Who Was Responsible For The Deaths Of Romeo And Juliet Essay

Romeo and Juliet are two innocent lovers that face many hardships in their relationship. The play itself takes place in the city of Verona, where two star-crossed lovers end their lives in spite of their adversary families; better known as the Capulets and the Montagues to stop feuding. The topic that will be carefully analysed and discussed is on whether many characters share responsibility for the deaths of the young lovers in William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. This is an interesting statement and one that can be supported by a close reading of the text. Many, but not all characters did share a responsibility for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. The most significant contributors to the demise of Romeo and Juliet were the families of Montague

and Capulet, Friar Lawrence and most importantly Romeo and Juliet themselves.
Two of the greatest and most prosperous families in Verona; the Montagues and Capulets have been feuding for many years and share responsibility for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. The two families despised each other and, ironically, it happened that the children of the two households fell in love. If there had not been a family feud or the Montagues and Capulets had resolved their differences, there would not be reason for Romeo and Juliet to hide their love from their parents and could live a happy life. Furthermore, Lord Capulet was ignorant, unsupportive and uncaring of his own daughter. We can see this when he exclaims, “Hang thee, young baggage! Disobedient wretch!” He wanted her to meet his expectations and marry Paris, although she wanted the complete opposite. In the story the Montagues do not express their hate to the Capulets as much as the Capulets do. However, Lord Montague does state his hate for the Capulets at the very start of the play by saying, “Thou villain Capulet! Hold me not, let me go.” He is trying to say that he wants to get involved in the brawl and prove himself superior to the Capulets. Consequently, Lord Capulet also wants to get involved in the brawl by saying “My sword, I say! Old Montague is come, and flourishes his blade in spite of me.” Although the lords are fighting, the play demonstrates that the women are much more mature than the men. Therefore, the families of Montague and Capulet did share responsibility for the deaths of the young lovers in William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet by being rivals and preventing their children from living peacefully in harmony.
Friar Lawrence was one of the major contributors, and shared responsibility for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet by being negligent, lazy and careless.

Friar Lawrence married Romeo and Juliet, but knew that it could be wrong to do so. The families were adversaries, so he thought to himself that if he was to marry the two. The feuding families would compromise. Therefore, the Friar knows all along that, "These violent delights have violent ends." The Friar knew that this is an impossible situation, which if made possible by himself will without a doubt end up in tragedy in one way or another. Friar Lawrence’s negligence really stands out in the play when he organises an escape for the star-crossed lovers. We can see this when he says, “Take thou this vial, being then in bed, and this distilling liquor drink thou off.” Romeo has yet got no idea of the Friar’s plan, in fact, he never finds out. Although Friar Lawrence sent Friar John to Romeo, Balthasar, who is not informed of the plan, got the news delivered to Romeo first. Ergo, Friar Lawrence shared responsibility for the deaths of the young lovers in William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet by marrying them despite their parents, not thinking his plans through, and giving Juliet potion before he ensured Romeo was informed of the

plan.
At last, the most dominant characters that were largely responsible for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet are Romeo and Juliet themselves.

They are responsible for their own deaths because they chose to commit suicide. Certainly others are also culpable for their deaths, but they were the ones that held the actus reus and, therefore are held responsible for their deaths. Romeo is known to be extremely hasty, and haste is actually what leads to his young death. Romeo’s and Juliet’s decision to act upon their love happened too quickly; before they even got to know each other, they were already in love. Even Friar Lawrence mentioned that “they stumble that run fast”, meaning if you take actions too quickly they will not result in a pleasant end. When Romeo found out that Juliet was ‘dead’ he rushed all the way to Verona from Mantua to the Capulet tomb, to find his beloved wife dead. When Romeo sees Juliet he says “O my love, my wife, death that hath suck’d the honey of thy breath.” He grieves over her ‘death’ and drinks the poison he bought from the apothecary. We see this when he cries “O true apothecary! Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die.” By being hasty Romeo completely dismissed the plan. Although Romeo didn’t know what the plan was with Friar Lawrence and Juliet, he could have consulted the Friar about Juliet before rushing to her tomb. Juliet woke up and saw Romeo’s body deceased by her side. She could not live without Romeo and killed herself, as seen in this

quote: “O happy dagger, this is thy sheath; there rust, and let me die.” Therefore, Romeo and Juliet shared the greatest responsibility in their deaths because they were the ones that committed suicide. Romeo took his own life with poison and Juliet stabbed herself with Romeo's dagger. The star-crossed lovers took their lives for the love of each other.
Therefore, many, but not all characters share responsibility for the deaths of the young lovers in William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. The characters that were carefully analysed include: the two households of the Capulets and Montagues shared responsibility by being rivals and preventing their children from living in harmony, Friar Lawrence shared responsibility for the deaths of the young lovers by marrying them and doing the things he knew would not have a sweet ending, as well as, not thoroughly thinking his plan through when organising the escape plan for the young lovers. Last but not least, Romeo and Juliet themselves were responsible for their own deaths for committing suicide in the first place, and Romeo being too hasty. From this play we can conclude that if you make rash decisions they can lead to a tragic outcome.