Romeo was in love with Rosaline until he attends the Capulet party with Mercutio. When he arrives at the party, he stares at Juliet and Juliet stares right back at him. It was love at first sight. As they begin to get to know one another, Romeo feels that Juliet is the one for him.
Act 1 Sc 5
Romeo – “My lips two blushing pilgrims ready stand”
Juliet - “My only love sprung from my only hate”
Act 2 Sc 2
Romeo – “O speak again, bright angel”
Juliet – “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”
These quotes from Romeo and Juliet show Shakespeare using the language of love.
After they meet, Juliet wants to get married and the nurse and Romeo arrange the marriage the next day. So they meet Friar Lawrence about getting married. He agrees to wed the couple as he believes it will end the feud.
Act 2 Sc 3
Friar Lawrence – “They stumble that run fast”
Friar Lawrence is telling the couple that they should get married but should beware, as hasty decisions are often regretful.
When Paris asks for Juliet’s hand in marriage, she refuses as she is already married. So she goes to see Friar Lawrence about it.
Act 4 Sc 1
Juliet – “O bid me leap, rather than marry Paris. From off the battlements of any Tower.”
This shows that she is desperate, alone and not willing to marry Paris.
Friar Lawrence – “Take thou this vial, being then in bed, and this distilling liquor drink thou off.”
Juliet – “Give me, give me! O tell me not of fear.”
Friar Lawrence gives Juliet a sleeping potion which makes it seem as though she is dead.
Hate also plays an important part in the development of the play. The Montagues and the Capulets are locked in a power struggle in Verona and Romeo and Juliet are caught in the middle.
Prologue
“From forth the fatal loins of these two foes. A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life.”
From this we know that the lovers are doomed right from the beginning of the play.
The code of honour makes the young men spring to violent, bloody action. Act 1 Sc 1 shows the young men brawling in the streets of Verona. Tybalt and Mercutio feel that they must fight.
Act 3 Sc 1
Mercutio – “Tybalt, you rat-catcher, will you walk!”
Mercutio asking Tybalt to fight
Mercutio - “ A plague a’ both your houses! They have made worms meat of me.”
Then, when Mercutio and Tybalt fight, Tybalt kills Mercutio by stabbing him. Mercutio blames the feud for his death. Romeo is provoked to revenge the death of his friend, so he kills Tybalt.
Act 3 Sc 1
Romeo – “This day’s black fate on moe days doth depend this but begins the woe others must end.”
At the end of the play Romeo thinks that Juliet is dead when she is still in her “sleep”, so he drinks poison and kills himself, Juliet then wakes up to realise that Romeo has taken the poison so she also commits suicide.
When both families and the prince find out that they are dead, they are deeply upset.
The prince in Act 5 Sc 3 blames the feud:
“ See what a scourge is laid upon you hate, that heaven finds means to kill you joys with love.”
Characters
In this play, Friar Lawrence and the nurse act as confidants to Romeo and Juliet by arranging the marriage for them:
Friar Lawrence, Act 2 Scene 3 – ‘For by your leaves, you shall not stay alone till holy church incorporate two in one.’
- Friar Lawrence acts like a servant to Romeo and Juliet and so in turn he agrees to marry them, because he thinks that this will help stop the feud.
After Romeo had killed Tybalt, the nurse change sides because she thinks she might lose her job or get in trouble with the Capulets:
Act 3 Scene 5 – ‘I think it best you married with the County.
……Be shrew my very heart, I think you are happy in this second match. For it excels your first.’
This shows that the nurse is scared of getting found out about her role in arranging Romeo and Juliet’s marriage, so she tries to persuade Juliet to marry Paris, so she won’t get into any trouble. This makes the situation for Romeo and Juliet worse.
Friar Lawrence gives Juliet the potion so that she can fake her death:
Act 3 Scene 1 – ‘Take thou this vial, being thin in bed, find this distilling liquor drink thou off.’
This shows that the Friar Lawrence does Juliet a favour and is trying very hard to stop the families from feuding any longer.
Tybalt is a fiery and furious character who influences the outcome of the play as after killing him, Romeo gets banished from Verona:
Act 1 Scene 5 – ‘ It fits when such a villain is a guest. I’ll not endure him.’
This shows that Tybalt won’t back down from a fight because he is obsessed with killing all the Montagues. This in turn makes Romeo and Juliet’s relationship impossible to go through with and this will see the two lovers in desperate times to keep seeing each other.
Mercutio is Romeo’s best friend and also a member of court, but he is also like Tybalt, obsessed with enticing and killing Tybalt. However in the end he gets killed by Tybalt. This is all part of the lead up of Romeo getting banished as because of this, he kills Tybalt and the prince banishes him.
Lord and Lady Capulet are parents the parents of Juliet and want the best for their daughter. They do this by setting her up with the very rich and presentable man called Paris. But when Juliet rejects the marriage proposal, her parents, Lord and Lady Capulet put their foot down and threaten to disown her:
Act 3 Scene 5 – ‘Hang thee, young baggage, disobedient wretch! I tell thee what, get thee to church a ‘Thursday, or never after look me in the face.’
This shows that Lord Capulet is very angry with Juliet and he dishes out the threats. Because of this Juliet decides that the only way out is to take the sleeping potion and make her parents and everyone else think that she is dead.
The Prince attempts to take control of the situation, he shows that he is fed up with all the violence in Verona. When he banished Romeo from Verona he makes the situation more difficult for the couple. But from his perspective it seemed the right thing to do.
Fate or Accident?
At the beginning of the play the Prologue tells us that Romeo and Juliet are doomed to die because of the feud;
“From forth the fatal loins of these two foes. A pair of star – crossed lovers take their life.”
There are many examples of coincidences accidents within the play, such as;
- Romeo meeting Juliet at the party.
- The death of Mercutio.
- Friar Lawrence’s letter not reaching in time.
- Juliet awakening just moments after Romeo has taken the poison.
This is all put down to fate; all of these influenced the story and caused the tragic end of the two lovers.
Conclusion
I feel that Romeo and Juliet both contributed to their deaths. They rushed things and did not act sensibly at all;
“Thy purpose marriage, send me word tomorrow, by one that I’ll procure to come to thee.”
Another possibility which may have caused the tragedy could have been love itself; as Romeo and Juliet felt that it was not worth living without the other;
“Juliet I will lie with thee tonight!” Romeo says he will kill himself next to her body.
The Nurse and Friar Lawrence also played a part in their deaths as they both condoned the relationship and Friar Lawrence actually agreed to marry them:
“But come, young waverer, come go with me, in one respect I’ll thy assistant be.” Act 2 Sc 3
It is difficult to blame the prince as he did what he could to stop the feuding and violence and ended up having to take desperate measures.
The families are the biggest parties to blame as without the feud, the couple could have married and lived happily not having to hide it.
It was because of the families that Romeo was banished and it was because of the families that Juliet was forced to take the sleeping potion.
I believe that it was a combination of all the above which caused the tragedy to occur mixed in with plain fate. What is supposed to happen, will happen.
By Rajiv Trivedi