‘But fettle your joints ’gainst Thursday next to go with Paris to Saint Peter’s church, or I will drag thee on a hurdle thither. Out, you green-sickness carrion! Out, you baggage! You tallow face!’
In this quote, we realise how furious he gets regarding Juliet’s marriage. He literally swears at her and asks her to disappear, showing the amount of influence he has over her. At the same time, we can also see that he cares for Juliet and as a father he wants his daughter to live happy a married life. He knows that she is very young ‘stranger in the world’ but above all she is ‘the hopeful lady of my earth.’ It is the same thing with Romeo as well. When Lord Montague sees Romeo quiet and silent, he feels worried for him and wonders what went wrong with his only son, ‘The shady curtains from Aurora’s bed, away from light steals home my heavy son.’
The second reason for ‘Romeo and Juliet’ to be a tragedy is the death of Tybalt. Romeo is drawn into the fight much against his will, ‘I do protest I never injured thee but I love thee better than thou canst devise.’ His marriage to Juliet had started the reconciliation process between the two families but since his friend Mercutio gets killed by Tybalt, he loses his temper and tries to fulfil his duty as a friend by fighting Tybalt. Romeo kills Tybalt which is what leads to his banishment from Verona, ‘And for that offence immediately we do exile him hence.’ This is the turning point of the play because after that everything that happens is what determines the ending of the play.
The deaths of Romeo and Juliet were mainly caused by a lack of communication between them and their supporters. When Friar Lawrence makes the rescue plan, he does not expect it to go wrong at all, yet Friar John is unable to reach Romeo and give him the message about rescuing Juliet from the Capulet tomb. Balthasar reaches Mantua first with the news of Juliet’s death. Romeo’s response to his friend’s news, ‘I defy you, stars!’ reminds the audience of the futility of what he intends to do. He is after all, a ‘star crossed!’ lover. His hastiness in dismissing Balthasar is followed by an equally hasty visit to an apothecary he had already noticed in Mantua. Violently he demands poison from the unfortunate man for he is determined to ‘lie with (Juliet) tonight.’
Characters such as the nurse and the Friar Lawrence are the positive attributes of the play since they are helpful to Romeo and Juliet, although they are unable to save them from their deaths. The nurse had taken care of Juliet since she had been born. The nurse knew more about Juliet than even her own mother, ‘On Lammus Eve at night shall she be fourteen’ and that is what breaks Juliet’s inspiration because she was loyal to her and in Act III scene 5 she betrays her and supports her parents decision about getting her married with County Paris, ‘a lovely gentleman!’ Friar Lawrence is a key supporter to both Romeo and Juliet. He praises Romeo to go ahead with his romance since he believes this is the only way to remove the hatred between the two families, ‘turn your households.’ His failure with the rescue plan is also one of the major reasons for the deaths of the two young lovers. These two characters played a vital role in making ‘Romeo and Juliet’ a tragedy because although they love Romeo and Juliet so much they are unable to help them.
In conclusion, there is nobody in specific to whom we can blame for their deaths. For example, Lord Capulet and Lady Capulet and Lord Montague and Lady Montague are not even aware of their children being in love with each other. One thing which can be definitely blamed is their destiny; from the beginning till the end there are very few parts which show that they were enjoying their love. The causes of their deaths are also because of their fate. Another thing which we can analyse after reading or watching this play is that Shakespeare tries to show that love is not powerful enough and it generally ends in defeats. This is because although they have so much support from everyone is the play they are still unable to unite and instead end up dying.
