Compare/Contrast Essays - Romeo and Juliet vs. West Side Story In plays, as in real life, individuals actions can change the course of events in theirs, as well as, other individuals lives. In both Romeo and Juliet and West Side Story, the lovers were forced to take their own lives or be killed because of fate and the actions of others. In Romeo and Juliet, one character who is partly responsible for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet is Tybalt. Tybalt enrages Remeo and causes him to kill Tybalt. In Romeo and Juliet, this brings about Romeos exile from Verona. If Romeo had not been exiled from Verona, he would have heard of Friar Lawrences plan to keep Juliet from getting married. If he had known of the plan, he would not have gone to the vault and killed himself over what he thought was Juliets dead body. In West Side Story, a character with a role similar to Tybalt is Bernardo. In West Side Story, the killing of Bernardo enrages Chino to the point where he takes out a gun and searches for Tony. While trying to protect Tony from Anita, Bernardos girlfriend, they cause her to become extremely upset and to say that Maria is dead. Upon hearing this, Tony leaves the drug store in search of Chino. When Tony eventually finds Maria, Chino kills him. None of this would have happened, had Bernardo not gotten into a fight with Tony and been killed. Another character who is responsible for the deaths of the lovers in Romeo and Juliet is Lord Capulet. Knowing that her father would disagree with her being married to Romeo, a Montague, Romeo and Juliet were forced to keep their love a secret. In the beginning of the play, Lord Capulet tells Paris that Juliet is still to young to woo and that he should wait two years. However, later in the play, he tells Paris that Juliet will be married to him in two days. After hearing that she will be wed in two days, Juliet goes to Friar Lawrence asking for help. If Lord Capulet did not force Juliet to marry Paris, she would not have had to fake her death. The plan that Friar Lawrence devised to prevent the wedding led to death of Romeo and Juliet. An additional character in West Side Story that is partly responsible for Tonys death is Officer Krupke. Officer Krupke is involved because while performing his job as a police officer, he increases the amount of tension between the two gangs. One way he does this is by being racist against the Puerto Ricans because they are new two the area. He also does this when he tells the Jets that he will help them win the fight against the Sharks. This increased hate for each other may have been one of the things that caused Chino to murder Tony. Although Romeo and Juliet, and Tony and Maria were partly responsible for their deaths, the majority of the blame can be put on the minor characters in both plays as well as fate. This fate is alluded at in the prologue of Romeo and Juliet when they are described as a pair of star crossed lovers and throughout both plays.
The marriage of Romeo and Juliet was not meant to be, but it was made by Friar Lawrence. The marriage led to some of the turning points in the rest of the story. The three are responsible for their death because of their marriage and the plans they made to avoid having to get remarried. The families are also responsible for the death of the two because they did not let the two be together and forced them to marry others.
Capulet was far more direct a part of Juliet’s death than Tybalt was. Also a Capulet, he had fought with the Montagues on numerous occasions. He did not force Romeo to leave his party, but whether he was prepared to be friendly with the Montagues was another matter. Juliet believed that her father would never approve of her marriage to Rome, so she kept it a secret. As a result of being unaware that his daughter had already married, Capulet arranged Juliet’s marriage to Paris, Capulet assumed that she was crying in grief over Tybalt and would be heartened by getting married. When Juliet insisted she didn’t wish to marry Paris, he would hear none of it. He thought her ungrateful and disobedient, and he refused to change his plans. Juliet could see no way out except to fake her own death. Had Capulet been more understanding and flexible, Juliet’s fake death – and, later, her real one – could have been avoided.
In the course of the play, Romeo and Juliet immediately fall in love. Also, they know they are meant for each other and therefore decide to get married. After this marriage, there was a brief moment in time where everything was perfect. They are married, in love and there is nothing stopping them from being together. This however quickly changes after a fight that leads to death. Once Romeo is banished from Verona for the penalty of murder, love grows tremendously between the couple and drives the need to be together. The marriage between Romeo and Juliet is hidden from their parents, so Montague decides to arrange a marriage between her and Paris. With all the conflict arising between Juliet’s family, Friar Lawrence creates a plan that unfortunately does not succeed. His plan for Juliet is to tell her father she will marry Paris then go to bed with no one, not even the nurse. After, she will drink a potion to make her seem dead for forty two hours and then have a messenger tell Romeo about it. He will have her put in a vault to wait for Friar to bring her out so she and Romeo can elope. The plan was perfect until tragedy occurs, Benvolio had seen Juliet dead and immediately tells Romeo about it. The result is Romeo and Juliet murdering themselves and the play had a tragic ending. Overall, young, innocent lovers die, through no fault of their own but a simple mistake. “How oft when men are at the
In William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, two teenagers, in the fair town of Verona, known as Romeo of the Montagues and Juliet of the Capulets, fall in love. Through a dramatic chain of events, they end up killing themselves and inadvertently causing the death of four other people. A single character’s anger and belligerence caused all this to happen. Juliet’s cousin Tybalt is to blame for the tragic ending of Romeo and Juliet.
When a tragedy occurs, the question often arises about who is responsible. The tragedy of Romeo and Juliet written by William Shakespeare, is the story of how two enemy families came in between their children’s love for each other. Because their love for each other was so strong, they both don’t make the best decisions. In the end the two lovers meet death and leave a big mark on the world we know today. The characters who are most responsible for the tragic ending of the play are Lord and Lady Capulet and Romeo and Juliet themselves.
In Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet two star crossed lovers take their lives for each other because when making decisions they chose passion over reason. One big event that occurred because of irrational thinking was when Lord Capulet, Juliet Capulet’s father forced her into marrying Paris. This forced Juliet to go to Friar Lawrence and ask him for advice even though it was not very thought out Juliet went along with it. In the end, both Romeo and Juliet killed themselves. As a result of all their spontaneous, passionate and poorly thought out decisions the play ended in tragedy.
William Shakespeare wrote many great plays in his day. His tale of Romeo and Juliet portrays a tragic love. This play ends with the deaths of the key characters Romeo and Juliet, because of their forbidden love. Many factors contribute to their demise.
In The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare uses two young adults in a romantic relationship to show that fate, a predetermined course of events, and destiny cannot be changed. For those two, the stars were not aligned in their favor and their love was bound to end tragically. Additionally, the lovers did not have adequate knowledge of each other and they were not thinking rationally. No exact character is solely to blame and for that reason, fate was responsible for the deaths Romeo and Juliet.
One of the people I think is responsible for Romeo and Juliet’s death is Mercutio. Mercutio had evoked a fight with his enemy Tybalt.During the fight, Mercutio was killed by Tybalt and Mercutio put a curse on both of their families.
Shakespeare's play of “Romeo and Juliet” is well known, and leaves the audience asking: Who is to blame for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet? Most of the play’s characters closely related to Romeo and Juliet carry some responsibility, but there are three characters or groups who had the greatest influence on the story’s outcome. Friar Laurence could be blamed for marrying them and keeping it secret. Juliet’s nurse encouraged Romeo’s pursuit of Juliet, even helping Juliet sneak out to marry. Last and most deserving of blame, however, are the parents, Lord and Lady Capulet and Lord and Lady Montague. If not for the family feud and hatred, Romeo and Juliet would’ve lived, not tasting the bittersweetness of death.
Romeo And Juliet, alongside Hamlet, is probably Shakespeare’s most performed play and has also been adapted in many forms. In Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet, the star-crossed lovers Romeo and Juliet killed themselves due to the conflicts between the Capulets and the Montagues, Romeo and Juliet’s families. Regardless of the differences in reactions regarding the conflict between the two families, both Romeo and Tybalt are characters that act before they think, causing an unfortunate effect on the tragedy of the play.
Although many believe that fate plays a large role in determining the death of Romeo and Juliet, a few characters in the play should be held accountable for the deaths of the lovers. Romeo and Juliet, a play written by William Shakespeare, is set in Verona, Italy. The play describes the life of two lovers, who are apart of rival families, which ultimately ends in the death of both lovers. Many readers throughout the time the play was published until now believe that fate plays a major role in the events leading to the suicide of Romeo and Juliet. However, simple decisions made by a few characters lead the couple to their miserable deaths. In Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare exemplifies how certain characters should be held responsible for
Other characters such as Juliet’s parents, the Prince, Mercutio, Tybalt and Friar Laurence have all played a big role in how the story ends. First Juliet’s parents had promised Count Paris that Juliet would marry him when Juliet had zero intentions of doing so. This caused stress and dismay with Juliet to where she would have to fake her own death to avoid being married to Paris (note this also plays a big role in the death of both lovers). The Prince likewise affects the story by banishing Romeo from Verona and more importantly away from Juliet and knowledge of Juliet and Laurence’s plans to fake Juliet’s death. Mercutio foreshadows the story great by saying “A plague o’both your houses! I am sped.” and curses a plague to the city of Verona this causes a important message about the plans of Friar Laurence for Romeo to be not delivered properly. Tybalt then creates further tension with Romeo and Juliet’s love life because Tybalt (the cousin of Juliet and a member of the Capulets) would never let Romeo marry Juliet since he hates Montagues and Romeo. Even though this seems like an unfortunate series of events none of the decisions are made by fate or fortune. Juliet’s parents want her to marry Paris because he’s rich, related to the prince, is handsome and truly loves her. The Prince does his duty for law in the city of Verona by banishing Romeo. Mercutio curses
William Shakespeare’s play, Romeo and Juliet was written in 1597 and has gained worldwide fame for its renowned way of portraying themes, such as love, hate, responsibility and family. One of the most prominent themes in the play is fate. Readers learn in the prologue, before the play has even began, that the play is set to end in tragedy. Readers learn that Romeo and Juliet are a pair of “star crossed lovers” who “take their life”. Events in the play lead up to the tragic ending for the pairing. These events that helped lead Romeo and Juliet to their tragic ending are, Romeo receiving the invitation to the Capulet party, Romeo murdering Tybalt after Mercutio’s death and the letter not arriving to Romeo to warn him of Juliet’s fake death plan.
In conclusion, Friar Lawrence, Capulet and Tybalt are all equally responsible for Romeo and Juliet’s deaths. Capulet is to blame because he is unsupportive, uptight and uncaring. Friar Lawrence is to blame because his scheme is not well planned, and is perhaps too sophisticated for the young lovers. And Tybalt is to blame because he is too hot-headed and