What, drawn and talk of peace! I hate the word /As I hate hell, all Montagues and thee". Tybalt is adversarial towards the Montagues, especially Romeo, keeping the hatred alive. His immediate instinct to seeing the Montagues, is to fight. Only Capulet’s increasingly firm warnings restrain him from doing so. Romeo’s biggest mistake was killing Tybalt as it led to his banishment and stopped him from seeing his beloved Juliet. Tybalt was determined to fight Romeo, but Romeo refused. From this, Romeo’s closest friend, Mercutio intervened and challenged Tybalt. Tybalt killed Mercutio in a sudden surge of anger. This antagonised Romeo, as he seeks revenge and results in him killing Tybalt. I think Tybalt is partly responsible for Romeo and Juliet’s deaths, as his actions led to Mercutio’s death, in which Romeo took revenge and killed him. This led to Romeo’s banishment from Verona.
Juliet is young, loyal and very inexperienced in relationships. She is approaching 14, and obeys her parents. When she meets Romeo, she feels she has been rescued, as her parents are persistently asking her to marry The County Paris, of whom she does not love. Juliet does not rebel against her parent’s wishes, but trusts them to make the right choice for her. She too, acted ruthlessly and did not realise the consequences of her actions. She is loyal to Romeo, and is worried about him being caught on the balcony. "The orchard walls are high and hard to climb/ And the place death, considering who thou art," However, Juliet does not blame fate as Romeo does. She blames her birth as we hear in these rhyming couplets "Prodigious birth of love is to me, / That I must love a loathed enemy."
Juliet is very close to her nurse, and only discloses her love for Romeo to her. The nurse acts as almost a surrogate mother to Juliet. Her parents do not listen to her opinions, and believe they know what’s best for her. The nurse is partly responsible for Romeo and Juliet’s death, as she acted as a messenger between the couple. She is not particularly clever or sensitive, as she does nothing to warn Juliet of how an involvement with a Montague, could cause problems to Juliet and her family. The nurse is fond of Juliet and is probably one of her closest friends besides Romeo. This is perceived when she says to Lady Capulet "Well sir my mistress is the sweetest lady". The nurse however, finds it highly amusing when Lady Capulet suggests a marriage to Paris in Act 1 Scene 3, "A bump as big as a young cockerels stone". The nurse encourages Juliet’s love for Romeo, admiring him “Why he’s a man of wax”. She secretly discovers Romeo’s identity, as asked by Juliet. The nurse does not decide to offer any advice, although knowing Juliet is very inexperienced. She goes behind her employer’s back, and does not inform them of Juliet’s current situation.
Juliet is obviously confused, at being at such a young age of 13. When she first meets Romeo she states, “ It is too rash, too unadvised, too sudden,” but later on she says, “ Thy purpose marriage, send me word to-morrow”. Juliet does not know what she wants, and is this evidence of her being very inexperienced. She didn’t consider the consequences of actions, which led inevitably to her death.
The nurse deceives Juliet, when her parents decide she must marry Paris. She offers no comfort, as Juliet pleas "Comfort me, council me". She turns her back on Juliet, advising her to marry Paris; fully aware she was already married to Romeo. Juliet ends her relationship with nurse, feeling completely deceived and betrayed. I don’t think the nurse realised the extent of damage she could cause by urging Juliet to marry Romeo so soon. She had good intentions for Juliet, but became very excitable over the prospect of her marrying Romeo.
Juliet’s parents, I feel contribute highly to the couple’s death. Lady Capulet and Capulet, made no attempt to resolve the family feud. They had authority in the Capulet household and believed that Juliet should marry Paris. They did not respect her opinions, and didn’t pay much attention to what she desired.
Lady Capulet ordered Juliet to marry Paris “She shall be married to this noble earl". Juliet rebelled to her order, and Lady Capulet left Capulet to deal with the situation, “Here comes your father, tell him so yourself: / And see how he will take it at your hands.”. At the beginning, Capulet feels Juliet is far too young to marry but later we find him saying “I think she will be ruled, in all respects by me: I doubt it not.” Lady Capulet is represented as cold hearted, uncaring and unsympathetic, and this is what leads Juliet to invest in her relationship with the nurse and her marriage to Romeo.
Romeo’s parents can be blamed as well for this tragedy. However, they are not as responsible as the Capulet’s. They did not interfere with Romeo’s life but still alike the Capulets, kept the feud going. If they had been more understanding, Romeo would not have felt the need to keep secrets from them.
Fate is a factor that can be seen to contribute to this tragedy. It can be said; it is not the fault of one individual but occurred due to bad luck. The Prologue at the beginning of the play suggests it was mainly fate that was to blame, "star-cross'd lovers and "death-mark'd love" meaning their relationship was destined to end in tragedy. It is bad luck that Romeo and Juliet met in their circumstances, and that Friar John did not arrive with the letter punctual to his appointment. Romeo blames fate for his misfortune, crying, “O, I am fortune’s fool”. More evidence of this, is when he is informed by the Balthasar that Juliet is dead is cries “Then I defy you stars", meaning he is not going to let Fate dictate what happens to him anymore.
