Who's To Blame For The Tragedy Of Romeo And Juliet

Everyone knows that in every tragedy, there has to be conflicts, arguments, and deaths involved. Well, the most famous play that Shakespeare ever wrote had all those classifications and ended with a horrible ending. After William Shakespeare wrote the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, numerous people started analyzing and having different viewpoints and opinions on who’s to blame for the tragedy throughout the past years. Many critics have studied the play and Shakespeare himself and argue about who’s to blame for the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. Romeo and Juliet's deaths were caused by their own choices, the pressure from authority figures in their lives, and the society in which they lived. All of these are to be blamed for the tragedy and there
is many evidences to support these statements.
One of the causes that lead to Romeo and Juliet’s death is fate. A Great German Shakespearean critic, August Von Schlagel from the article “Critical Essay on Romeo and Juliet” by Lois Kershen, blamed fate for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet by saying “In the sense that the cruel world is too terrible a place for a love as tender as that of Romeo and Juliet.”( Source 1, paragraph.2) This critic is saying that the world was too awful a place for the two young lovers, Romeo and Juliet to survive and have a happy ending. To justify, Kelley Griffiths, book instructor from writing essays says “Very matter-of-factly blame fate as well by telling students that ‘if the plot is only part of a larger or ongoing story, then the characters are more likely to seem at the mercy of forces beyond their control.’’’ ( Source 1, paragraph.2) She is giving the same idea as the last critic that the characters are innocent and fate again is controlling them and the plot is a chunk of a bigger and proceeding story.
Another cause for the tragedy is the authority figures because they had long feuded and neither of them wanted to solve their problem until their kids die which shows that they're to blame for Romeo and Juliet’s death as well.
To approve that the authority figures lead to the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet Lois Kershen quotes that, “As a young girl practically restricted to her house by the social customs of her time, she has very little control over anything anyway. Moreover, she lives in a family where her father does not know how to express his love except to make decisions for Juliet that he thinks are in her best interest. Her mother is too cold and distant to give her good advice, and her nurse, though she loves Juliet, is too crude to understand the delicacies and dangers of first love.” ( Source 1, paragraph.9) Lois Kershen argues that Juliet's authority figures are to be blamed because they don’t give her a voice and she has to obey her parents even if she doesn’t like it. Her authority figures put too much pressure on her (father) and give her bad advice(nurse and mother) as a young who’s getting to know how life works. Lois Kershen also mentions that “There, the family feud causes Paris to assume that Romeo has evil intent and the resultant fight costs Paris his life.” ( Source 1, paragraph.4) This paraphrase means that fighting between the families leads Paris to conclude that Romeo has cruel intention and the consequential fight causes Paris to die. So once again
because of their authority figures not allowing them to be together Romeo is forced to kill someone.
However, Romeo and Juliet are to blame for their own deaths because they made foolish decisions that lead to big consequences which made the story a tragedy and caused their deaths.
To confirm this, “Teenage brains rely on the limbic brain to make decisions. However, the limbic brain makes choices based on emotions. Teenagers struggle to make logical, well thought out plans due to an ineffective prefrontal cortex. The teenage brain seeks pleasure seeking activities.” (Source 2: Teen Brain: Still Under Construction) The two teens are barely reaching adolescence, and because of this, their rational part of the brain is not developed and their decision making is hindered. The brain finishes developing between 15-25 years. Romeo and Juliet just want to be with each other and because of that portion of the brain, they would do anything to see each other. Another quote to support my thesis is “During adolescence, humans go through a process called "synaptic pruning". This Process causes the outer cortex to become thinner, but more efficient; therefore making the rational portion of the brain stronger.” ( Source 2: Teen Brain: Still Under Construction) Romeo would only be experiencing the very beginning of adolescence, and therefore would not have this rational part of the brain fully functional and that’s why he rushes through his decisions. One more quotation for this statement is “The brain finishes developing between 15-25 years. Adolescence brains have not fully developed yet
until they reach that age.” ( Source 2: Teen Brain: Still Under Construction) Juliet as well makes poor decisions based off of her emotions. When she hears of Romeo’s banishment from Verona, she decides to drink a potion despite thinking that the plan might have consequences, but doesn’t care just so she can be with Romeo.
To conclude, many critics have different opinions on who’s to blame for the Tragedy and have proven their point of views based on evidence and supporting their statement. The three major causes of the Tragedy, according to most of the critics are the environment (fate included), authority figures, and Romeo and Juliet. These reasons, all are to blame for the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet because there are evidence to support each statement.