‘Romeo and Juliet’ Essay – Emily Cooper: Who or what is to blame for the outcome of Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’? ‘Romeo and Juliet’ is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare about two star-crossed lovers who take their life. The play takes place in the beautiful city of Verona, where two households hold an ancient grudge against one another. Among the death of the lovers, speculation about whose fault can be argued. The main contributors of the outcome could be the feud between the families, chance and circumstance, and the naivety of two beaux. At the start of the play, in the prologue, it mentions the feud between the two families. ‘Two households both alike in dignity…from ancient grudge break to new mutiny”. A feud that had been going on for generations broke out into a new violence posed the act of non-belligerence between the two families, endorsed by Price Escalus. Right throughout the play the violence and repugnance throughout the play is explicitly obvious. Even when Juliet found out Romeo was a Montague; she expresses moments of dismay, “My only love sprung from my only hate!” and “O Romeo, Romeo! …show more content…
In Act I, Scene ii, as Lord Capulet’s servant is looking for someone who can read the guest list to him, Benvolio and Romeo enter. “Can you read”, asks the Capulet Servant, in which Romeo jests but replies, “Ay if I know the letters and the language… I can read.” Completely by chance, Capulet’s servant meets Romeo and Benvolio, asking them if they know how to read. This accidental meeting emphasizes the importance of chance and circumstance in the play, because without that happening, Romeo wouldn’t have gone to the Capulet household, and in return, wouldn’t have met Juliet. Without this accidental encounter with Capulet’s servant, Romeo and Juliet would have never had the chance to meet, and therefore the ending of the play wouldn’t have