Romeo And Juliet Loss Of Parents Essay

Romeo and Juliet’s tragic demise falls onto the blame of the parents as their absence of parenting and ultimate lack of communication made the young lovers feel as though they had to withhold information from their families in order to satisfy their hate of their opposition. This is especially prominent and well-presented, in Juliet’s family, where she is often abused into doing what her family wants her to do. This compounding issue led to misunderstandings and the unfolding of a catastrophe, at the play’s tragic end.

Romeo and Juliet only withhold information from their parents as they hold an “ancient grudge” against one another, along with the build-up of tension on the relationship of Juliet and her parents, as a result of bad parenting.

Juliet’s absent mother, puts pressure on the relationship between her and her daughter as she follows the accustomed Elizabethan patriarchal attitude, acting only as a voice of Lord Capulet, suffocated and silenced. This absence of motherhood, makes Juliet feel distant, often relying on a much more prominent mother-figure, the nurse, “O God! —O Nurse, how shall this be prevented?... Comfort me. Counsel me…. What sayst thou? Hast thou not a word of joy? Some comfort, Nurse.” In the absence of Lady Capulet as a mother, Juliet turns to the Nurse for comfort, highlighting the non-existent relationship between Juliet and her mother. With no relationship, Juliet would undoubtedly find it difficult to bring to the attention of Lady Capulet, her romance with Romeo, and in fact have felt that she is betraying her family.

The abusive and corrupt parenting also is to blame for the suicides of the “star-crossed lovers” as it reiterates the societal constructs of parenting, how the children are to do as the parents say. This is clearly represented through Baz Luhrmann’s adaptation, where Lord Capulet begins verbally abusing Juliet and physically abusing her, by means of pushing and almost choking her. This bad parenting causes Juliet to hide her true feelings for Romeo, as seen through the asides and her actual dialogue with her parents. Juliet restricts her emotions to become transparent with her family as this abusive parenting has obviously caused her to fell as though they will not accept her.

On the instance of her family life, the family feud that separates the two lovers is also another aspect that prevents Juliet from disclosing her romantic relations with Romeo to her family.

Throughout the play, Juliet struggles with loyalty toward her family, at the beginning being a barrier toward their love, but ultimately, Juliet’s loyalty lies with Romeo. The feud between the warring families is the foundational problem that caused much of the tension. This problem is best seen in Taylor Swift’s adaptation, in which both scenarios are similar, reflecting how the love, which was real, isn’t accepted among friends and family. This is depicted in the line, “Little did I know that you were Romeo… And my daddy said, ‘Stay away from Juliet!’” This highlights the forbidden love among the lovers and that it was the families that were in fact, separating them. In the play, the lines, “Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo,” where Juliet is lamenting Romeo's name, alluding to the feud between their two families. So, Romeo and Juliet’s love was pressured and in a sense limited due to the family feud, which kept them apart and made their love “forbidden,” pushing them to keep their love secret. Since the family feud was built upon hatred, the lovers felt as though they had to keep their love secret in order to satisfy the hatred built against the homes. This is best shown through the Prince’s dialogue, “See what a scourge is laid upon your hate, that heaven finds means to kill

your joys with love!” This illuminates the idea of the parents being at fault for the deaths of the innocent children. Consequently, the parents are at fault for the deaths of the young lovers as their manifestation of hatred, had ultimately led to the demise of the teenagers.