Who Is Responsible In Romeo And Juliet

Romeo and Juliet Responsibility Essay

Responsibility is the point of having to be accountable for your actions. Sometimes responsibility can be split and known as shared responsibility when two or more people must be accountable for their actions. Romeo and Juliet are partially responsible for their actions of killing themselves. In the Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, Lord Capulet and Tybalt hold the most responsibility for Romeo and Juliet’s deaths.

Lord Capulet was one of the characters who caused and could have changed the outcome of Romeo and Juliet’s deaths. One way Lord Capulet could have changed the outcome of the play is by ending the feud between the Capulets and the Montagues and just making peace in Verona. Capulet

always wanted to fight Lord Montague, “My sword, I say!

Old Montague has come and flourishes his blade in spite of me.” 1.1. 74-75. As a result of the feud between the two families, both the Capulets and the Montagues despised each other which disabled Romeo and Juliet from openly being together. If the two families were friends then Romeo and Juliet could have been married openly without any problems. Another way that Lord Capulet could have changed the outcome of the play is if he never forced his daughter to marry Paris. Lord Capulet wants Juliet to marry Paris, “Sir Paris, I will make a desperate tender of my child’s love: I think she will be ruled.” 3.4. 12-13. As a result of Lord Capulet forcing Juliet to marry Sir Paris, Juliet could never run away with Romeo and in those circumstances, she wanted to kill herself. If Lord Capulet never would have forced Juliet to marry Sir Paris then she could have ran away with Romeo. A third way that Lord Capulet could have changed the outcome of the play is by never believing that Paris would be a good suitor to his

daughter. It was Lord Capulet who came up with the idea of Sir Paris and Juliet being married, “Thursday be it, then. Go you to Juliet, ere you go to bed.” 3.4. 31-32. As a result of Lord Capulet seeing a magical future of Paris and Juliet being together, he came up with the idea of Paris marrying Juliet. If he would have not seen a wonderful future for them together then he never would have came up with the idea. Capulet could have prevented the deaths of Romeo and Juliet.
Tybalt was one of the characters who caused the deaths of Romeo and Juliet.

One way that Tybalt might have changed the outcome of the play is by not killing Mercutio. Tybalt wanted to duel with Romeo but Romeo refused so Mercutio accepted, “Alive, in triumph! And Mercutio slain! Away to heaven, respective lenity, and fire eyed fury be my conduct now. 3.1. 118-120. As a result of Tybalt killing Mercutio, Romeo killed Tybalt, and was banished, so he was unable to run away with Juliet. If Tybalt was friends with Romeo then there never would have been a duel, Tybalt would still be alive, and Romeo would never have been banished. Another way that Tybalt might have changed the outcome of the play is by minding his own business. Tybalt wanted to start fights with almost any montague he could, especially Romeo. “Uncle, this is a Montague, our foe, a villain that is hither come in spite.” 1.5.3. As a result of Tybalt always putting himself in other people’s business, he ended up dueling Mercutio, which got Mercutio killed, which also angered Romeo who then killed Tybalt. If Tybalt would have just minded his own business then Mercutio and Tybalt would still be alive and Romeo would not have been banished. A third way that Tybalt would have changed the outcome of the play is by not hating Romeo. Tybalt wanted to attack Romeo every chance he got. “Tis he, that villain Romeo.” 1.5. 63. As a result of Tybalt wanting to attack Romeo, he went to duel him but ended up dueling and slaying

Mercutio, which in turn caused Romeo to grow angry and slay Tybalt to avenge his fallen friend. If Tybalt would have just avoided Romeo then there never would have been any problems between Tybalt and Romeo. Tybalt was one of the characters who could have changed the outcome of Romeo and Juliet’s deaths.
In the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, Lord Capulet and Tybalt are most accountable for causing the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. Out of all the characters in the Tragedy, I chose these two because of the actions they caused and committed that helped cause the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. If it weren't for Tybalt and Lord Capulet than I dont think Romeo and Juliet would be dead.