Mercutio To Blame For Romeo And Juliet Research Paper

Who Is To Blame For The Death Of Romeo and Juliet?

In the play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare two star crossed lovers end up dead in an act of forbidden love. In the play, the characters most to blame for the fate of Romeo and Juliet are Mercutio, their parents and Friar Laurence. One of the characters most to blame is Mercutio because of his persistent ways and uncontrolled actions. Also to blame is the parents of Romeo and Juliet for continuing the feud between the families and being absent in their lives. Last to blame is Friar Laurence for marrying the young pair and for his outrageous plans. Therefore, because of Mercutios uncontrolled actions, the parents never ending feud, and the Friars marrying of the two, it is clear that

Mercutio is the one who persuaded Romeo to go to the Capulets masquerade ball. Even though Romeo had a gut feeling that going to the party would lead to his death. Which it did since Mercutio was persistent and made Romeo go to the ball. This lead to Romeo meeting Juliet which eventually lead to their deaths. Mercutio is also to blame for his aggressive behaviour. Benvolio suggests, "I pray thee, good Mercutio, let’s retire: The day is hot, the Capels are abroad, And, if we meet, we shall not ’scape a brawl, For now, these hot days, is the mad blood stirring (III,i.1 -

Romeo and Juliet are young and irresponsible children believing they fell in love in less than four days. The Friar should have realized that this was rushed and couldn't be true love. Despite this he married the pair. He could have just said no to marrying them and stopped the entire thing. Friar Laurence also knew that just days before Romeo was crying over how much he loved Rosaline. Now Romeo was suddenly in love with Juliet. After Romeo announced wanting the Friar to marry him and Juliet Friar Laurence exclaims, "O, she knew well./Thy love did read by rote, that could not spell./ But come, young waverer, come, go with me, In one respect I'll thy assistant be (II,iii.84 - 86). So now just a few days later the Friar believes Romeo knows what love is now. He didn't know with Rosaline who he believed he loved so much but the Friar believes he knows with Juliet. The Friar doesn't seem to see the flaws in Romeo's so called love. Lastly, the Friar came up with a ridiculous plan to try and fix what he screwed up. He gave Juliet the sleep inducing potion and a plan then telling her he would send word to Romeo. By giving Juliet this potion he will cause Romeo to find what he thinks is his dead wife. After this he kills himself, Juliet awakes and kills herself as well. The Friar had a moment to unite the families and tell them the truth but he didn't and gave Juliet the potion.