In Romeo and Juliet, there are many guilty parties that contribute to the deaths and demise of Romeo, Juliet, Mercutio, Tybalt, Count Paris and the many other victims of the bitterness and grudge between the Capulets and the Montagues. However, the three most culpable parties are the set of opposing parents; the Montagues and Capulets, the prince; Escalus of Verona and ultimately the lovers, Romeo and Juliet. The blame lies mostly on these three parties because their decisions greatly influenced the outcome of this Shakespearean tragedy. In this essay, I will prove and condemn the prince, parents and lovers for the losses of life and the confusion in Romeo and Juliet.
Prince Escalus of Verona plays an immense part in the effect of the Montagues’ and Capulets’ animosity towards each other. For the prince it is more of what he did not do than what he did. The prince lets the feuding families grow in enmity. He doesn’t take enough action to squash his rebellious subjects’ uproars, and when he does take action and punishes them, he is too lenient. The prince himself acknowledges his faults by saying, “And I for winking at your discords too. Have lost a brace of kinsmen. All are punished.”(Shakespeare Act. V: iii) And all are punished, but the ones who feel it the most are those who began the feud; the Capulets and the Montagues.
In the play, no one seems to know how the feud between the warring families happened, but it is kept alive for years because of arrogance, impunity and lack of understanding. Caught up in these troubles, both sets of parents don’t seem to pay much attention to their children or what they are doing. However, the Capulets are more to blame than the Montagues. If Lady Capulet had been more caring, or like ...
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... therefore damned, and yet again by lying. Nobody forced Juliet to drink the potion, nor kill herself. Romeo also chose by his own free will to kill Tybalt and to drink his poison.
The ill-fated lovers, the ill-disposed parents and the ill-mannered prince all contribute to the deaths. Because of their decisions and because of their behaviors and characteristics they play their parts in the conflicts. The Prince is to blame because he failed to fulfill his duty to the people of Verona. The parents are to blame for the neglecting of their children and for demanding marriage. And the lovers are to blame for their rash decisions. Those are the culprits in Romeo and Juliet of the deaths and demise of all and they carry the burden of blame.
Work Cited
Shakespeare, William. “Romeo and Juliet.” Literature and Language. Illinois: McDougal, Littell and Company, 1992.
There are many forces in the tragic play of Romeo and Juliet that are keeping the two young, passionate lovers apart, all emanating from one main reason. In this essay I will discuss these as well as how love, in the end, may have been the cause that led to the tragic deaths of Romeo and Juliet. Their strong attraction to each other, which some call fate, determines where their forbidden love will take them.
Love is dependent upon the slightest change, but it can cause the utmost drastic consequences. This is the truth of two lovers in William Shakespeare’s furthermost celebrated play, The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. In the case of Romeo and Juliet, love is inimical. Romeo comes from the family of Montague while Juliet comes from the family of Capulet. For reasons unknown, these two families are sworn enemies. However, Romeo and Juliet are not. In fact, they are in a secret relationship that only two others know about. The only two that Romeo and Juliet trust, the Nurse and the Friar. While the Nurse, Friar, and Juliet’s father, Lord Capulet, all have good intentions, they are all responsible for the suicides of Romeo and Juliet in the
William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is an action-packed play and has 3 main characters that can be blamed for the deaths, Tybalt, Capulet and Friar Lawrence. Tybalt’s aggressive and defensive behaviour caused him to be a point of blame in the deaths and made him responsible for his own death. Unsupportive and selfish behaviour causes Juliet’s’ father Capulet to be responsible.
In the prologue of the play, it is said, “From ancient grudge break to new mutiny” (I i 3) which means that the the two families, the Capulets and the Montagues, have been in a feud for an extremely long time, and the feud has recently caused fights and deaths. This is important because Romeo, a Montague, and Juliet, a Capulet, fall in love that is destined to end tragically. Their love contends with the hatred that their families share towards one another. They knew that the were not to see each other and that if their parents or families found out that it would not have ended good and the consequences would be
Finally the last reason why Romeo and Juliet could be held responsible for their own deaths could be that they shouldn’t have taken the potions, both Romeo and Juliet. They both had much more to live for than just each other, ‘For fear of that I will stay with thee, And never from this palace of dim night Depart again. Here, here will I remain’ There are many people and things to blame for the deaths, the parents, fate, the family feud, Paris, The Nurse, Prince, Friar Lawrence, and Romeo and Juliet, but each has its own good qualities of why it could be those people. It is really a personal decision on who is at fault and how you view the book.
