At the beginning of the play we see Sampson and Gregory two servants of the Capulet’s, and Abraham and Balthasar servants of the Montague’s fighting in the street. The fight soon becomes bigger as Benvolio (Montague) and Tybalt (Capulet) join in. The prince of Verona hears of the fight and quickly goes to the scene. He makes a powerful speech warning of a death penalty if there are any further fights between the two families.
We first meet Romeo as a lovesick boy who has fallen for Rosaline, however she does not reciprocate his love. Benvolio, a close friend of his tries to tell Romeo that he should try to forget Rosaline, and look for another woman.
Meanwhile Capulet is discussing the possible marriage for his daughter to Paris. The capulet's are holding a party later that night in order for the couple to meet and see if they are well suited. Juliet decides to have an open mind on the possible marriage.
Romeo and his friends are out in the street when a servant asks for their help to read who the invitations are for, he sees that Rosaline is invited, so hoping he will see her he and his friends go to the party uninvited.
We are now at act 1 scene 5, which is set at the Capulet's party in their house. Romeo and his friends have snuck into the party disguised in masks. When he first sees Juliet for the first time he asks the serving man for her name. He then goes on to say how beautiful she is compared to the other women in the room. He states that she is like a white dove among a flock of crows. He then plans to go over to her when the dance has finished and touch her hand with his unworthy one. He then questions himself asking if he had ever really loved anyone before he met her. This shows us that he has already forgotten about Rosaline, and now this stranger to him has stolen his heart. It also shows us that he realises that maybe his feelings for Rosaline weren’t that strong after all.
“The measure done, I'll watch her place of stand, And, touching hers, make blessèd my rude hand. Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight! For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night.”
From hearing the young boy talking, Tybalt recognizes that it is a Montague behind the mask.
“This, by his voice, should be a Montague. —Fetch me my rapier, boy.”
Capulet sees Tybalt is angry, and asks him why. Tybalt tells him that a Montague has come to the party. Capulet asks if it is Romeo and Tybalt replies “Tis he, that villain Romeo.” Capulet then tells his nephew to calm down, and to ignore Romeo. He tells Tybalt that Romeo has a reputation as a well behaved young man and that he will not disgrace him in his own home. Tybalt doesn’t agree with Capulet, which angers him telling Tybalt he will respect his decision and tolerate Romeo being here. Tybalt backs down against his uncle, but swears he will take revenge on Romeo another time.
Romeo and Juliet now talk for the first time. Romeo and Juliet’s first fourteen lines are from a sonnet. Romeo takes Juliet’s hand and says her hand is like a holy place where he is unworthy of visiting. She replies that by holding her hand he is showing devotion, and pilgrims touch the hands of statues of saints, so holding one palm against another is like a kiss. He then questions her by saying don’t saints and pilgrims have lips too? She says yes-but those lips are for the use of prayer. To that he says let lips do what hands do, and that he is praying for her to kiss him. He asks her to make his prayer come true so as he doesn’t loose his faith. She says that the saints do not move even when they grant the prayers. To which he replies don’t move while I act out my prayer. With this he kisses her, and states that his sin has been taken from his lips. To which she asks if her lips now have the sin from his? To which he takes his sin back with another kiss.
With that they are parted from one another as Juliet is rushed away to talk with her mother. Romeo asks the nurse “who is her mother”, to which the nurse delivers the bad news that she is the lady of the house - a Capulet. Romeo shocked with what he has heard says to himself “Is she a Capulet? O dear account! My life is my foe's debt.”
Similarly Juliet is now asking the nurse who several of the men at the party are in order to disguise her true purpose of finding out who Romeo is. When the nurse does not know who Romeo is, she makes her go and ask. She quietly to herself hopes that he is not married stating she would rather die than marry anyone else. When the nurse returns she tells her “His name is Romeo, and a Montague, The only son of your great enemy.” Juliet too is shocked that he is a Montague saying “Prodigious birth of love it is to me, That I must love a loathèd enemy.” This shows us that she too has fallen for Romeo, and like wise he has fallen for Juliet.
The two star crossed lovers who have now fallen in love after not knowing their true identities cannot stop their over powering feelings for one another. Because they are forbidden to see and mix with one another, they have to do it in secret, which would make their decisions more irrational and erratic. Also because they have fallen madly in love, people can often do things they wouldn’t normally, and love can often cloud their better judgement.
