Romeo And Juliet Who's To Blame Essay

The well known pair of star-crossed lovers in Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet are dead, and there is no one to blame. Some still argue fault on the hopeful but not timely Friar, Juliet’s love-blind parents, and the poor lovers themselves, but why wonder a question already answered? Shakespeare reveals in the prologue that fate, their deaths, was inevitable as he orchestrates contrasting personalities, the family rivalry, and utter coincidences to create the perfect storm. The warning signs of Shakespeare’s storm lie in the characters themselves. As Romeo is introduced in a wail saying, “Ay me! Sad hours seem long” (I.i.158). From the beginning here, Romeo is dramatically explaining his unreturned “love” for Rosaline which was hastily replaced with his supposed true love of Juliet. This ill-given curse of hastiness was not only given to this lover, but several others like Friar Lawrence. The Friar was wise, but by his want for peace and his belief in love his hasty but trusted decision became a fatal trust fall for more than one life. These personality flaws were not mistakes, but a prophecy to be fulfilled to spiral into a result where hope lays no where but down the road to death.
“Romeo, the love I bear thee can afford / No better term than this: thou art a villain” (III.i.57-58) Of this rivalry Tybalt, Juliet’s cousin, was the main turbulence as here he is bluntly calling Romeo a villain with no true reasoning other than he bears the name of Montague. This childish name-calling escalates into murder as the result is both Tybalt and a friend of Romeo’s demise. As all deaths are part in Shakespeare’s choreography these rivalry results were not accidental, but purposeful to lead to the lovers’