Who was to blame for Romeo and Juliet's deaths?

   There families don’t help the matter with their feud. Capulet I feel is mostly responsible for Juliet’s death because of his fury. He was originally against County Paris’s marriage to Juliet because he feared she was too young. He gives Paris consent to marry her as long as she consents. Then in Act 3 Scene 5 he explodes at Juliet because she refuses to marry him. This Outbreak could come from Tybalt’s Death or his passiveness earlier in the play was just a cover up in front of Paris so not to show the real power hungry him. Capulet seems to be a very possessive character and hates to be disobeyed. I feel Juliet could never have told her father about Romeo for his anger could have led to him killing Romeo or Juliet for that matter. Lady Capulet seems to be afraid of her husband and seems she is not the person Juliet could talk to. After Capulet’s outburst at Juliet, Juliet turns to her mother and says: ‘ O sweet mother cast me not away!’ Juliet’s mother replies with: ‘Talk not to me…for I have done with thee’. Lady Capulet is either an evil woman or a vengeful one for she tells Juliet she will have Romeo murdered in Mantua: ‘ we will have vengeance for it…I’ll send to one in Mantua… shall give him such an unaccustom’d dram that he shall soon keep Tybalt company’. When Lady Capulet leaves she then turns to her Nurse.

    The Nurse throughout the play has been beside Juliet lending her support and help. Juliet sees the Nurse as a mother like figure and turns to her for guidance and help. During Capulet’s Outburst at Juliet the Nurse sticks up for Juliet: ‘ you are to blame, my lord to rate her so’. Here the Nurse is telling Capulet it’s his fault for scolding her. It seems very unlikely that the Nurse could have been responsibly for Juliet’s suicide but if you look closely it seems to be the final push to suicide. When Juliet’s mother leaves after the row Juliet turns to the Nurse for guidance and the Nurse tells her to: ‘ I think it best you marry with the county’ and Juliet when hearing this feels betrayed and will no longer confide in the nurse. This was a strange thing for the nurse to say because she is usually a kind and sensitive person. I think a reason for the nurse saying such things to Juliet could be because of the way Capulet shouted at the Nurse. She could have felt the sooner Juliet is married the sooner she can leave. After the Nurse leaves Juliet then decides if the Friar doesn’t have a plan then she will end her life: ‘If all else fail, myself have power to die.’

    Friar Laurence