After act 1 scene 5 we see Romeo ignoring the dangers of climbing into Juliet’s orchard unnoticed he hears Juliet confessing her love for him. He reveals himself, and the pair declare their love for one another. At this they decide to get married. Juliet tells Romeo she will send a messenger in the morning to tell him of the plans for their wedding.
The next day Romeo visits his friend Friar Laurence, who hopes the marriage will end the long feud between the families.
The nurse meets with Romeo as Juliet’s messenger and tells him they will be wed later that day. She brings Romeo “cords” which he can use to climb into Juliet’s bedchamber on their first night as husband and wife.
This leads us to act 3 scenes 1, set under the sun and the public eye. Mercutio and Benvolio are bantering about Benvolio being hot blooded, when Tybalt, Petruchio and other Capulet's walk over to them. He says he wants to speak to Romeo, and he knows that they “consort’ to which Mercutio get offended, saying they are not in a band, but he could make him dance with his fiddlestick-meaning his sword. Benvolio then says that they are talking in a public place and they should do this else where, so as people can't see them. To which Mercutio replies “Men’s eyes were made to look and let them gaze. I will not budge for no man's pleasure”
At this Romeo comes into the scene and Tybalt says “Well, peace be with you, sir. Here comes my man.” Tybalt tries to rile Romeo by calling him a “villain”, which Romeo simply answers, “Tybalt, the reason that I have to love thee Doth much excuse the appertaining rage To such a greeting. Villain am I none. Therefore, farewell. I see thou know'st me not.” Tybalt does not take Romeo’s peaceful approach seriously and tells his to draw his sword. Romeo refuses to draw, for without Tybalt’s knowing he is now part of his family as he is married to Juliet. However Mercutio says he will fight Tybalt and draws his own sword. Tybalt agrees to fight Mercutio but Romeo protests telling Mercutio to put his sword away. But the two men begin to fight so Romeo decides he must take action and calls to Benvolio “Draw, Benvolio. Beat down their weapons. Gentlemen, for shame! Forbear this outrage. Tybalt, Mercutio! The Prince expressly hath Forbidden bandying in Verona streets. Hold, Tybalt! Good Mercutio!” As Romeo tries to break up the fight Tybalt craftily reaches under Romeo’s arm and stabs Mercutio. Tybalt and the other Capulet's run away, leaving Mercutio to die. Mercutio cries “a plague on both your houses” as he blames their on going argument for his injuries. Romeo stays with his friend trying to explain he thought he was doing the right thing. Sadly Benvolio speaks the news that Mercutio is dead. With this Tybalt re-enters the scene, and Romeo says, “its time for rage to guide my actions...Mercutio soul is floating right above our heads...Either you or I, or both of us have to go with him.” With his revenge in the form of anger Romeo and Tybalt fight, Tybalt is struck and falls to the ground and dies. Benvolio tells Romeo to leave. The prince is called and so are the Montague’s and the Capulet's. The prince hears from Benvolio what has happened and makes the decision to banish Romeo from Verona, immediately saying “Mercy but murders, pardoning those that kill.” Showing he will no longer tolerate murderers in his city under any circumstance.
If Tybalt hadn’t come looking for Romeo, he would not have fought Mercutio after Romeo refused. This would of spared the life of Mercutio, which in tern would have saved Tybalt’s own life that Romeo took in revenge. If this hadn’t of happened Romeo wouldn’t have been banished from Verona, so there would be no need for Juliet to take the sleeping potion to appear dead. This would mean Romeo wouldn’t need to receive a message about the Friar’s plan as it would not exist, so therefore he would not visit the apothecary under false pretences to buy the lethal poison in which he uses to kill himself. As well as this Paris’s life would also be spared, as he would not be at the tomb side of the supposedly dead Juliet. And lastly Juliet would not be forced to commit suicide as her one true love, would too not have needed to take his own life in order for the couple to be together.
To conclude I think that Tybalt is the most to blame for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. I don’t think it is his fault entirely as he has been bought up thinking that the Montague’s are enemies, but due to his uncontrollable anger more lives were lost that were uninvolved in the feud. Because Tybalt refused to listen to Romeo’s reasoning his actions led not only to his deaths but the separation and the tragic ending of the two soul mates. As the prince said, “For never was a story of more woe Than this of Juliet and her Romeo.” All this tragedy could have been prevented if the families sorted out the feud a long time ago, and allowed Verona to become a city of peace, rather than the host of an ongoing war.