Who Is to Blame for the Deaths of Romeo and Juliet?
In William Shakespeare’s play Romeo & Juliet we look at two star-crossed lovers, from opposite sides of an ancient grudge in the town of Verona and their struggle between fate and freewill. Shakespeare deliberately creates characters that can be held accountable for the tragic deaths of the central roles. Their untimely demise can be attributed to four contributing factors: The poor advice of Friar Lawrence and the Nurse, the two feuding households, the impulsive behaviour of our chief protagonists and the cruel bitter irony of fortune.
Friar Lawrence’s ill-thought out action was one of the main contributions to the downfall of Romeo & Juliet. His actions in marrying the two resulted in a long series of unfortunate events. He gave the poison to Juliet, he trusted someone else with a letter of such high significance to deliver to Romeo, and vanished when Juliet was in the most danger in the tomb. If he had not have made these three major mistakes the couple would still be alive. The Friar also sees the marriage as a way of reconciling the two disputing families. This point is proven when Friar Lawrence says “For this alliance may so happy prove to turn your household’s rancour to pure love.” The nurse also leapfrogs off of this, giving Juliet the idea to get married in the first place. “Go, girl, seek happy nights to happy days,” she says. Both the Friar and the nurse get the children into the mess, but don’t bother to help them out of it. They don’t take responsibility for their actions. When Juliet needs the nurse, she betrays her by telling her to marry Paris and to forget about Romeo.
The families’ ancient grudge also aided the actions the ill-fated lovers took. Romeo & Juliet were forced to hide their love from the public because of their surnames. Juliet speaks of this problem saying “What’s Montague? It is nor hand nor foot, nor arm nor face, nor any other part.” She goes on to say “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other
Friar Lawrence’s ill-thought out action was one of the main contributions to the downfall of Romeo & Juliet. His actions in marrying the two resulted in a long series of unfortunate events. He gave the poison to Juliet, he trusted someone else with a letter of such high significance to deliver to Romeo, and vanished when Juliet was in the most danger in the tomb. If he had not have made these three major mistakes the couple would still be alive. The Friar also sees the marriage as a way of reconciling the two disputing families. This point is proven when Friar Lawrence says “For this alliance may so happy prove to turn your household’s rancour to pure love.” The nurse also leapfrogs off of this, giving Juliet the idea to get married in the first place. “Go, girl, seek happy nights to happy days,” she says. Both the Friar and the nurse get the children into the mess, but don’t bother to help them out of it. They don’t take responsibility for their actions. When Juliet needs the nurse, she betrays her by telling her to marry Paris and to forget about Romeo.
The families’ ancient grudge also aided the actions the ill-fated lovers took. Romeo & Juliet were forced to hide their love from the public because of their surnames. Juliet speaks of this problem saying “What’s Montague? It is nor hand nor foot, nor arm nor face, nor any other part.” She goes on to say “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other