The Deaths of Romeo and Juliet

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The Deaths of Romeo and Juliet

"Romeo and Juliet" is a tragic love story set in Verona, Italy in the

late 1500s. It is a moving tale of two young people, Romeo and Juliet,

who fall in love. The displeasure and anger of their feuding families,

the Montagues and the Capulets, who are long time enemies, however,

complicate their love. The feud between the households, underlines the

entire tragedy, and in my opinion it is one of the most responsible

reasons for Romeo and Juliet's deaths.

The play starts with a Prologue, which is an opening to the play. It

was normal for plays written in this time to start with one. It gave

the audience a brief summary of what was going to happen in the play.

In the Prologue, we learn that the only way the "strife" could be

ended is by the deaths of Romeo and Juliet, "Doth with their death

bury their parents' strife".

There are many critic's comments on Shakespeare's tragedy, here August

Schlegel gives his opinion of the play, "Romeo and Juliet is a picture

of love it's pitiable fate, in a world whose atmosphere is too sharp

for this the tenderest blossom of human life". Also William Hazlitt

gives his feelings of the play, "This play presents a beautiful

coup-d'oeil of the progress of human life. In thought it occupies

years and embraces the circle of the affections from childhood to old

age".

In my conclusion, I have stated that Romeo and Juliet may have shared

some part in their deaths, as well ad their families.

The Capulets and Montagues are rival families. They are involved in

family feud that goes back years before any of the members were born.

Yet the feud still continues due to th...

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...ppy with her parents' choice.

She should have at least discussed her feelings with Romeo and seen

what they thought of the whole situation.

Lord and Lady Capulet were partly responsible for keeping the feud

going. They had authority over the household, and could have stopped

the quarrelling if they wanted to. They should have paid more

attention to Juliet's wishes and listened to her opinions. They were

too hard on her when she refused to marry Paris. Lord and Lady

Montague like the Capulet's were also responsible for keeping the feud

going. If they had been more understanding, Romeo would not have felt

he had to keep secrets from them.

All in all, if Romeo and Juliet had better relationships with their

parents', they could have felt they could have gone and spoken to them

about how they feel about one another.

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