Who and What is to Blame for the Deaths of Romeo and Juliet?

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Who and What is to Blame for the Deaths of Romeo and Juliet?

In William Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet, there is much controversy to who is to blame for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. In this tragedy, the two family’s on-going feud drives Romeo to kill one of Juliet’s relatives and thus he finds himself banned from Verona. They then construct a plan to meet again, but when the plan goes awry, the two star-crossed lovers take their own lives. The question now, where to lay the blame of their deaths. The deaths can be blamed on the parents, the friar, or Romeo and Juliet themselves. Fate and chance also play a part in the play.

The parents of Juliet can easily be seen as the motive for their deaths. One reason for this is that they are pushing Juliet to marry Paris. ‘Sir Paris, I will make a desperate tender of me child’s love… a Thursday, tell her she shall marry this noble earl’ (Act3, Scene4 12-21). This section shows Capulet’s agreement with Paris to have him marry Juliet. Juliet loves Romeo, and not Paris, but her father’s thoughts of Paris being a suitable match make it so she has to marry him. Juliet, not thinking into the future and what else could be possible, makes hasty decisions after her father tells her, ‘I tell thee what- get to church a Thursday or never after look me in the face. Speak not, reply not, do not answer’ (Act3, Scene5 161-163), and goes to the friar looking to kill herself. Her father then later makes a decision to move the wedding up to Wednesday. This greatly upsets Juliet. The desire of her father for her to marry and calling her a wretch and hussy run Juliet into a corner with nothing left to do to save herself, except herself. Also, after Romeo kills Tybalt Juliet’s mother says, ‘I’ll send one in Mantua, where that same banished runagate doth live, shall give him such an unaccustomed dram that he should soon keep Tybalt company, and then I hope thou wilt be satisfied’(Act3 Scene5 87-92). This gives Juliet the thought that Romeo will be killed if her parents can have anything to do with it and that she will have to live without him. ‘Come, cords, come, Nurse, I’ll to my wedding bed, and death, not Romeo take my maidenhead’ (Act3, Scene 2 136-137) explains that Juliet would rather die a virgin rather than live without Romeo. The parents have proven many times how they could be the cause of the lovers’ deaths.

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The Friar can also be blamed for the deaths. For one, he is the person that agrees to marry the lovers. ‘In one respect I’ll thy assistant be; for this alliance may so happy prove to turn your households’ rancor to pure love’ (Act 2, Scene 3 93-94). Though the friar may mean good, he can ultimately be traced back to their deaths. If he had not married them, then maybe Romeo and Juliet would have forgotten about each other, or run away together, or solved their problems in other ways. The friar also could be blamed because he is ...

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