The nurse at first claims Paris to be the perfect man – “man of wax” and is in support of Juliet’s marriage to him. But sees she is not wanting to marry him and so allows herself to become a messenger between Romeo and Juliet and tells Juliet that they will marry tomorrow she does this quite freely, but makes sure Romeo does not take her into a fools paradise. Having Juliet’s best interests at heart at this part of the play she does not tell Lady Capulet of their wedding plans which may have been a mistake as if she did their deaths would have been easily avoidable. Later the nurse becomes in favour of Juliet’s marriage to Paris and swaps sides, but I believe she does this to escape lord Capulets’s wrath as she says this after an aggressive speech from him.
There are many similarities between the Friar Lawrence and the nurse. They both withhold information of Romeo and Juliet’s marriage from their parents they both act as messengers and people with which the lovers can confide in. They both act irresponsibly and immaturely, and selfishly desert Romeo and Juliet in some way as the play comes to a close. They let Romeo and Juliet’s love not stop and let it become destructive as it changes the two lovers character and makes them quite able to take their own life.
It could be argued that Romeo is at fault for their deaths. His fickle nature allows him to fall in love with Juliet on sight when it seemed that moments ago he felt “in love” with Roseline .He also after only seeing Juliet for the first time wishes to marry her straight away This argues the fact that they are merely mixed up teenagers and do not really know what love is.
Luck is very big factor that lead to their tragic deaths. Many things could have gone differently to allow for a completely different turn of events. Mercutio’s death can be interpreted as an accident. Had this accident not have taken place Romeo would not have been banished. Romeo’s interception of the party invitation was also by chance and allowed him to go to the party and see Juliet. Lord Capulet not getting rid of Romeo on sight allowed his meeting with Juliet and had Lord Capulet got rid of him Juliet and Romeo would never have met. Balthazar going to tell news of Juliet’s death was also by chance and also Friar John’s failure to deliver the message also contained an element of chance.
Juliet felt expected to marry Paris at her parent’s wishes straight away. This may have driven her to find someone else and not marry Paris and then she falls in love with Romeo. Her parent’s wishes fuelling her hunger to do what she wanted and escape the shackles placed around her by her parents. When Romeo finds out she is a Capulet he goes to her house after the party and then chooses to marry her, if she was not a Capulet he may not have reacted in this way and so the deep-rooted custom that the two families hate each other made him do this. The divide is also responsible for Tybalt’s attitude and is what made him fight Romeo and so Romeo became banished.
Love or lust can be at blame here. It is what brings Romeo and Juliet together in the first place. Juliet condemns her love for Romeo as she asks why she must love a loathed enemy as if it is not her fault, which is partly true, as you cannot silent love. Romeo says, “Love pricks like thorn” and so it is love, which causes their demise.
Lord and Lady Capulet are quite responsible as at first they are gentle with Juliet as they try to marry her off. As Lord Capulet says leave it another two years. But after Tybalts death the wedding is moved forward to the next day. When Juliet refuses Lord Capulet is very angry and refers to her as a “disobedient rat” and says she can die in the streets if she refuses, but I believe his words to be driven by his emotion after Tybalts death. Lady Capulet says she does not care when Juliet says she will kill herself but she is probably treating her like a child and so ignores what she says which is hypocritical as they believe she is old enough to marry. It is true that they do not mean this as their real emotions are shown towards Juliet when they see her dead.
Benvolio, a benevolent person fights Tybalt at the beginning reluctantly, as he says, “The quarrel is between our masters”. He goes on to say “I do but keep the peace” which shows he is a person who dislikes the fighting and opposites the character of Tybalt in several ways. Benvolio, in my opinion is not to blame for the deaths however he does encourage Romeo to go to the party and see other girls.
Mercutio, is also not directly at blame, however his unpredictable character makes him fight Tybalt and die at his hands so some blame can be shifted onto him as this is what caused Romeo to kill Tybalt. He also encouraged Romeo to go to the party like Benvolio did.
In conclusion I believe that their deaths caused by all manner of things. Fortune is to blame for several things that could quite easily have gone the other way. The divide between the families pushed them together and also the people who enforced this divide. Well meaning people such as the Friar Lawrence and Nurse who do have the lover’s best wishes at heart but go over the top with the things they do to keep them together. The two also change sides at the end of the play and leave the two of them to face their problems. Both the friar Lawrence and the Nurse acted ignorantly and imaturley. The immaturity of the lovers was also something that acted against them as they were not acting rationally, but rather stupidly. I also conclude that the issues raised in the story are relevant today as they were when the written and most probably before. Deceit, love, prejudice, ignorance are all pertinent to the cause of the deaths.
