Who was to blame for the death of Romeo and Juliet?

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Melissa Parvis 4W                21.1.06

Who was to blame for the death of Romeo and Juliet?

Romeo and Juliet is a love story about two 'star crossed lovers' who die together as an unhappy couple. The play deals with romantic courtly love. Shakespeare got the idea for this play from an Italian story, which the Elizabethans loved. The play was set in Verona, Italy and it finishes with them having to leave each other which break's their hearts. There are lots of different reasons for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet, but it is a difficult to identify who was the major cause of their deaths as different people have different opinions.

In the city of Verona, Italy there was a feud between the two families, the Montague's, and the Capulet's. There were fights on the streets, arguments and even deaths caused by the feud. It was making peoples lives a misery. The people of Verona thought that if they joined in with the feud it would help stop it. But it just made matters worse. They were causing allot of disturbance on the streets and sometimes they wasted the time of the watch for stupid reasons whiles serious things could be happening. The families should have sorted it out at the start and not carried on showing hatred to each other. So, in this way, it is Lord and Lady Montague and Capulet for letting this feud drag out for so long, when it probably stated over something very insignificant anyway.

        Capulet’s dialogue is styled to make him sound like a caring loving father:

‘My will to her consent is but apart’

        Here, Capulet says to Paris, that he can marry her as long as         Juliet it happy. It has smooth and flowing dialogue which shows he cares about Juliet.In the play, there is a lot of romantic dialogue which makes “Romeo and Juliet” famous. It has beautiful metaphors and similies:

“O she doth teach the torches to burn bright. It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night, like a rich jewel in an Ethiop’s ear.”

At the following point in the play Romeo has just laid eyes on Juliet and he tells himself and the audience in metaphors how beautifully he thinks she is compared with everyone else.

There are many people who could be seen to have caused Romeo and Juliet’s death, one being Juliet. Juliet couldn't believe what she was saying as the nurse was always on Juliet's side and now she was seemingly indifferent to her flight. Thinking of how Juliet deceived her parent’s leads me onto say that Juliet also may have had herself to blame. She went behind her parent’s backs and was even willing to give up her own family for Romeo because she knew full well he was a Montague:

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“Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name, or if thou wilt not, but be my sworn love and I will no longer be a Capulet.”

At the ball where she met Romeo, she was already engaged to marry Paris and until she met Romeo she was quite satisfied with marrying Paris

Others might think the Nurse is responsible for the two lover’s deaths. She was very close to Juliet and she had brought her up. If she were ever in need of help she would ask the nurse, so she was the one who ...

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