I believe speed also contributes to Romeo and Juliet’s death. If the events hadn’t of happened so quickly, the outcome may have not been so fatal. Romeo and Juliet married within just one day of knowing each other, thinking they had fallen in love. They should have thought about how a relationship would work between the two of them, considering they are from feuding families. This is also Romeo and Juliet’s fault, as they didn’t consider this when hastily rushing into marriage.
Friar Lawrence also contributes highly for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. He should never have married them without their parent’s consent. He is persuaded by Romeo and Juliet to do this, but later finds himself regretting this. His intentions are good, as are many involved in this tragedy, but he too should have thought about how his actions would affect others. I think he gets too involved with the relationship of Romeo and Juliet, and is willing to do anything for things to run smoothly. Friar Lawrence is there for Juliet when she is being forced into marrying Paris. She visits him distressed, stating, "Oh bid me leap, rather than marry Paris/ From of the battlements of any tower".
Friar Lawrence feels, that by marrying Romeo and Juliet, he can reconcile the two feuding families, "To turn your households rancour to pure love". However, he does worry about the consequences, "These violent delights have violent ends". This does become true, as Romeo is banished for killing Tybalt. The Friar’s actions, in the end were indispensably the motivation for Romeo and Juliet killing themselves.
The Friar Lawrence was always there for Romeo and Juliet, and was always nearby to supply a resolution or to solve the dilemma they might have. This is perceived when Juliet is desperate to escape marriage to Paris. Friar Lawrence supplies her with a sleeping potion that “When presently through all veins shall run/ A cold and drowsy humour”. It possesses all the qualities of death, but instead Juliet shall sleep peacefully until she awakes. Juliet is thrilled by this “Give me, give me! Oh tell me not of fear!”. The Friar proposes that he shall send a letter to Romeo in Mantua, informing him of Juliet’s faked death. When she awakes they shall have a secret meeting, devised by Friar Lawrence.
Friar Lawrence assigns Friar John to deliver a letter Romeo, notifying him of Juliet’s fictitious death. The Friar’s detainment by quarantine in Verona, leads to Romeo not receiving Friar Lawrence’s letter of explanation that Juliet was not really dead. When this happens, Romeo again accuses fate, “Unhappy Fortune”. The Friar’s elaborate plan ends it disaster, leading Romeo to kill himself in despair.
The Apothecary supplies Romeo with a bottle of poison. At first he unwilling, but is tempted by Romeo’s inducement of gold. He is greedy and sells it as he poor. He should never have given Romeo the poison, as then he maybe would have survived to see Juliet awake.
Benvolio is a nephew to Montague. He plays a very minor part, serving mainly as Romeo’s friend. Benvolio cajoled Romeo into going to the feast, which led him to meeting Juliet. However, he realises the potential dangers and attempts to dissuade Mercutio from starting another street brawl. I think Benvolio only tried to diffuse the situation between the two feuding families, and cannot be blamed for their deaths.
Mercutio is a lively, enthusiastic character that tries to advise Romeo in his circumstances. He is very light hearted as he says "Thy wit is a very bitter sweeting; it is a most sharp sauce." He is loyal to Romeo, which can be seen when he intervenes when Tybalt challenges him to a brawl. This is a turning point in the play, as Romeo then avenges his death by killing Tybalt, leading to his banishment. Mercutio had a bad attitude to quarrels and he shouldn’t have interfered, although he did not know of Romeo and Juliet’s undying love.
The Prince of Verona, Escalus attempts to keep peace between the families, but is not successful. He should have acted earlier to prevent the feud from escalating. It was unjust of him to send Romeo away from Verona when it was not his fault, but Tybalt’s. His continued annoyance with the ongoing feud, led him to warn both families that further fighting would result in death. If he had tried harder to prevent the quarrelling, the feud might not have got as bad as it did. However at the end of the play he accepts some of the responsibility for what has happened by "Winking at their discords" He also tries to bring the two sides together by, "What a scourge is laid upon your hate, /that heavens finds means to kill your joys with love".
In conclusion to studying several characters and factors in the play “Romeo and Juliet”, I believe the parents of both Romeo and Juliet, are mostly to blame. I think this because, they could of resolved their feud to avoid this fatal tragedy. Lady Capulet and Capulet imposed restrictions on Juliet, and did not listen to her. While I do not doubt her parents did not love her, I feel they should’ve listened to her opinions. They thought they knew what was best for her, which actually resulted in her death. Romeo’s parents were not very understanding, and made no attempt to solve the feud. Although I feel these people contribute the most to this tragedy, they cannot be blamed solely. Many of the characters played major parts in this tragedy as well. For example Friar Lawrence’s plans required accurate timing and were never successful. I also feel Romeo and Juliet were too young to understand what true love was, and their decisions were too rash in such a short period of time. Many of the characters account for this tragedy, in which all should possess a certain amount of responsibility for their actions.
