Preview

Romeo and Juliet - characters responsible for their deaths.

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
516 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Romeo and Juliet - characters responsible for their deaths.
Romeo and Juliet

This essay will prove from my point of view, that three characters with their actions, decisions and timing were most responsible for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet.

In my opinion, the character most responsible was Friar Lawrence, for he married Romeo and Juliet without their parents ' consent, although he did offer them advice. "Wisely and slow; they stumble that run fast." (Act II, sc III, lines 94-95). Next, he suggested that Juliet swallow the poison, which without a doubt, was a very impulsive decision. Furthermore, when he was in the tomb with Juliet, upset about Romeo 's death, could have saved her life by staying with her and comforting her when she didn 't want to leave. Instead he betrayed her by leaving. In the end, Friar Lawrence blamed himself and offered to sacrifice his life.

Romeo 's impulsiveness played a key role and is shown when he quickly fell out of love with Rosaline and into love with Juliet, having decided to marry her after knowing her for less than a day. Another case of impulse was due to misunderstanding and assumption, when he assumed that Juliet was dead. His only thought was to take his life, instead of finding out if she was still alive. Romeo was also vengeful and didn 't think though or control his feelings as in the example when Tybalt killed Mercutio and Romeo ran after Tybalt to pay back. This bad decision led to Romeo being banned from Verona and started the miscommunication between Romeo and Juliet, which eventually led to their deaths.

Juliet, also responsible was very young, and didn 't have the maturity to deal with love. Firstly, she was impulsive by hurrying Romeo into marriage. Secondly, she came to the Friar looking for help. "I long to die, if what thou speak 'st speak not of remedy" (Act 4, sc I, lines 66-67) which showed her attitude towards her situation. She didn 't think things through when she accepted the Friar 's solution to take the poison. Thirdly, being too emotional instead of



Cited: Shakespeare, William. Harcourt Shakespeare:Romeo And Juliet. Toronto: Harcourt, 1999.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The story of Romeo and Juliet is the best tragedy ever to be written. The tale of two adolescents taking their lives because of their love for one another has inspired a lot of controversy as to whether the adults surrounding these adolescents could have done something to prevent this tragedy. The truth is the adults in the situation are ultimately to blame for the deaths of their love struck teens. This essay will explain why Friar Laurence, Nurse and to a lesser extent Mercutio, caused the deaths of Romeo and Juliet.…

    • 778 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    In this essay I will be exploring the reasons as to why some people would argue that a certain person or people are to blame for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet.…

    • 2030 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the play Romeo and Juliet written by William Shakespeare is about the two young adult who fell in love at first sight and married after few hour of their first meet. The unstoppable feud from the two family cause the tragic ending for them. With the pure love and the private married lead them to their death and end their families feud. With the tragic ending, the most question that people always ask is who is responsible for their death. The characters that is most responsible for their death are the Capulet, Friar Lawrence, and Tybalt.…

    • 716 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    One trait that doomed the couple is Romeo’s impulsiveness. It seems that Romeo doesn’t think twice about his decisions. This is clearly explained by Romeo killing…

    • 821 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Death is and always will be a hard topic to talk about, especially when someone is to blame. In the play, Romeo and Juliet, written by William Shakespeare, many characters could take responsibility for the deaths of the young lovers, but who is ultimately to blame? In my opinion, Romeo is the main cause of their deaths. He rushed into marriage without thinking ahead as to what they would do or tell their rival families. He then got himself banished from Verona for killing Tybalt, and lastly, instead of moving on from Juliet, he killed himself.…

    • 581 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In this essay I will be writing about William Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet, I will be doing an in-depth analysis as to who I think is most to blame for the sad eventual deaths of Romeo and Juliet, analysing each character in detail.…

    • 2905 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Romeo is the most to blame for the events that occur in Romeo and Juliet because he doesn’t ask the Capulet’s permission for his and Juliet’s marriage. At the end of the story…

    • 490 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Who’s to Blame? Between fate and just pure bad decisions, The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet is a catastrophic story of a death of young children. Everyone in the Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet has an effect that lead to the young lovers death. With the Friar’s guilt-ridden advice, Romeo's impulsiveness, and the dispute between the Capulets and Montagues, there's many people you could potentially say did the most damage, so who should take credit for The Tragedy of two young lovers?…

