At the masked ball, Tybalt recognises Romeo’s voice and, furious that he has gate-crashed the Capulet party, he wishes to pick a fight. He asks for his sword, “fetch me my rapier, boy”. Old Capulet then contributes to the tragedy by putting Tybalt down and says, “he shall be endured”, showing his iron will and his protectiveness of his authority. This makes Tybalt more annoyed with Romeo because he feels rebuked and so his grudge is worse when he looks for him the next day, seeking revenge. Shakespeare shows the magnitude of Tybalt’s anger, comparing it to “bitt’rest gall”, meaning that his anger is bitter and acidic.
Romeo and Juliet’s meeting is beautifully crafted by Shakespeare, which adds to the tragedy because they were almost bound to fall in love. Romeo realises that it is the first time that he has truly fallen in love, “Did my heart love till now?” and the time that he really does fall in love, something happens to him. When Juliet discovers that Romeo is a Montague, she says, “my only love sprung from my only hate”, which is again fate, because it is the first time she has ever loved anyone, since she has always obeyed her parents and has little experience of men. It is tragic that it is the first time she has loved someone when she dies. Juliet also tragically says, “my grave is like to be my wedding bed”, which is predicting what will happen to her. We know that Juliet’s love is very great and that she is embarrassed because Romeo has heard that she loves him, “Thou knowest the mark of night is on my face, else would a maiden blush bepaint my cheek”. The quick agreement to marriage and love contributes to the tragedy. Juliet recognises the hasty decision, “What I have spoke, but farewell compliment”, and she would rather be wooed so she asks Romeo is he loves her, “If thou dost love, pronounce it faithfully”. Juliet again fears for the outcome of the marriage when she says, “Although I joy in thee, I have no joy of this contract tonight”. She also re-emphasises the hastiness of their decisions by repeating that she thinks they are deciding too quickly. She ironically predicts, “It is too rash, too unadvised, too sudden”, she continues to say, “Too like the lightning, which doth cease to be”, whereby she is foretelling her fate because lightning is quick, it burns and kills when it strikes. Romeo and Juliet, through the speed of their marriage decision contribute to their tragedy because they are tempting fate. Juliet professes her profound love with a strong image, “My bounty is as boundless as the sea”, which adds to the tragedy because it is the first time she has fallen in love.
Friar Lawrence's actions also contribute to the tragedy. His attitude towards Romeo when Romeo goes to see him after the Capulet Ball is like Juliet's simple speech and the friar tells Romeo to get to the point, “be playing it could sound, and homely in thy drift, riddling confession finds but riddling shrift.” The Friar does not believe that Romeo is truly in love with Juliet and he thinks that Juliet is the same as all other girls Romeo has ‘loved’, “young men's love then lies not truly in their hearts but in their eyes.” He tragically agrees to marry Romeo and Juliet; not because he thinks they are committed but because he thinks that their marriage will unite the two quarrelling families, “this alliance may so happy prove to turn your household’s rancour to pure love”, ignorant of the tragedy that will be caused. The Friar, however, warns Romeo to be careful because he is tripping himself up, “wisely and slow, they stumble that run fast.” Later in the play, Friar Lawrence contributes again to the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet when he gives Juliet the sleeping potion that makes it look like she is dead. This all adds to the Friar's dangerous involvement in the tragedy, where his good intention is turned bad by fate, for example, his letter to Romeo. Also, near the end of the play before Juliet's death, he tragically leaves Juliet instead of forcing her to go with him, allowing her to kill herself, “Friar Lawrence-come from that nest of death, contagion and natural sleep.” “Juliet-go get thee hence, for I will not away.”
Another aspect of the tragedy is Lord Capulet’s enormous power over Juliet, “and to be mine, I'll give you to my friend,” insisting she must marry Paris on Thursday. Although arranged marriages were typical of that era, especially in noble families, Juliet is thereby threatened that if she does not comply she can “hang, beg, starve, die in streets.” Faced with an inescapable doom, Juliet makes the ominous prophesy that if the marriage cannot be delayed her father should, “make the bridal bed in that dim monument where Tybalt lies.”
Fate is a major contributory factor in the tragedy of ‘Romeo and Juliet’, indicated at the outset in the description “star-crossed lovers.” If Romeo had not intervened to prevent the fight between Tybalt and Mercutio, the fatal injury to Mercutio might not have occurred. Mercutio rebukes Romeo with “why the dev’l came you between us? “I was hurt under your arm” and repeatedly remonstrates, “a plague on both your houses.” Mercutio curses the houses because he is killed by fate. Romeo's determination to avenge the death of Mercutio leads to the tragic fears he expresses in the lines, “this day's black fate on moe days doth depend, this but begins the woe others must end.” Romeo's fate is sealed. Tybalt's ignorance of the marriage of Romeo and Juliet is dramatically ironic. Romeo tempted fate at Friar Lawrence's cell with the words “love-devouring Death do what he dare.”
Fate spoils the hopeful expectations of the lovers when the Prince decrees that Romeo be banished from Verona for killing Tybalt. Friar Lawrence organises Juliet's sleeping potions so that she awakes in the vault and dispatches letters of explanation to Romeo. However, fate intervenes when Romeo does not receive the letters and he drinks poison. Juliet's fate is sealed when she discovers the dead body of Romeo and stabs herself.
Thus, the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet seems unavoidable. The combination of: the quarrelling households, Romeo and Juliet’s secret and passionate love, Friar Lawrence’s well-intentioned yet mismanaged attempt to resolve the hatred between the warring families, the autocratic behaviour of Lord Capulet and the cruel hand of fate conspire to rob Romeo and Juliet of their happiness. Indeed, the final tragic irony is that after the death of the young lovers, Capulet and Montague make up their quarrel, but in the Prince’s words, “All are punished”.