Juliet on the other hand did lots of other things, as well as the ones that Romeo did. Firstly, she was supposed to marry Paris but she had already married Romeo at this point. Her father – Capulet – had arranged the wedding behind her back so when she was told to marry Paris, she refused. Her father then told her that if she doesn’t go to the church on Thursday, she should ‘never look me in the face’ and ‘speak not, reply not, do not answer me’ and then he said that he wanted to slap her but he kept having a moan at them all and stormed out. This put Juliet under immense pressure – she could be faithful to Romeo and not go, but be kicked out of her house or she could go and commit bigamy. This is what drove he to take the potion from Friar Lawrence which led to their deaths. She also sinned by getting married in secret and doing all of what she did in secret and also pretending to be dead so this could mean that if Shakespeare believed in God, he may have been something to do with it.
Marrying Romeo in the first place is what caused everything after because if she hadn’t have married him, she wouldn’t have had to worry about Paris and she wouldn’t have taken the potion. Faking her death was also a bad idea. She used it as a way oh getting out of her wedding with Paris but she thought that Romeo would come and rescue her but he was too early (or she woke up late) and when she woke up she saw a dead Paris and Romeo laying next to her. She took the potion because Friar Lawrence said that she should but she should’ve made up her own mind and decided whether to take the potion or not.
Another group of people who are to blame for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet is Friar Lawrence and the Nurse. They’re not related in any way but are in a group together because they were in the same position. The Nurse did several things to incur the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. The first thing she did was to scheme with Romeo and Juliet. She was the one that allowed them to meet up and get to know each other in secret. She kept all of this a secret from Lord and Lady Capulet which she shouldn’t have done because that’s not being honest to her employer which she should be. It’s also being very unfaithful and she could’ve been putting the Capulet family and household in jeopardy.
She also actually encouraged the marriage between Romeo and Juliet which is something she definitely should have done. Then, when they did actually get married, she hid it from Lord and Lady Capulet even though Romeo was going to their house and staying the night with Juliet. Sometimes the Nurse had to create an excuse why Lady Capulet couldn’t enter the room and tell Juliet that ‘your Lady mother is coming’ meaning that she didn’t want Lady Capulet to find out about the marriage. She didn’t just hide it from Lord and Lady Capulet, she didn’t tell anyone else either which showed that she was very faithful to Juliet and that Juliet could trust her. The final thing that she did is that she allowed Juliet to take the potion from Friar Lawrence which led to Romeo’s death which led to hers. She didn’t actually say anything to Juliet – whether to take it or not – but with her silence, she implied that it was ok with her and that it was Juliet’s own decision.
Friar Lawrence did the same sort of thing as the Nurse. The first major thing he did was that he allowed the two of them to get married. He thought that their ‘alliance may so happy prove to turn your households’ rancour to pure love’ meaning that he let the get married because he thought that this would stop the fighting between the two families. Friar Lawrence, though, should have realised that this ‘ancient grudge’ goes so far back that nothing would stop it – also the fact that Romeo, Juliet, the Nurse and Friar Lawrence kept it all a secret. This meant that the fighting couldn’t be stopped so they were going to be punished. He was the one that came up with the plan and planned how they’d be able to get married in secret without anyone knowing – which he did quite successfully. This meant that Romeo and Juliet were trying to do everything in secret and they would’ve been found out and killed if the Friar didn’t do what he was about to do.
He also helped Romeo and Juliet get back together after Romeo had been banished. He did this by giving Juliet a potion to take which would give her the characteristics of being dead. He didn’t force her into taking it, but he encouraged it so that she and Romeo could be reunited. He was able to keep this plan and whole incident quiet and he was also able to hide Romeo for a few days before he was banished. Then when Juliet did eventually “die” he was very speedy. He entered the room and straight away he asks ‘is the bride ready to go to church’ and then Capulet said that she’s dead and after that the Friar gave a speech and then got her to church as quickly as possible.
But Friar Lawrence couldn’t deliver the letter to Romeo in Mantua himself so he asked Friar John to do it. Friar John was unable to deliver the message to Romeo about the plan so Romeo didn’t get it but his friend Balthasar told Romeo about Juliet’s death. The problem was Balthasar had no idea of the plan so Romeo killed himself on seeing Juliet lying there (looking) dead. This is how that caused their deaths in one way. He shouldn’t have got Friar Lawrence involved anyway because this unfair on him because if he was caught, he’d also be punished and he may also be untrustworthy (except for the fact that he is a friar!!!)
