Romeo and Juliet's Death

There are 5 deaths in the entire play "Romeo and Juliet": Mercutio, who dies standing up for Romeo against Tybalt; Tybalt, who Romeo kills in revenge; the lovers Romeo and Juliet, who kill themselves over the other, and Paris, who dies for Juliet. Despite the climax of the play revolving around the two star-crossed lovers killing themselves for each other, there is a lot to be learned from the other deaths. Specifically, the death of Mercutio. As Mercutio dies, he shouts a most curious sentence. He cries, "A plague o' both your house!" twice before falling over. Now, an understandable dying curse might be "A plague o' the Capulets!", as he was killed by Tybalt, a Capulet. However, he wishes a plague on both houses: one of which is a close friend to his own. Mercutio, interestingly, was one of the few people who could float between both houses- in Act I, Mercutio was on the list of invited people to the Capulet party, while simultaneously being a close friend to the Montagues. This, with the fact that he died as a result of the feud between the families, gives his death an ironic feel. Mercutio died solely because the two families were feuding. It's simple. It is neither Romeo, nor Tybalt's fault that Romeo crashed a party to see Rosaline, that Tybalt took offense, that Tybalt challenged him to a duel, that Mercutio stood up for his friend, that Mercutio died. All of this can then be traced back to the adults. The children are innocent, and they are at no fault if they are raised the way they are: the reason Tybalt became such . They didn't start the feud; they weren't the ones fighting in the streets of Verona that caused the Prince to pronounce a death sentence on those that fought. The people at fault are the parents. The adults. There are multiple reasons to blame the parents for the plight of the children. First, there is no reason for the feud to exist at all. Nowhere in the play does Shakespeare say why the families are feuding. The feud is an old