. This shows how distant Lady Capulet is from Juliet and never really talks to her, and gets embarrassed when she has to.
She probably deep down does love and care about Juliet, because she exaggeratedly grieved over her death, "O me, O me, my child, my only life"- Lady Capulet. "Alack the day, she's dead, she's dead, she's dead"-Lady Capulet. She could be feeling sorry for herself though, that her only daughter has died and she can't have another.
Lord Capulet verbally abuses and threatens Juliet because she wouldn’t marry Paris, "I'll give you to my friend, and you be not, hang, beg, starve, die on the streets"- Lord Capulet. This isn't very nice language to use on your children and Juliet was probably frightened. He is saying that he'll throw her out to die on the streets if she doesn't marry Paris. He also exaggeratedly grieved over her death which shows that he could have also deep down really loved her, "Death lies on her like an untimely frost, upon the sweetest flower of all the field"- Lord Capulet. He is saying that she is really pretty but is now dead.
Lord Capulet has a very short temper, especially when Juliet wouldn't marry Paris. He threatened and verbally abused her. This probably made Juliet feel really small and frightened. She wouldn't be able to talk to either of her parents. The way the treated her probably affected her in a big way. She was probably petrified of her parents and felt alone with no one to talk to apart from the nurse. She didn't get the same loving and caring parents that Romeo had.
The relationship with their parents, is one of the causes of the tragedy. The fact that their families were constantly fighting made Romeo and Juliet keep their love a secret. Romeo could have probably told his parents his feelings for Juliet, because they cared about him and would be prepared to talk to him. He seems quite close to his parents. They wouldn't be happy about the fact that he was in love with Juliet, but they could have helped him with the situation. Juliet however, couldn't talk to either of her parents at all, especially when they had arranged for her to marry Paris. It would have caused more trouble if she did tell them because her father has a short temper and is fighting with the Montagues. It would have probably ended in a tragedy if she did tell them. If Juliet told her parents about Romeo, they wouldn't be willing to help her. Lord Capulet would probably throw her out because he has a short temper. If he was angry that she wouldn't marry Paris, then he'd be even worse if he found out that Juliet was in love with his enemy's son.
Romeo and Juliet's parents are a cause of the tragedy. Their constant fighting didn't help the situation at all.
Only the nurse knew about Romeo and Juliet, and near the end, she thought that it would be best if Juliet married Paris, "I think it best you married with the county, O he's a lovely gentleman"- Nurse. I think here, the nurse is trying to tell her what is more realistic and best for her. This leaves Romeo and Juliet on their own without anyone supporting them now that the nurse thinks that Juliet should marry Paris.
Other causes of the tragedy are the fact that Juliet was forced by her parents to marry Paris. She was already married to Romeo when Lady Capulet told her about the marriage arrangements. Juliet didn't want to marry Paris but her parents didn't know that she was already married. She was in an awkward situation. Juliet didn't really have any choice in the marriage with Paris. The only help she could get, was from the nurse, who then thought that the arranged marriage would be better than the one she was already in, "Romeo's a dishclout to him…Your first is dead, or twere as good as he were, as living here, and you no use of him"- Nurse. She is saying that the marriage with Paris would be better than the one with Romeo and that Romeo is to be killed.
Juliet then says, "Well thou hast comforted me, marvellous much". So she isn't happy at all with what the nurse has said and is saying that she has given no help at all.
She could only then turn to one more person for help, and that was Friar Lawrence. This comes up to another cause of the tragedy, this is where it all goes wrong because Friar Lawrence comes up with a remedy to help Romeo and Juliet stay together.
Juliet asks Friar Lawrence for help about the marriage. Friar Lawrence gives her a remedy which will make her look dead, "Take thou this vial…when presently through all thy veins shall run a cold and drowsy humour: for no pulse"- Friar Lawrence. He is describing to her what the mixture will do and when to take it and so on. "When the Bridegroom in the morning comes to rouse thee from thy bed, there art thou dead"- Friar Lawrence. He is saying what will happen in the morning and how people will see her. He told Juliet to drink it ("bring then in bed") and she'll seem dead for "two and forty hours". Then she'll awake. Friar Lawrence said "shall Romeo by our letters know our drift", so he was going to write Romeo a letter to tell him what was going on. Then Romeo shall come and be with Juliet when she awakes. It goes wrong, because Romeo never receives Friar Lawrence's letters. The reason for this, is because Friar John couldn't get a messenger to send it to Romeo, "I could not send it…nor get a messenger to bring it to thee"- Friar John.
"Romeo hath no notice of these accidents, but I will write again" -Friar Lawrence. Here Friar Lawrence knows that Romeo had not received his letter and he writes again to make sure that he knows what is going on because it could lead to trouble if he doesn't.
Balthasar then sees Juliet's funeral and didn't know about the plan, and so he rushes off to tell Romeo, "Her body sleeps in Capels' monument…I saw her laid low in her kindred's vault"- Balthasar. He is telling Romeo where Juliet is and that she has died.
Romeo asks "Hast thou no letters to me from the Friar?"- Romeo. He asks this as if he is expecting some or as if there must be some mistake. When Balthasar replies with a negative answer, Romeo thinks that Juliet is actually dead. The plan has gone wrong, and Romeo buys a poison to kill himself with, "Let me have a dram of poison"- Romeo. He wants a strong poison to kill him.
Then Romeo goes to visit Juliet at Capel's monument and drinks the poison. Juliet wakes up seconds after he drank it and she stabs herself. In my opinion, Juliet was given the wrong advice from Friar Lawrence. It was a very complicated plan and would have been difficult to carry out correctly, as you can see from the result from it.
Their love also caused themselves grief. Tybalt killed Romeo's best friend in a fight, and Romeo killed Juliet's cousin Tybalt.
It would have been very hard for Romeo and Juliet to actually stay together. It would have been nearly impossible for them to keep it secret. They would have probably been found out. They couldn't stay together in secrecy easily either, with all the complications. If they came out in the open with their love, it probably would be hard because their families are fighting, or it could bring the two families together. Their deaths bought the two families together in the end anyway, "Doth with their death bury their parent's strife"- Prologue.
I think the main reason for the tragic outcome, is the family feud. They hated each other so much and that prevented Romeo and Juliet from saying anything to their families. They were constantly fighting and were always at each other's throats. If the two families weren't at war with each other, Romeo and Juliet would probably have been accepted together.
