Friar Lawrence Responsible For The Death Of Romeo And Juliet

“Oh happy dagger!” (Shakespeare, p. 1141, 2012) Juliet exclaimed as she plunged a dagger into her chest, ending her life. Just moments previous, Romeo had done likewise by drinking a powerful poison which was said to kill twenty men. Both deaths were tragic losses for the fair community of Verona, a medieval city used by William Shakespeare to stage his story of the two lovers of Verona, in a play called Romeo and Juliet. However, this is where the major question begins… who, or what, is truly responsible for the deaths of these two young teens? If one was to analyze the tragic story of these two, one could point to many causes of their deaths. Even though many factors contributed to the untimely deaths of Romeo and Juliet, their love for each

People may argue this as Friar Lawrence does specifically purge himself for it, and he did enable Romeo and Juliet to do all of this. He also did not make sure Romeo received the news of his elaborate plan. Nevertheless, these claims are invalid because the only thing which could have truly caused their deaths was their love for each other. Friar Lawrence did not force them to do any of this, he was only trying to help and was caught in the middle of their messy love. He personally blames himself for their deaths because he is a righteous man with upstanding values. Also, he also blames himself for not stopping them. Even so, it was surely not Friar Lawrence’s fault for them falling in love and being forced apart by the feud, which ultimately caused their untimely

The most obvious effect of the feud was it forced Romeo and Juliet’s relationship underground into secrecy. Truly, without the feud their marriage would have been given a chance. They would have been able to develop their relationship more openly and not be forced to marry without anyone knowing. They would also not have been forced to marry without parental consent, which complicated matters further. A further consequence of this feud was Romeo became exiled from the city of Verona, which prevented him from seeing Juliet anymore. The feud causes Romeo to seek revenge and end Tybalt which in turn causes him to become exiled from his community of Verona when Prince Escalus declares, “And for that offense [killing Tybalt over the feud] Immediately [sic] we do exile him hence,” (Shakespeare, p. 1095, 2012). Now, due to this feud, Romeo is unable to receive information on what is happening with Juliet, which later in the story causes a mix-up leading to their deaths. Subsequently, without the feud, Juliet would not have been forced to fake her death as she was already married to Romeo. However, since the families were feuding, this information was to be kept secret, but without the feud, she would have been able to clear up the situation without resorting to such drastic measures. The true problems the feud caused which lead to their deaths was its ability to prevent necessary