There’s a factor of both fate and bad luck being intertwined. The bad luck acts as the mapping or the pin-pointing of their deaths and their bad luck is what practically pushes Romeo and Juliet to that point of death.
Romeo and Juliet were partially responsible for their own deaths, as they both continued with their relationship, despite the understanding that they were members of enemy families. This is expressed by Juliet’s quote, ‘My only love sprung from my only hate’. They couldn’t be held with contempt for falling madly in love with each other. However, they did have a choice to whether they should take action as a result of their love for each other, or not. With the acknowledgement that their could be terrible consequences, they still continued.
A key event that pushed Romeo and Juliet firther towards their death, was that which followed the deaths of Tybalt and Mercutio; Juliet’s father urged her to marry Parris (thinking it will cheer up). Juliet politely and respectfully told Capulet that she did not love Parris & therefore did not wish to marry Parris. Capulet was furious and he vented his anger forcefully upon her.
Capulet demonstrated his disapproval in a fiery stretch of dialogue, as quoted:
‘Hang thee, young baggage, disobedient wretch’. It was powerful statements such as these, which led Juliet to believe that she had little choice whether to marry Parris, or not. This belief was supported when Capulet described what would become of her if she refused:
‘Hang, beg, die in the streets. By my soul I’ll ne’er acknowledge thee’. This implies that he would disown her if she refused to marry Parris. Capulet also spoke as though he would force her to marry Parris even if she refused:
‘Go with Parris to Saint Peter’s Church: Or I will drag thee on a hurdle thither.’
This triggered the fatal situation in which Juliet acquired a sleeping potion from Friar Lawrence (in order to avoid marrying Parris). As we know, the plan which involved this sleeping potion went awry and ended up with the deaths of both Romeo and Juliet.
One of the most important factors that pushed Romeo and Juliet to their deaths, is the primary reason why they had to fight to keep their relationship alive and is what makes for the main essence of the story: the fued between the two families.
It is fair to say that if the two families were not enemies, Romeo and Juliet almost certainly would not have died, as it was the feud that made Romeo and Juliet’s marriage doomed. None of the key events leading up to their deaths e.g. Romeo killing Tybalt, Capulet forcing Juliet to marry Parris, etc. would have happened if the families were not enemies in the first place. The whole reason why Romeo and Juliet had to keep their relationship secret was that each other’s families would have gone out of their ways to end their relationship due to the two families’ hatred. It is the belonging to the family that made each of them cursed by the other family, as expressed by Juliet when she questions why Romeo must be hated, just because of his title:
“Tis but thy name that is my enemy”. If it were not for the nurse passing messages between the two and catering for the two lovers to secretly meet, their relationship could not have continued secretly, which demonstrates how largely their families’ feud affected their relationship both practically and emotionally. And of course it was this terrible situation that made their deaths so inevitable.
Their friends fuelled some of the key events that affected Romeo and Juliet’s deaths. Tybalt and Mercutio were partly responsible for the incident where Tybalt slew Mercutio and in turn Romeo slew Tybalt. Mercutio was out looking for trouble and ended up being killed by Tybalt which cuased Romeo to slay Tybalt which in turn caused Romeo to be banished. It was Benvolio who encouraged Romeo to go to the Capulet ball, where Romeo met Juliet. So if it were not for Benvolio Romeo and Juliet may not even have met:
“At this same ancient feast of Capulets sups the fair Rosaline whom thou so loves with all the admired beauties of Verona, go thither.”
This is where Benvolio tries to talk Romeo into going to the ball by mentioning Rosaline, with whom Romeo is infatuated.
Nurse was partly responsible for Romeo and Juliet as she encouraged their relationship by arranging their marriage and passing on messages between them:
“Lie you hence to Friar Lawrence’s cell, there stays a husband to make you a wife’.This shows nurse confirming the marriage for Juliet.
Romeo and Juliet may not have married it if were not for nurse and then the awful situations (where Romeo and Juliet had to keep their marriage secret under difficult circumstances) would not have happened.
Also Friar Lawrence was responsible for Romeo and Juliet’s marriage as he carried it out.When Juliet took the sleeping potion and was unconscious, Lawrence’s message that Juliet was alive did not reach Romeo in time. This caused Romeo to kill himself.
Romeo’s friend was partly responsible for Romeo killing himself as he gave Romeo a false message that Juliet was dead.
I conclude that the family feud was the most responsible factor for Romeo and Juliet’s death as everything that turned against the two lovers in the play boiled down to the feud. The family feud creates the purpose to their story. Romeo and Juliet’s relationship would not have been doomed and they would have happily been able to carry out their relationship if it were not for the plot-based, essential factor of the feud between the two families. Every event that contributed to Romeos death are like the matter in space that form planets But like the big bang creating the universe, it was the concept of the two enemies families that was the first cause of all that occurred within the plot of Romeo and Juliet.
