The Blame Game: The Tragedy Of Romeo And Juliet

Noah Hulihee
Lancucki
Honors Freshman English
2/13/23

The Blame Game After readers hear the quote from Sonnenber, “When you blame others for your circumstance, you surrender control of your future,” they can determine that free will, not fate, decides the tragic ending in William Shakespeare's play “The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet.” Shakespeare’s famous, tragic play begins with a heartbroken Romeo at a party as mindlessly falls in love again with another girl named Juliet, who’s on the other side of the feuding families. Starting from when Tybalt, Juliet's short-tempered cousin, gives Romeo looks at the party, he creates many complications. As the play continues, Tybalt’s anger and Romeo’s impulsiveness cause the first major downfall,

When realizing his crucial letter never made its destination, Friar emphasizes his blame when he exclaims, “Unhappy fortune!...of dear import and neglecting it may do much danger.” (5.3.17-20). Not surprisingly, the naive Friar Laurence’s ludicrous plan absolutely fails. To stop Romeo from killing himself., Friar Laurence must simply send the letter, which he somehow fails to do. Instead, he cannot take responsibility and has someone else do it. This impractical decision leads to Romeo and Juliet’s death, which Friar could have easily avoided. Although others claim that Friar Laurence demonstrates his innocence when he agrees, “In one respect I'll thy assistant be: For this alliance may so happy prove to turn your household’s rancor to pure love,” this contradicts the truth. (2.3.90-92). While attempting to fix the feud, Friar Laurence manages to make things worse by marrying the two in secret, even though Juliet’s parents have set her up with Paris. Although he hesitates at first, he ignorantly disregards all the consequences and goes through with marrying them. Towards the end of the play, after discovering Romeo and Paris dead, the reader sees these consequences as Friar Laurence cries, “Romeo! O Pale! Who else? What Paris too? And stepped in blood,” (5.3.144-145). While trying to reunite the two, his rash decision-making ultimately separates them by

From the start, the reader can tell Tybalt’s attitude towards Romeo would cause conflict when Tybalt remarks, “It fits when such a villain is a guest. I'll not endure him.” (1.5.75-76). After threatening to kill Romeo, Tybalt makes it apparent how much he despises Romeo. His hatred leads to the fight killing both Mercutio and himself. If Tybalt minimizes his aggressive behavior toward Romeo or Mercutio, the tragic ending could be prevented. Others may argue that Mercutio antagonizes Tybalt by saying, “Tybalt, you ratchet. Will you walk?” (3.1.71). However, Tybalt continues to fight Mercutio even after Romeo tries to stop them. Not only that, but Tybalt then returns to Romeo after slaughtering Mercutio, and says, “Thou wretched boy, thou didst consort him here, shalt with him hence.”(3.3.123-124). In self-defense, Romeo slays Tybalt. Instead of walking away, he causes more trouble for Romeo, while simultaneously killing himself. Because of this, Romeo is banished from the love of his life and the situation becomes increasingly disastrous. Overall, this tragedy could not happen without Tybalt's