Who is most responsible for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet?

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Pre Twentieth Century Drama Coursework

Who is most responsible for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet?

Romeo and Juliet is one of the oldest and best loved stories in the world. Shakespeare found the story in a narrative poem called The Tragicall History of Romeus and Juliet by Arthur Brooke and adapted the poem for his own audiences. The story has been traced as far back as the third century AD and is set in Verona, Italy. The story tells of two young lovers, if they were any younger they would be classed as children, who find themselves between an ever-going family feud. They cannot understand the hatred of the older generation which keeps them far apart. Consequently they choose to disobey their parents’ wishes, which leads to tragedy. As a result of this, they choose to die together instead of living without one another.

When Shakespeare was born in 1564, Elizabeth I was the Queen of England. During the period of Elizabeth’s reign ( 1558-1603 ) there were many beleifs about the order in society. Although, the head of the country was a female monarch ther was still unfairness and equal rights for the women of the country compared to the men.  The average man had no vote and his wife had no rights at all. This was the case in all areas of life for a woman living in this particular period of time. Education was not available for girls as they had the need to stay at home and aquire domestic and social skills, i.e. cooking, cleaning, sewing and if lucky learn how to play an instument. Only the a small minority of girls had the advantage of learning to read and write, however this was very rare. The most common form of art of the Elizabethans was drama. At the beginning of the sixteenth century, plays were performed by actor, all of whom were male. Boys acted the female roles and no woman was seen in a play-house unitl the later on. The first woman to “legally” appear on stage in England was Margaret Hughes, who on 8th December 1660, played “Desdemona” in “The Moor of Venice” ( a rewroking of Shakespeares “Othello”). After this appearance on stage, many woman soon followed. This inequality is narrated through the play of Romeo and Juliet as ther are a number of scenes where the woman is treated with unfairness. This order of sciety was very mucha huge part of Romeo and Juliet as the older characters of the play seem to be casting all the decisions. This is apparent in the scene where Paris asks for Juliets hand in marriage. Instead of asking Juliet for her hand in mariiage, Paris seeks Capulets permission for marrying his one and only daughter. Furthermore, Capulet does not proceed to ask Juliet before disagrreing and stating that she is too young.

If studied carefully, there may be many people and things responsible for the tragic deaths of Romeo and Juliet.

The Capulets and Montagues could be responsible for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet because if their ancestors didn’t start the fighting, and they didn’t continue it, nothing terrible would have happened.

The first lines of the play tell us about the hate and envy between the two houses. Choir: "Two households, both alike in dignity . . . From ancient grudge to new mutiny," (Prologue, 1-3). The choir tells us that the whole conflict started a long time ago with really little things, and then grew into huge fights involving many people. No leader of either household ever thought about making peace, they were all too busy to spoil everything for the rival family. Only after the death of their children they realized how wrong they were.

Romeo and Juliet first meet each other at a party at the Capulets’ house. They fall in love with each other at the first sight without knowing that they are from rival houses, and when they do learn about it, it is too late. Juliet says: "My only love, sprung from my only hate!/Too early seen unknown, and known too late!" (I, v, 147-148). Juliet realizes that it was a mistake to fall in love with Romeo, because he is one of the people she should watch out for. He is her first and only love, but he is an enemy of her family. Luckily for Romeo, Juliet is smart, and such things as unreasonable hate between their parents wouldn’t stop her from loving Romeo and getting married to him. She is sorry that their families are enemies, though, because everything would be much easier if they weren’t. So this is the first time when the hate between Capulets and Montagues becomes an obstacle to Romeo and Juliet’s happiness.

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Only after their children die, do the Montague and Capulet come to their senses. The Prince accuses them of killing Romeo and Juliet: ". . . Capulet, Montague, See what a scourge is laid upon your hate, That heavens finds means to kill your joys with love!" (V, iii, 304-306). The Prince makes them see how wrong they were all the time, that all because of their hate, because they couldn’t let their children love each other, Romeo and Juliet died. After that, Capulet and Montague make peace, and Montague even says that he will make a gold statue of ...

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