Lady Capulet equally wanted Juliet to marry Paris. Her view on men was that if they had money to marry them, regardless of their looks, as money was more important. This is shown when Lady Capulet tells Juliet “
” (Act Scene ).
Despite Juliet having a nurse, the Capulet’s hiring of the nurse did not affect the course of events, however Nurse was involved in part of the build up. The Nurses’ dishonesty, cowardice and cruel side could have saved Juliet a lot of pain. When Juliet decides to wed Romeo, (Act 2 Scene the nurse tells Juliet “Your love says, like an honest gentleman, and a courteous, and a kind, and a handsome…”. It is obvious the nurse likes Romeo. She also knows of the marriage. However when Juliet is told she is to marry Paris, the Nurse tells Juliet “I think you are happy in this second match, For it excels your first: or if it did not. Your first is dead; or ’twere as good he were”, (Act 3 Scene 5) This shows the Nurse’s two-faced attitude, and how she can change her opinion dramatically quickly for no clear reason. She is also in the wrong for encouraging Juliet to marry Paris when she knows Juliet is already married.
Juliet’s parents affected the course of events, which could have been different had it not been for the Capulet’s greed, that were one of many causes of the deaths. The Nurse’s attitude and self interest also affected Juliet, as from that point she had nobody she could trust to turn to. If she could have talked to someone maybe she would have reacted differently. Paris also influenced the events. If he did not want to marry Juliet then the problems would not have occurred.
The Montague’s could have stopped the feud, and therefore stopped the deaths from happening, however the Capulet’s did not stop the feud either. I feel that this makes them equally in the wrong. When Tybalt kills Mercutio, followed by Romeo slaying Tybalt, it is more to do with the family feud than Romeo and Juliet.
Romeo could be to blame, however in my opinion he went to the Capulet’s masked ball looking for Rosalind, and not Juliet, which meant he did not meet Juliet intentionally. His behaviour was that expected of a young man when he sees a beautiful woman. He did not think before he acted but throughout the play, this happens quite often with various characters. When Juliet has ‘died’ (Act 5 Scene 1), Balthasar rushes off to tell Romeo the news, without thinking of the circumstances or any reasons as to why Juliet is dead.
Friar Lawrence was involved in the course of events, however I personally would not blame him. When he married Romeo and Juliet he hoped it would bring the families closer together. When he offered Juliet the potion of 42-hour death, he was doing it in Juliet’s best interests. Despite his Post Haste letter not being delivered to Romeo, he did try his best to sort things out between the Montague’s and Capulet’s.
Prince Escalus also wanted to sort out the feuding families. His banishment of Romeo happened in the few days, however I do not blame Prince Escalus for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet, as banishing Romeo was what was seen as fair punishment, despite Tybalt murdering Mercutio.
Fate occurred in the run up of the deaths also. There was a very small chance of Romeo, Benvolio and Mercutio meeting an illiterate servant and reading the invitations to the Capulet party (Act Scene ) yet it happened. The letter from Friar Lawrence was not likely to reach Mantua, (Act Scene ) yet it did not. However although fate was part of events I do not think it is completely to blame, but it just affected events.
In conclusion I would say that no individual person was to blame, but the feud, Lord and Lady Capulet and Montague, The Nurse, Paris, Friar Lawrence and Fate all contributed to what ended in the deaths of two star cross’d lovers.