“Some shall be pardoned and some shall be punished.” Whom do you think
is to blame for the tragic deaths of Romeo and Juliet?
Shakespeare did not invent this play himself as his main source was a
version from Arthur Brooke. “The Tragicall History of Romeous and
Juliet.”
Romeo and Juliet is a tragic love story. They both chose to die
together rather than to live without each other. In the beginning
their fate is already destined for them both. It is “death marked”
love which is pronounced in the Prologue.
“A pair of star-cross’d lovers take their life;
Whose misadventur’d piteous overthrows
Doth with their death bury their parents’ strife.
The fearful passage of their death-mark’d love.”
The feuding from the two enemies, the Capulet household and the
Montague household are one of the reasons to be blamed for the deaths.
They are involved in an “ancient grudge” which Shakespeare does not
tell us about and he does not inform the audience about how it
started, this perhaps makes it more intriguing. However, this makes
the situation worse for Romeo and Juliet as they are the son and
daughter of the two enemies, but fate brings them together.
Already Shakespeare has set the mood for the first scene and
throughout the play, there is an extreme amount of tension and we can
see that the two enemies are drawn together by hatred and violence.
Early on the conflict between the Montague’s and the Capulet’s show
this, the feuding is liable for the tragic deaths.
The parents are to blame for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet as they
push for an arranged marriage, Paris is eager to marry Juliet and Old
Capulet invites him to meet her at a family ball. Juliet’s parents are
happy about Paris, making him the ideal husband for her and as Old
Capulet will not tolerate disobedience “Hang thee, young baggage,
disobedient wretch!” Juliet is willing to follow her parent’s orders.
But as the night draws on at the family ball Romeo arrives and sees
