Shakespeare's play, Romeo and Juliet presents readers with the story of a tragically doomed love. It is the story of two teenagers' who fall in love and the people and circumstances that prevent them from being together. Four characters in particular, namely Lady and Lord Capulet, Juliet's nurse, and Friar Laurence, played a significant role in the destruction of the main characters and young lovers, Romeo and Juliet. These characters, through acts of selfishness, betrayal and authority over the young lovers led to their desperate actions and ultimate death.
Lady and Lord Capulet, Juliet's mother and father contributed to the events leading to the demise of Romeo and Juliet right from the beginning of the play.. Juliet's father, Lord Capulet, creates a façade about how much he loves and cares for his daughter when in reality he demonstrates that he really does not have her best interest at heart. In the beginning of the play, Lord Capulet says to Paris, (the nephew of the prince of Verona, who would bring the Capulet family power and prestige if he marries Juliet):
"My child is yet a stranger in the world,
she hath not seen the change of fourteen years;
Let two more summers wither in their pride,
Ere we may think her ripe to be a bride."
(II, ii, 8-11).
This gives the reader the impression of a caring and considerate father, who is concerned about his child's well being and is concerned that she is too young to be married. Yet, by the end of the play, when Juliet stands up to her father and says she does not want to marry Paris, he becomes angry with her and says "...Disobedient wretch!/I tell thee