In conclusion, the irony is that their love, and death, was able to do what their lives could not, to end the feuding between the Montague’s and the Capulet’s. It is with this thought that I shall examine “the thin line between love and hate” which is evidently shown on many occasions, such as when Romeo uses his love for Juliet to remove his hate for Tybalt “Tybalt, the reason that I have to love thee doth much excuse the appertaining rage” and also the play itself is evident of this, Romeo and Juliet’s love was so strong for each other, that they were able to overcome hate and also the hate that others possessed towards each other.
Taking Responsibility for the Deaths of Romeo and Juliet in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet
Throughout time, there have been many tragedies cause by romance. For example, the play Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare, is known for its romantic tragedy between two star-crossed lovers. With all the deaths, who is truly to blame for Romeo and Juliet's deaths? Friar Laurence is most to blame for many obvious, yet overlooked reasons.
Firstly, the Capulets and Montagues are at odds with each other. Members of each house and servants break into a sword fight, clashing with each other. Sampson says "Draw, if you be men. Gregory, remember thy swashing blow." (Act 1, Scene 1, Line 60). The feuding between the two families motivates Sampson to challenge the Capulets. Another example of how the two houses despise each other is what Romeo and his friends have to do to get into the Capulet feast. So they will not be recognized, Romeo, Mercutio, and Benvolio wear comic masks to hide their faces. Mercutio says, "Give me a case to put my visage in" (Act 1, Scene 4, Line 29). They do not want to be recognized because of the hatred between the two houses. Also, Romeo and Juliet are not supposed to be in love: "My only love sprung from my only hate! / Too early seen unknown, and known too late! / Prodigious birth of love it is to me, / That I must love a loathed enemy." says Juliet (Act 1, Scene 5, Lines 137-140). They are not supposed to love each other because it just so happens that each of their houses despise each other. It is unfortunate for Romeo and Juliet that their two families are against each other, because this means that they are not supposed to be married.
In Shakespeare’s Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, the lovers meet their doom, in scene iii of Act V. With their fatal flaw of impulsivity, Romeo and Juliet are ultimately to blame for their death. Contrarily, if it was not for the unintentional influence of the pugnacious Tybalt, the star-crossed lovers may have remained together, perpetually. To the audience, the deaths of Romeo and Juliet are already understood, for it is a Shakespearean tragedy. However, the causes, predominantly Romeo’s and Juliet’s fatal flaws of impulsivity and rashness, are as simple as Shakespearean writing. Though Romeo and Juliet are wholly to blame for their tragic suicides, in Act V scene iii, Tybalt is, in turn, responsible, as his combative spirit forced Romeo to murder him and Juliet to marry Paris.
Like stated before Montagues and Capulets can be perceived as two rival gangs. To go in more depth, we can look at the Montagues and Capulets like Bloods and Crips. They are two polar opposite gangs that fuel each other’s hatred. In the streets of South Central Los Angeles, the two rival gangs called Bloods and Crips are on a long term mission to kill each other. It is a coincidence is that no one truly knows why the two are in a feud. It has just been like this for a long time and it has turned into a lifestyle. They kill each other as a sport and a way of life. We can understand the feud because of Luhrmann making the movie modern and making the two royal families as gangs. Since Luhrmann has changed the characters of Capulet and Montague, we can understand the feud between the two families. How does this teach Shakespeare’s intentions? Shakespeare talks about struggles and grievances against each other. He also tells us the possible outcomes that could occur if a conflict is not resolved. Like Luhrmann’s example, these two gangs have struggles and grievances against each other and we can only relate to this because they are gangs. With the rise of gang violence going up each and every year, it is more common to know the affects and death rates gang violence has rather than a feud between two royal
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.
The two primary men should have figured out what was going to happen. After all, they are feuding families, what else would you do? In the end, the final verdict on their harassment to the public peace plays a strong role in the play to come. The prince sentenced death to anyone who dare disturb the peace.... ...
In the story “ The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet “ the main characters get themselves in a pickle by falling in love knowing that their families are sworn enemies. Soon Romeo kills Juliet's cousin by accident, Juliet drinks a potion, some words get twisted and at the end both of the lovebirds end up dead. At the end of the story both families are devastated that both of their children pass away, but there are also many unanswered questions. The most asked question in the story is “ Who's to blame? ” and overall I believe everyone has a little part in influencing their death, but I believe that one person is to blame for most of this and I believe that it is the mother and father of Juliet.
Everyone is to blame for the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. Romeo, Juliet, Friar Laurence, and Romeo and Juliet’s parents all played their own role in causing the four deaths of Romeo, Juliet, Tybalt, and Paris. It is not just one of them to blame, every one of them did something to cause the tragedy. Some of them played a bigger role than others, but everyone contributed. Fate had nothing to do with it and it was all the different characters faults. Romeo, Juliet, and Friar Lawrence’s rash decisions where the main cause of the tragedy.