Romeo And Juliet Who Is To Blame Essay

Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare in the sixteenth century that encapsulates a lovable cast of characters and a forbidden love that was written in the stars. It is a show that entertained the masses of its time and, despite the intermittently confusing vocabulary, continues to tantalize readers around the world today. One of the reasons that it remains doing so is that of the conversation that is to be had about what happens in the novel. With plot twist after plot twist, the reader is left wondering whose fault everything truly was. The one who is to blame for the outcome of Romeo and Juliet is just that: Romeo himself. This is evidenced by, along with Juliet and her actions, the fact that Romeo chooses to act upon his love too quickly, his relationship with the feud of their two households, and Romeo’s blunt choice to commit suicide at the end of the novel. For the duration of their relationship, Romeo is seen to act upon his love for others quickly and without thinking. At the beginning of the story, Romeo
Montague was grieving his love for another woman, Rosaline. We find out right away that Romeo is being betrayed as a little shallow and dependent on love. Later, upon meeting Juliet, he immediately sheds his persona of disappointment and falls in love with her. Juliet, despite her knowing that he is a Capulet, falls in love right back. From that point on, all of his actions have something to do with the Juliet; their dependence on each other strengthening as the story continues.
Another catalyst in the deterioration of Romeo and Juliet’s relationship is the way that Romeo reacts to their relationship against the backdrop of their parents’ ancient feud. It can be argued that the austerity of Romeo’s parents could be a part of why he is so desperate for love, but the meaning could lie beneath that. Both Romeo and Juliet know of and understand the rivalry of their individual households. They both know and understand that the other is from a differing household. Not only does this not stop him from pursuing Juliet, but it fascinated him. Romeo and Juliet had their first conversation about marriage directly after a discussion about what their parents would think if they found out. Romeo not only chased after a younger, vulnerable Juliet, but he placed this perverse concept of suicide in her mind. “The horrible conceit of death and night, together with the terror of a place-... Romeo, Romeo, Romeo! Here’s drink. I drink to thee.” (William) Romeo was infatuated with the rare complexity of their “forbidden love” that he risked not only both of their reputations but their lives by loving Juliet and hiding it from those who loved him. A final point to the argument of Romeo being to blame is, frankly, that it can be no one else’s fault that someone commits suicide.
The commitment of suicide is a very prevalent topic in the story, with the two main characters threatening to do so at any minor inconvenience. Towards the end, either character makes it clear that to live without the other is a fate worse than death and that it is inevitable that if not a happy ending, death will suffice. Expanding on that, when Romeo saw Juliet in the cemetery, he did not perform any analysis of her body- he didn’t even check if her heart was still beating. It could be argued that the heat of the moment led him to prepare for the worst, but denial comes much before acceptance in situations of grieving. I believe that this takes a part in the outcome paired along with the previous point because their love must have been truly to die for if that was how it was destined to
conclude.
In conclusion, the only one who can logically be seen as the perpetrator of the death of Romeo and Juliet is Romeo himself because of his inability to think through their love-lust actions, his infatuation with forbidden love, and the responsibility that comes with suicide. “Thus with a kiss, I die.” (William)

Works Cited:
Shakespeare, William. Romeo and Juliet Elements of Literature Third Course Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 200