Who is to Blame in Romeo and Juliet?

Who to Blame for the Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet

In this essay I will be discussing my opinion of who is to blame for

the tragedy or both Romeo and Juliet. In my view I do not think that

one certain character is solely responsible, I think that there is an

array of people that could be proved responsible. Although I do think

that there is one certain person that is most responsible for the

deaths. That person is Friar Lawrence, but as well I blame the power

of love; Romeo and Juliet were so strongly in love and that love lead

to both of their deaths.

William Shakespeare gathered his ideas from cultural and religious

aspects of Europe in the 1500s, but for this particular play, rather

than generating his own basic idea his play spawned from a poem

written in 1562 by Arthur Brooke, named 'The Tragical History of

Romeus and Juliet' . Brookes poem was very bonny, lovely and more

wordy as opposed to Shakespeare's incorporated version which is

descriptive but a lot more quick moving. Brookes poem took place over

a period of nine months and Shakespeare's play took place over a span

of a mere four days, so although Shakespeare's play was very romantic

and descriptive in love, it is questionable that this is love as it

took flight over a time of four days, so we could suppose that this is

not love but mere lust, but how long does it take to fall in love?

Shakespeare may be portraying that love happens very quickly and that

fate has a say in it, meaning you are either in love or not. However,

even though Shakespeare used Brookes initial ideas he did change his

play and added other influences. For example, he added the character

of the nur...

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opposed to the Montagues who dressed in unbuttoned Hawaiian shirts and

sporting weird hair styles look stupid and laid back. This tells me

that Luhrmann wanted to put across that the Capulets were to blame for

the continuing hatred between the two families.

Overall, after discussing who is to blame for the deaths of Romeo and

Juliet, I have come to the conclusion that many people are to blame,

and many factors contribute to the demise of the two lovers, e.g. fate

contributes as I have stated earlier on, and also I feel that the

power of love is to blame, but I have noted that characters are to

fault too, they are Friar Lawrence and Tybalt. So many factors are

responsible to the deaths and there is not one certain factor or

equally character that is or are accountable for the tragedy of both

Romeo and Juliet.