Who Was To Blame For The Tragedy Of Romeo And Juliet Research Paper

The Blame for the Tragedy

The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet is a tragic love story told by William Shakespeare. The story has been passed on for centuries, but there is a question that stands. Who was to blame for the tragedy that occurred? Many would say both houses of the family feud were to blame, others pointed fingers at Tybalt. But what about the main protagonists themselves who got themselves in trouble in the first place? In addition, what about the parent who pushed their child to the limit, and the friend who couldn't back down a fight which ended up with him dead and his friend banished? Many were to blame for Romeo and Juliet's death, but the ones who were most responsible were themselves, Lord Capulet, and Mercutio.

Romeo was supposedly

to be "in love" with Juliet, but the way he was "loving" her was more like lust, resembling his previous relationship with Rosaline. Around the beginning when Romeo was having a conversation with his cousin, "Why, such is love's transgression griefs of mine own lie heavy in my breast, which thou wilt propagate to have it pressed will with more of thine. This love that thou hast shown doth add more grief to too much of mine own.” (1.1) The next day he automatically falls in "love" with Juliet. This shows how he was incapable to love On the other hand Juliet, who was 13, just reaching 14, had a planned marriage in her hands at the moment and yet forgot about it when she first met Romeo. After their encounter with each other after the party, Juliet explained to Romeo, "Dost thou love me? I know thou wilt say “Ay,” and I will take thy word. Yet, if thou swear’st, thou mayst prove false. At lovers’ perjuries, they say, Jove laughs. O gentle Romeo, if thou dost love, pronounce it faithfully. Or, if thou thinkest I am too quickly won, I’ll frown and be perverse and say thee nay, so thou wilt woo, but else not for the world." (2.1) Juliet felt rushed when he proposed to her and gave thought about it and told him how she felt. She later then listens to Romeo instead of her conscious, and ended up both of them dying in a matter of days.
Lord Capulet was a noble man carrying on his family name.

He was in a forced marriage himself, but since he was the heir, the family's fortunes and fame has been passed down to him. Since his only child was a female, he had to have a male son to pass on his heir, and there was no one other than Paris. He did not care for his daughter Juliet until he needs her for plans and events to keep his title high. In the story, Juliet tells him that she does not want to marry Paris. In response, he shouts, "Thank me no thankings, nor proud me no prouds, but fettle your fine joints against Thursday next to go with Paris to Saint Peter’s Church, or I will drag thee on a hurdle thither.” (3.5) Lord Capulet truly didn’t care for his daughter what so ever, and to support this thesis was later happened after their fight of the arranged marriage, when Juliet came to apologize to her father. He simply replies, “Why, I am glad on ’t. This is well. This is as ’t should be. Let me see the County. Ay, marry, go, I say, and fetch him hither. Now, afore God, this reverend holy friar, all our whole city is much bound to him.” (4.2) He forgets about it automatically and even pushes the wedding a day forward mostly because he is happy that his daughter has finally given consent to marrying Paris. He pays no attention to her afterwards and goes straight to helping the servants for the ceremony and the feast, and then later discovers that the bride is dead. He didn’t want to attend what Juliet was

doing all along not only for this act, but throughout the whole story.
Finally, we have ourselves Mercutio in the story.

His character was an energetic and dreaming joker who wouldn't back down a fight to anyone. He was the one who brought Romeo to the Capulet party in the first place in hopes of seeing Rosaline. He made Romeo do certain acts that can stir up trouble, but Mercutio wouldn't bother to listen to him if Romeo asked him to think twice. Between the conversation of Romeo and Mercutio before the fight of act 3, he says, " Good king of cats, nothing but one of your nine lives, that I mean to make bold withal, and, as you shall use me hereafter, dry-beat the rest of the eight. Will you pluck your sword out of his pilcher by the ears? Make haste, lest mine be about your ears ere it be out.” (3.1) Mercutio gave in the fact that he was careless and had no idea what he was getting himself into, and did not think about the consequences he would’ve got in whether he either lost or won. In the end of the fight, Mercutio lost to Tybalt. While lying on the floor with the crowd surrounding him, he curses, “Help me into some house, Benvolio, Or I shall faint. A plague o’ both your houses! They have made worms’ meat of me. I have it, and soundly, too. Your houses!” He provided the fact how he wasn’t responsible enough to accept the fact that he was at fault and gave the blame to both the houses, although he was the one who started the fight in the first place. If he’s not even capable to take in responsibility and can’t think about consequences in

any conflict for himself, why would Romeo listen to Mercutio in the beginning? Mercutio was truly not the right role model and friend for him in the end.
Many friends, enemies, and bystanders were at fault for the death of two star-crossed lovers. There were those who should’ve think a bit more before speaking or acting, and also those who should haven’t speak in the first place. But compare to what Romeo, Juliet, Lord Capulet, Mercutio have done, it wasn’t worse than what they’ve done, leaving six dead due to certain people’s outcome. All in all, the ones who were to blame in the end did have an important role to the story. Whether the story didn’t have the father who pushed his daughter to the limit, the friend who took action without turning back, or even the protagonists themselves, without them, the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet wouldn’t be as known as the tragic love classic.