Romeo And Juliet Who's To Blame Essay

The well known pair of star-crossed lovers in Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet are dead, and there is no one to blame. Some still argue fault on the hopeful but not timely Friar, Juliet’s love-blind parents, and the poor lovers themselves, but why wonder a question already answered? Shakespeare reveals in the prologue that fate, their deaths, was inevitable as he orchestrates contrasting personalities, the family rivalry, and utter coincidences to create the perfect storm. The warning signs of Shakespeare’s storm lie in the characters themselves. As Romeo is introduced in a wail saying, “Ay me! Sad hours seem long” (I.i.158). From the beginning here, Romeo is dramatically explaining his unreturned “love” for Rosaline which was hastily replaced with his supposed true love of Juliet. This ill-given curse of hastiness was not only given to this lover, but several others like Friar Lawrence. The Friar was wise, but by his want for peace and his belief in love his hasty but trusted decision became a fatal trust fall for more than one life. These personality flaws were not mistakes, but a prophecy to be fulfilled to spiral into a result where hope lays no where but down the road to death.
Of the many roads to death, Tybalt’s was one foolish, fateful fatality due to his fondness for the ignorant rivalry.
“Romeo, the love I bear thee can afford / No better term than this: thou art a villain” (III.i.57-58) Of this rivalry Tybalt, Juliet’s cousin, was the main turbulence as here he is bluntly calling Romeo a villain with no true reasoning other than he bears the name of Montague. This childish name-calling escalates into murder as the result is both Tybalt and a friend of Romeo’s demise. As all deaths are part in Shakespeare’s choreography these rivalry results were not accidental, but purposeful to lead to the lovers’
deaths. As those deaths were not accidental neither were the coincidences themselves. As ironic as that may seem, Shakespeare contorted these peaceful winds into deathly plot twisters. “I could not send it – here it is again – / Nor get a messenger to bring it to thee / so fearful were they of infection” (V. ii. 14-16). The most decisive incident was the message to Romeo being obstructed by an illness. Poor Friar John being given the job to deliver the letter seemed to jinx the whole situation, but it was not his fault but the fault of being out of luck. A similar circumstance, almost as pivotal, was Friar Lawrence not arriving to the churchyard in time to prevent Romeo’s suicide, but again this ill-fortune can be of no reason but fate. Throughout the play the star-crossed lovers were not only star-crossed but ill-fated. One person cannot be the sole cause of their deaths, but all of fate's features such as the hasty characters, the family rivals, and the careful coincidences are the true criminals responsible for their deaths. All together this was an organized crime with each of these factors working together like wind, rain, and the many other unexpected terrors of a such an immaculate storm.