Romeo And Juliet Punished Essay

“Some shall be Pardon’d, and some punished” (Page 105, Line 320) In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet many of the characters bear responsibility for the tragic deaths of Romeo and Juliet. Which leads all to be punished in the sense of grieving over the loss of loved ones lives. However, who is really responsible for the lover's choices? The choices that Romeo and Juliet made were impulsive and irresponsible but as teenagers were they fully responsible for their deaths with all the guidance they had from Friar Laurence, the Nurse, or even from their families? Should the mentors be punished for leading them to their deaths? Because if Friar, the Nurse, and their families hold responsibility for Romeo and Juliet’s death then they should be punished.

“And here I stand, both to impeach and purge, myself condemned and myself excused." (page 103, line 237). Friar realizes that he is both at fault for the events that happened while also trying to justify his actions.When he is trying to explain himself he talks about his decision to marry the young lovers in secret as well as him giving Juliet a sleeping potion to help her avoid marrying Paris. His plan to fake Juliet's death and reunite her with Romeo relied heavily on chance and was ultimately unsuccessful which ended with them both committing suicide to be with eachother. At the end of him explaining himself he says that he deserves to be punished for what he has done but the Prince doesn’t agree. While Friar Laurence may have acted out of compassion and a desire to end the feud between the families, his actions did contribute to the deaths of Romeo and

This responsibility can be seen in Lord Capulet saying, "O brother Montague, give me thy hand" (page 105, line 307). This quote highlights the moment of realization that the feud has caused the tragic deaths of their children.. The two families' feud was the main cause of their children dying, the families' influence on their children's behavior and choices, mixed with arranged marriages had a big impact on how the story ended. The families' inability to reconcile and their continued feud ultimately make them partly responsible for the deaths of Romeo and