“For the alliance may so happy prove
To turn you households’ rancour to pure love.”
(Act3 Scene3 lines 91-92) (Friar Lawrence)
Once the Friar realises that all has gone wrong his, he abandons Juliet in the tomb to die. His selfishness has cost Romeo and Juliet their lives. At this point of the play the Friars true self is revealed, he is not helpful and has no concern for Romeo, but just for Himself. Another character similar as the Friar, but not as much to blame, is Juliet’s Nurse. Although she new noting about the plan, she was the only other character that new about the secret wedding. Throughout “Romeo and Juliet” these two characters plot and scheme which makes them equally to blame for the innocent deaths of Romeo and Juliet.
The nurse plays a vital part in the play; the relationship between the nurse and Juliet is exactly the same as Romeo and the Friar. She acts both as Juliet’s adviser and Mother. She is there for Juliet a lot more than her mother due to Lady Capulet being more involved in the feud than her daughters. Just like the Friar, later on in the play she too abandons her. She abandons her for her own sake.
The parents have a big part to play for the tragedy. The relationship between them and the children was literally non-existent. Although this surprises readers of today we have to take account that in Shakespeare’s time, this kind of relationship was understandable, especially between the fathers and daughters. It was expected that fathers own their daughters and that when they are married the husband then takes over ownership, and she gains her husbands last name. The role of parenthood has only changed in the 1600’s. Women had a very little status. This was not at all strange for the people of Shakespeare’s time even despite the fact there was a woman monarch on the throne. This is one of the reasons for Elizabeth 1st to marry because her husband would have control over England. Throughout Romeo and Juliet Shakespeare portrays Juliet as a much more stronger character than Romeo, this is only due to the fact that it would have impressed the Queen.
You could say that maybe if the parents of Romeo and Juliet had spent more time with them then they would have been more in control of them and know what they were up to. Capulet lacks a clear understanding of his daughter; at first he is very cautious and always does the best for Juliet and the feud, throughout the play his character is portrayed as a calm one and not one to cause any unnecessary disturbance. For example, when at the Capulet ball when Tybalt discovers that Romeo is there, Capulet encourages Tybalt not to fight and to ignore Romeo.
“Content thee, gentle coz, let him alone”
(Act1 Scene 5 lines 64-65) (Capulet)
As the play progresses his attitude changes for he kicks Juliet out of the house and curses her. He does this because Juliet tells Him that she would not like to marry Paris. Capulet takes this as being disobedient and disowns her.
“Out, you green sickness carrion! Out you baggage”
(Act 3 Scene 1 lines 156-157) (Capulet)
Capulet travels from being a nice calm Father to being a very aggressive person.
Juliet’s mother is portrayed as a very weak character and the Nurse compensates for this for example, Lady Capulet requests a talk with her daughter and in the process dismisses the nurse. After a while she becomes awkward and finds it difficult to act as a mother and panics and calls the Nurse back in.
Lady Capulet is shocked when Juliet tells her that she does not want to marry Paris, she supports the husband, (she is expected to).
Romeo’s Parents are barely in the play, when they do enter they act very intolerant.
Both households are full of chaos and irresponsibility; this is the reason the Prince blames the Families for there deaths.
The next people to blame are the friends and Family of Romeo and Juliet, Epically Tybalt. A lot of different issues are expressed between the different friends, Rivalry, Hatred, Jealousy and this supplies the feud with more chaos. Tybalt does all of the above; it is his temper and hatred that is the cause of Mercutios death and Romeos Banishment. The reason for Tybalt fighting Romeo in the first place is Romeos love for Juliet. When Mercutio dies, instead of doing the right thing and telling the prince, his naivety and hatred start to break through and he goes and kills Tybalt, Romeo was now banished and unable to see his love.
Mercutio is a loyal friend to Romeo, he does not belong to either family and remains neutral, he gets involved in a lot of Romeos affairs and thus getting himself killed.
“A plague a’both of your houses!”
(Act 3 Scene 1 lines 102) (Mercutio)
Benvolio, although he did not mean any harm, it was his doing that allowed Romeo to go to the Ball, you could put this down to fate. He try’s to make peace but unfortunately his voice was not powerful enough.
Romeo’s character is a very immature, naive one. He is very passionate and romantic. He had a very irresponsible way to life, this being one of the causes for his death. Whenever something goes wrong he solves most things with violence. Most of is troubles are dealt with lots of sulking. Romeo is a product of the feud and is following in his father’s footsteps. As soon as Balfasar informs Romeo of Juliet’s death he immediately sulks with find out the reasons why.
Juliet’s is a lot like Romeo is the passionate side of life, but when it comes to dealing with situations she acts much more mature, and she plays things much more safely than him. Although her character is very open she, still make sure the decisions she makes in life are the right ones. When she was about to take the potion she thought of all the different scenarios and chose which one was best for her, this is the complete opposite to Romeo.
One of the key issues of the play was FATE. .
One of the key issues of the play was FATE. You could say all of the events had a certain path and that one thing lead to another. Overall every single character is somewhat involved in the deaths of the star-crossed lovers, and even though they did not kill them literally, they all contributed in leading them in that direction.