    • 433 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Romeo's extreme hastiness is what leads to his early death. One example is the agreement to marry Juliet on the night they met. Romeo did not think thoroughly about the idea and how it is going to affect both of their opposing families (Montague and Capulet). When he announced his decision to the Friar, the Friar immediately insists Romeo to take things slowly. “Wisely and slowly: those who run, trip” (Act 2 scene 3 pg.105) But Romeo is too blinded by love. He ignores the advice and wants to marry Juliet. It seems that Romeo thinks that the world is quickly moving out of his reach so he has to make quick, impulsive decisions without thinking about how it might affect him and the ones who he loves. If he had consulted Friar before he bought the poison and went to go see Juliet, it could have cost him his life and Juliet’s. Juliet is also to blame. She being a very respectful girl does a complete 180 change to someone very hasty and rebellious. Instead of telling the truth to her parents, about her already being married to Romeo, she goes to extreme measures and is willing to kill herself, “ ….in spite of you wisdom, you can offer no help, just say my intention is sensible and I’ll implement it straight away with this knife…” She is just thinking about herself, and does not care about what could happen if she doesn’t get her way, so she begs the Friar for a vial of “poison”, not thinking that the plan might go…

    • 955 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The first character that is to blame for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet would, infamously, have…

    • 788 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Romeo And Juliet Deaths

    • 121 Words
    • 1 Page

    Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare has love, comedic relief, and, most of all, death. In fact, it is said that Romeo and Juliet is based off of two lovers from Verona, Italy in 1303. There were other books written about this legend, but Romeo and Juliet is the most popular. There were six deaths in the book, and they were, in order, Mercutio, Tybalt, Lady Montague, the County Paris, Romeo Montague, and Juliet Capulet. With all the deaths, someone must have caused a chain of events to lead to them. And so, Romeo Montague is to blame for the deaths because he is a rule breaker, he arranged the wedding, and he killed all six characters, both directly and…

    • 121 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Throughout the course of the play, Romeo makes rash decisions without putting any forethought into it, and this ultimately leads to the deaths of him, Juliet, and the characters. For example, when Tybalt killed Mercutio, Romeo went after Tybalt and killed him to avenge his friend. Romeo, himself, was even willing to die for his friend and says “Either thou or I, or both, must go with him’ (III.i.125). Though avenging the death of his best friend was a noble action, this incident lead to the banishment of Romeo which caused the death of his mother and other problematic events that transpires later on in the tragedy. Also, at the beginning of the play, Romeo declares he loves a girl named Rosaline and his causes him to fall into a period of depression because she rejects his love for her. However, after he spends a small fraction of time with Juliet, Romeo completely forgets about the girl he was pining after and switches to Juliet without a second thought. Less than twenty-four hours after he meets Juliet, Romeo marries her even though he has only known her for a miniscule amount of time. Rushing into the marriage without giving it time or logical thought is a main reason for the two lovers’ deaths, and according to Friar Lawrence “They stumble that…

    • 553 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Romeo’s romantic love for Juliet overwhelms his mind and causes him to act rashly. One example is when Romeo says, “Farewell. Thou canst not teach me how to forget” (Act 1, scene 1, 246). Romeo loved Rosaline and thought that she was the only girl that he would love. His love for Rosaline had completely invaded his body and compelled him to act rashly. He said that he would never forget Rosaline, but when he sees Juliet he quickly replaces Rosaline with Juliet in his mind. “Do thou but close our hands with holy words, Then love-devouring death do what he dare, It is enough that I may but call her mine “ (Act 2, scene 6). Romeo wants to marry Juliet a few hours after they met. Juliet has completely overrun his mind and that forces him to think that they should get married. His mind is so full of Juliet that he cannot think straight. This results in rashly getting married which leads him to his death. “Here’s to my love. O true apothecary. Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die” (Act 5, scene 3, 119). In this scene Romeo takes a drug which will kill him. He does this because he thinks that Juliet is dead, and Romeo says that he cannot live without Juliet. If he had not been so keen to drinking the potion, then both his and Juliet’s lives could have been spared. This shows that if Romeo had tried to make a decision logically then he could have saved lives. Romeo’s extreme love for Juliet leads him to make rash decisions. Those rash decisions ultimately lead him to his grave.…

    • 670 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Romeo and Juliet

    • 1133 Words
    • 5 Pages

    In the play ‘Romeo and Juliet’ by profound writer William Shakespeare, there is a tragic outcome to the story due to the various acts of the characters, whether it was intentional, because of pride or simply in their nature to do so. I believe there is no true culprit due to the fact that everyone had a part to play even if in the end you could say it was Romeo’s fault for being impetuous or Juliet’s for being too ignorant.…

    • 1133 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare about two lovers from two rival families in Verona, Italy. “Two households...In fair Verona where we lay our scene”. A major component of the play is how both lovers die together due to suicide; however it is unclear who caused the problems that ultimately led to their deaths. I will be concentrating on many characters that may have been responsible for deaths of the “star crossed lovers”.…

    • 855 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays