At the beginning of the play, when Romeo meets Juliet for the first time at the party, the actual reason for them meeting is what causes more sympathy. Lord Capulet forces Juliet to find a man to marry by having the party and does not consider her feelings whether she wants to marry. Equally Romeo is forced to go to the party because his friends mock and push him into the party. This emphasizes the sympathy that we feel towards Romeo and Juliet. The sympathy is that they are always forced by their parents to do certain things, which shows their lack of power in their life once again. The party scene shows how little control they have in their life at all, as they cannot control fate but also they are governed by their parents and even for Juliet her husband and life is planned out by her father. The irony, however is that her father tells Juliet that she is to find her own man (denoting a sense of freedom for her), but when she finds Romeo who she dearly loves, her father has already planned for her to marry someone else, who she does not love equally as much as Romeo. The fact that her life is controlled by her over-powered father makes us feel more sympathy and she has to deal with two types of forces which stop her from living with Romeo in peace.
The ongoing feud that exists between the families is one of the main causes of the tragedy between Romeo and Juliet but also causes the most sympathy as it is a worthless and pointless feud which is only kept alive by the servants, who ironically are not actually part of the family directly. This tension between the families is what causes Romeo and Juliet to be in constant fear of being caught together because of the uproar it would cause. This is shown in the famous balcony scene where Romeo and Juliet flirt to each other in the middle of night, to avoid the families seeing them. However the tension is high, as the dark soon turns to light and the constant interruptions by the Nurse, represents the fact that they will soon be found out. This causes great sympathy towards Romeo and Juliet because it means they are almost never able to be together, because of the families’ feud, and the pointlessness of the feud enhances the sympathy felt towards them, as the reason for them not being together is even weaker. Also in this balcony scene, Romeo and Juliet are shown to be in deep love, even sharing a love sonnet, which indicates their strong love and relationship. With this strong love between them, we feel sympathy for them as they clearly have a special relationship, being able to share a love sonnet from heart, but still they are not able to express this love because of a pointless family feud.
Shakespeare, as well as making us feel sympathy for Romeo and Juliet, involves other characters such as Mercutio in the tragedy. When Tybalt, the angry feud-stirring cousin of Juliet confronts Romeo about his relationship with Juliet, Mercutio stands in the way to protect Romeo and is killed in the process. This makes us feel more sympathy towards Romeo and Juliet, but also Mercutio, as it shows how powerful and yet pointless the feud actually is, and it can be dangerous to anyone who gets caught up in it. As a response to Mercutio’s death Romeo kills Tybalt out of anger but also self-defence, as Tybalt wanted to kill Romeo originally. As the death of Tybalt causes Romeo to be banished it makes us feel more sympathy towards Romeo, as the death of Tybalt was provoked and not entirely his fault, and yet he has to pay for the crime by never again seeing Juliet, which again is ruining their strong and individual love.
When Romeo is exiled from Verona he sees Juliet for a last time, which is similar to the balcony scene when they meet, as they again hide from the impending light that will put Romeo in danger. This time however we see them swapping roles several times, one being responsible then changing to being in denial of the time. This shows us how childish Romeo and Juliet are, to deny that it is actually morning, “Romeo.: It was the lark, the herald of the morn.” This shows us the reality of Romeo and Juliet’s age as being very young and that they are actually just children at heart. This brings great sympathy towards them as it reminds us of just how young they are and how devastating all of the events must be for them, and it makes the whole tragedy seem much worse, as they are just children rather than adults who could deal better with the situations.
Throughout the play both Romeo and Juliet try to control their lives over the powers of fate, but each time fail because fate is too strong and they are destined to die together as “star-crossed lovers.” For example Romeo, when banished from Verona, shouts “I defy you stars” and goes to Verona to see Juliet as he believes she is dead. Equally Juliet tries to defeat fate by taking the potion and faking her own death. However in each case where they try to “defy the stars” and live happily together their plans fail. The harsh reality which causes great sympathy for Romeo and Juliet is that even if their plans had worked they would not have had a high quality life together as they have no proper working skills, job or money without their family support.
Shakespeare makes us feel sympathy towards Romeo and Juliet in several different ways and for many reasons. The main reason being the pointless family feud, fate but also overbearing parents who do not let Romeo and Juliet live their own lives. Shakespeare has made us feel sympathy for Romeo and Juliet so that he can make a point about society and family life at the time. Shakespeare wants to show how overbearing parents who rule their children’s’ lives and dictate what they shall or shall not do, for example with Juliet marrying Paris. The cause of Romeo and Juliet’s tragedies and our sympathy is also caused by the “dark society” that Shakespeare describes. He wants to illustrate just how intolerant the society is, even if it is for pathetic reasons such as the feud, and the fact they do not stop to care for Romeo and Juliet’s powerful love enhances this point Shakespeare wants to make.
