Who is to blame for the tragedy in Romeo and Juliet?

The nurse is Juliet’s confidante and she is aware of her love for Romeo. She could be blamed for the demise of Romeo and Juliet in many ways. She arranges their marriage without informing the parents. “Then hie you hence to Friar Lawrence’ cell, There stays a husband to make you a wife.” This shows the nurse is telling Juliet to go to the church were Romeo would be waiting to make her his wife. She changes towards the end when she is fickle in criticising Romeo when comparing him to Paris. “O, he’s a lovely gentleman! Romeo’s a dishclout to him.” The nurse is saying Romeo is a dishrag compared to Paris the lovely gentleman. She told Juliet to marry Romeo and now she won’t help her and tells her to marry Paris. So this leads Juliet into seeking help from friar Lawrence and because she feels lonely and has no one there to support her she wants to commit suicide.

Tybalt is an arrogant and aggressive character that must accept some responsibility for the tragedy in the play. He is involved in a fight with the Capulets at the beginning of the play. “What, drawn and the talk of peace? I hate the word as I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee have thee coward.” This shows Benvolio wants peace but Tybalt doesn’t, he’s calling him a coward for asking him for peace. He could be blamed because Romeo kills him later in the play and if he accepted the peace this may not have happened. This also shows he is blamed because he could have stopped the feud between the two families and maybe the Montagues and Capulets would have accepted Romeo and Juliet to get married.

Prince Escalus is the governor of Verona. He is in a position to stop the feuding between the Montagues and the Capulets; therefore he can be blamed because he sent Romeo away to Mantua for killing Tybalt. That’s how the confusion begins and it is led to the deaths. He also tried to stop the feud between the two families “if ever you disturb our streets again, your lives shall forfeit the peace.” This shows he has already warned each of the families and they did not choose to listen so he had no choice but to send Romeo away.

Romeo and Juliet are sometimes seen as innocent victims. Fate also can be the cause of the tragedy. “I have a faint cold fear thrills through my veins that freezes up the heat of life.” This shows that she has a feeling about death and how she thinks there is gain to be a tragedy that “freezes up the heat of life”. She is right because it leads to their death. Also in the prologue fate is bought up “the fearful passage of their death mark’d love.” This shows that them being in love will be a passage to death and their relationship is doomed from the beginning.

However both characters are in several ways to blame for their deaths. Romeo is an impetuous character who often acts before he thinks. When he sees a pretty girl he falls in love with her “one fairer than my love! The all seeing sun” this shows he loves Rosaline and he cannot live without her, but then he makes rash choices and when he sees Juliet he falls in love with her and claims he cannot live without her. Also “Sin from my lips? O trespass sweetly urg’d. Give me my sin again” this shows he has just met Juliet and he is already kissing her and he has fallen in love with her, not knowing she is a Capulet.

Juliet might also be held responsible for the events of the play. She is naïve and gullible. She marries Romeo within a short amount of time and she thinks she is in love. She does question whether Romeo actually loves her “O swear not by the moon, th’inconstant moon, that monthly changes in her circl’d orb.” This shows that the moon changes during the month, so she is questioning if Romeo will change his mind throughout the month and possibly fall in love with a different girl. They both made sudden decisions, which could have led to their deaths.

There are a number of characters that might be blame for the tragedy of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ in my opinion Friar Lawrence was mainly to blame because he agreed to get them married and I think if he told Romeo he is rushing into the marriage the deaths would not have happened. Fate is also to blame because no one could stop them falling in love, and not telling their families would end up in tragedy.