Who and what is most to blame for theTragedy of Romeo and Juliet?

  At the time of Romeo and Juliet people heavily believed their destiny lay in the stars, this can be illustrated by the quotation from the chorus where the characters are referred to as ‘star- cross’d lovers’, as if they were meant to meet and both take their lives as a result of their forbidden love.  The characters too believe in fate, especially Romeo.  At first he is wary of things which he feels will go wrong, like before the party but at the end of the story he is almost challenging fate, not caring what happens as long as he can be with Juliet.  Before the party he says ‘I fear too early, for my mind misgives, some consequence yet hanging in the stars…’ which shows how he has a bad feeling about the night to follow.  This turns out to be true as something does happen- he meets Juliet which though it is a good thing at first, leads to his death.  At the wedding ceremony Romeo tempts fate which is a change in his character as now he doesn’t care what lies ahead of him, all he cares about is getting wed to Juliet- ‘Then love- devouring death do what he dare, it is enough to call her mine.’ This also shows that he is so infatuated with his new love that he has become irrational, a weakness which could play a part in the tragedy.  Later on, however, when he has killed Tybalt as a result of his anger of Tybalt killing Mercutio, Romeo