The final thing that Friar Lawrence did was not tell anyone else about it. This helped in the way that Romeo and Juliet weren’t caught, but it meant that he had no one to turn to when he needed advice and he must have been under a lot of pressure because he wasn’t allowed to tell anyone about it. It was his idea about the potion and it was probably not thought through; and we know this because he puts forward the idea of the potion just as Juliet mentions that she ‘longs to die’ so they obviously didn’t think about the consequences, which is how they died.
The next group, of people who are to blame, is quite a big one because it’s almost everyone else. The first person is Lord Capulet. The first thing he did is letting Romeo stay at the party. He told Tybalt to ‘let him alone’ but this was a mistake because if he threw him out, he and Juliet – even though they’d already met – would not have gone any further that that unless Romeo made even more of an effort to see her. The next is that he only used to let Juliet go to confession. It doesn’t say this but the nurse says ‘have you got leave to go to shrift today’ so she can get married implying that unless she’s going to confession, she’s not allowed out of the house. This meant that she wasn’t allowed to see Romeo and that’s why she had to do everything in secret which led to their deaths.
He also organised the marriage with her and Paris behind her back and then he sprung it on her. He then forced Juliet to marry Paris which put he under pressure which made her go to Friar Lawrence who then gave her the potion. He told her that if she doesn’t marry Paris, he will drag her ‘on a hurdle hither’ and he also called her a ‘green-sickness carrion’, ‘baggage’ and a ‘tallow-face’ so he was saying that if she does not go to church to get married to Paris, he will never speak to her again. This is what made her take the potion.
Another person in that group who was to blame in the same group was Lady Capulet. She didn’t do as much as Lord Capulet but she still contributed. The first thing – which actually went back before all of these incidents happened – is that she leaves the Nurse to look after Juliet as a mother and a maid. The Nurse wakes her up in the morning, does everything with and for her in the day and then tucks her back in at night. Lady Capulet only talks to her on special occasions or when there’s news to tell.
The next thing that she did is that she wanted Juliet to marry Paris. This didn’t really do much because wanting didn’t really affect Juliet but then she let Lord Capulet arrange everything behind Juliet’s back and then tried to persuade Juliet to marry him anyway which was unfair on Juliet anyway because she didn’t have a say about it and, of course, the fact that she was already married to Romeo.
Lord and Lady Montague didn’t do much each and you don’t hear about them in the play but we still know some things which they did. The first is that they wanted to keep the grudge alive and we know this because at the beginning of the play Abraham – who is a Montague servant – fights with Samson all because Samson tried to annoy him. Because they were the head of the family, they could have easily stopped the fighting but they chose not to which consequentially caused the death of their son. The final thing is that you don’t see in the play either of the Montague’s talking to Romeo. They obviously are concerned about him because he’s their son and they’re sad when they found out he’d died but they were obviously not concerned enough because they didn’t care what he did and even whether he came in at night!
The next person who I think is to blame is Mercutio. Firstly he encouraged Romeo to go to the party. He told him that he should come in to forget about Rosaline because everyone else is better looking than her. If Romeo didn’t go, he would never have met Juliet and none of this would ever have taken place. He also caused the rivalry to continue because on two separate occasions in the play he was involved in a fight; the first being at the beginning and the other between him and Tybalt. He was the one who encouraged Tybalt to fight which led to his death and that lead Romeo to kill Tybalt and get banished.
The last person who I think is to blame is Tybalt. He was the one who caused him and Mercutio to fight because of the fact that he was so wound up that Romeo and other Montague’s went to Capulet’s party. This caused him to fight with Mercutio which led to Mercutio and his own deaths; also meaning that Romeo was banished.
The last thing that may have been to blame is fate. Romeo and Juliet may have been destined to be together and die so they can be together in death. It also says in the prologue says that they were ‘star-crossed lovers’ meaning that they were ill-fated and were going to die anyway. It also said that their love was ‘death-marked’ meaning that is was doomed to death.
I don’t think that any one person was to blame for the untimely deaths of Romeo and Juliet and I also think that this is what Shakespeare was also trying to portray. I think this because he doesn’t make it just one person who caused it and he also mentions a lot about fate in the prologue. They are not all equally to blame though because – as you may be able to tell – some people had more reasons for them than others. There are also minorities – like Friar John and the Apothecary who I’ve either mentioned a little or nothing about. No one in particular was to blame for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet; I think they bought it on themselves.
