People who could also be blamed include Friar Lawrence. Although Friar Lawrence’s intentions were good, he shouldn’t have suggested such a dangerous plan, he was playing with the lover’s lives. It was also the Friars fault that the message that Juliet was alive didn’t reach Romeo in time, so he thought his lover had died.
The Friar and the nurse are the only people who know Romeo and Juliet’s secret. It seems as though these two take over the role of Romeo and Juliet’s parents as the lovers cannot tell their own parents but need to tell somebody they can trust. Although the Friar’s hoping that the wedding will be a success and the families will then be friends, he says a lot of things throughout the play that make it sound like he knows things will end up going wrong. For example he tells Romeo, ‘These violent delights have violent ends.’ (Act 2 Scene 6). But in a way, the marriage does succeed in uniting the families as they realise what they have done and feel ashamed. The Friar is willing to take the blame, ‘Be sacrificed, some hour before his time, Unto the rigour of severest law.’ (Act 5 Scene 3). The nurse also takes a parental role in the play. She is much closer and more affectionate with Juliet than her mother ever is. She has pet names for Juliet such as ‘lamb’ and ‘pretty fool.’ When the nurse discovers Juliet’s death, she seems to be more genuinely upset than any of the other characters. When Juliet asks the nurse to help Juliet marry Romeo, she has no choice but to help, as she is Juliet’s servant. The death of the lovers is partly her fault in this case but, she had no other choice but to help Juliet so she cannot take the full blame for their deaths. Throughout the play, we get the impression that the nurse probably thinks Juliet will be much better off with Paris rather than Romeo. The nurse advises Juliet to do as her parents say, as the nurse always tries to be practical and sensible. For example she says, ‘ I think you are happy in this second match, for it excels your first.’ Talking about Paris. By thinking that Paris is a better match for Juliet than Romeo is, Juliet feels betrayed and doesn’t tell the nurse about the potion plan.
Tybalt and Mercutio could also be partially to blame. If Tybalt hadn’t killed Mercutio, Romeo would not have killed Tybalt and be banished from Verona. This would mean that the lovers could still see each other in secret, and the Friar wouldn’t have had to rely on a letter to tell Romeo that Juliet and could have told him in person rather than the letter going astray leading to Romeo believing Juliet was dead. Mercutio is not a family member but says that the family feud has caused his death as he died fighting to protect Romeo’s honour. “A plague a’ both your houses! They have made worms’ meat of me.”(Act 3 Scene1).
It was fate which caused the letter to go astray, and it plays a very strong part in the story. Romeo seems to think that the stars decide a lot of things. The first time he mentions this is on the way to Capulet’s party with Mercutio (Act 1 Scene 4) he says, ‘some consequence yet hanging in the stars.’ He mentions the stars again when he is about to commit suicide (Act 5 Scene 3) he says he wants to be free from his unlucky stars, ‘and shake the yoke of inauspicious stars.’ At the start of the play, the prologue says that the lovers are doomed to die. It implies that the stars control Romeo and Juliet’s lives, and the stars are against them.
There are constant mood changes throughout the play. As the play begins, the characters are happy but they become increasingly upset and the play becomes darker. Shakespeare does this because he knows that it’s easier for the audience to care about the characters when they’ve seen them happy first. The play becomes more depressing as it continues. By the mood and attitude of the characters, Shakespeare makes you feel differently about each one. He makes Romeo and Juliet’s love for one another seem very special, as he wants the audience to believe in the couple and wish them well. The irony in the play is that the couple’s love for one another in the end is a success because the families see the worthlessness of their feud and this wouldn’t have happened if the couple hadn’t have died. It is therefore hate not love which killed the lovers.
