The Feud
Who is to blame for the deaths in Romeo and Juliet? Romeo and Juliet is a tragic play by William Shakespeare about the deaths in Verona. Two families, the Montagues and Capulets, had grudges and hated each other. Tybalt, a Capulet, hated Romeo for being a Capulet and died fighting him. Romeo, a Montague, and Juliet, a Capulet, were two forbidden lovers who took their lives at the end of the play. The feud between Montagues and Capulets is the reason for the deaths in Romeo and Juliet. First, Tybalt’s hatred towards the Montagues ultimately caused his death. To begin, Romeo, a Montague, went to a Capulet party in hopes of seeing his first love, Rosaline.
Upon seeing him, Tybalt speaks, “This, by his voice,
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Tybalt was told not to cause a scene, so he waited until later. He later found Romeo and “slandered” him, trying to convince him to draw his sword.
Tybalt claims, “No better term than this: thou art a villain” (3.1.56).
Romeo refused to fight him since he had recently married Tybalt’s cousin, so his best friend Mercutio drew his sword instead. After killing Mercutio, Romeo seeks revenge and later kills Tybalt. Tybalt was convinced that Romeo was a villain because of the ideas instilled by the Capulet-Montague feud. If he hadn’t hated Montagues, then he wouldn’t have wanted to fight Romeo, which would have prevented his death. Then, the feud killed Romeo. Romeo went to find Tybalt to get revenge for Mercutio.
He approaches Tybalt to duel and speaks, “Either thou or I, or both, must go with him” (3.1.125).
Tybalt fell and Romeo was later exiled by the prince. This forbade him from seeing his love, Juliet. Juliet was to be married to a man named Paris whom she did not love. She and the Friar plotted for Juliet to fake her death and have Romeo take her to Mantua. Because of the plague happening at the same time, the message could not be delivered to Romeo. He heard that Juliet was dead and went to see her in the
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Since he was exiled, the plague prevented Friar John from reaching him with the letter, ultimately causing his death.
Finally, her parents’ resentment towards Montagues causes Juliet’s death. When she asked the nurse what Romeo’s name was, Juliet found out he was a Montague.
She cries, “My only love sprung from my only hate! Too early seen unknown, and known too late! Prodigious birth of love it is to me, That I must love a loathed enemy” (1.5.135-140).
Juliet was immediately distraught upon her realization that Romeo was a Montague. She feared the backlash caused by this relationship and never told her parents. Later, she fakes her death to avoid her marriage to Paris to protect her loyalty to Romeo. Soon after Romeo took his life, Juliet woke