What Is The Cause Of Romeo And Juliet's Death

Shakespeare's classic romantic tragedy of Romeo and Juliet describes the story of an age-old feud between the Capulets and the Montagues. From these families emerges two star-crossed lovers, Romeo and Juliet. As Romeo and Juliet struggle through the challenges of their forbidden relationship, their love for each other only grows stronger. However, their love story does not end in bliss, but rather in the demise of both of them. Numerous factors play a role in contributing to their death, but nonetheless some factors contribute significantly more than others. Romeo’s and Juliet’s deaths are caused by the inadvertent and intentional actions of several people. Friar Laurence’s unintentional and deliberate actions towards Romeo and Juliet cause

For instance, Lord Capulet intentionally continues to fight with the Montague family, despite Prince Escalus’s ban on fighting. The feud causes Romeo’s banishment, and his separation from Juliet causes the flaws in Friar Laurence’s plan to occur, which eventually leads to their deaths. Furthermore, Capulet engages Juliet to Paris without her consent and upon receiving the news, Juliet is outraged. However, Capulet does not originally intend for the engagement to harm Juliet, his only “‘care hath been to have her match’d’” and he does not know about Juliet's relationship with Romeo (III. v. 186-187). However, infuriated by Juliet’s refusal to marry Paris, Capulet deliberately threatens Juliet to marry Paris, or he will “‘ne’er acknowledge thee’” (III. v. 202). Capulet’s threats and disownment of Juliet only furthers her desperation to ask Friar Laurence for help. Capulet’s negative actions were purposefully designed to harm Juliet, however not to the point of death. Through his intentional feud with the Montagues and threats to Juliet, and his unintentional harm to Juliet, caused by the engagement, Lord Capulet’s actions lead to Romeo's and Juliet's