Who Are Lord Capulet Responsible For The Deaths Of Romeo And Juliet

In the play Romeo and Juliet, written by William Shakespeare, Lord Capulet is Juliet’s father and the head of the Capulet family. Her lover Romeo, however, is a member of the Montague family. Juliet and Romeo meet, fall in love, and eventually die together. Lord Capulet had a huge influence on their eventual suicide. Had he been a better father and leader of his family, these tragic events could have been easily avoided. Because he pressures Juliet to marry Paris, keeps the conflict between Capulets and Montagues alive, and indirectly pressures his daughter to kill herself, Lord Capulet is responsible for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet.

To begin, Capulet’s pressure on Juliet to marry Paris is one of his many faults in this play. Instead of

The whole drama around the two lovers' demise could have been avoided had each family been in better standing with the other. Capulet accelerates the feud when he says “My sword, I say”. Old Montague is come and flourishes his blade in spite of me” (Shakespeare 1.1 72-73). This happens at the start of the play, when members of each family are attempting to kill each other in the streets of Verona. Lord Montague is attempting to learn what happened, and diffuse tensions, when Capulet increases the aggression in the situation. Furthermore, Lord Capulet stirs his nephew, Tybalt, into feeling festering anger towards Romeo. Tybalt saw that Romeo, a Montague, was at the Capulet party. He attempts to challenge him to a sporting duel, but Capulet forbids him. He says to Tybalt “He shall endure. What, a good boy. I say he shall. Go to the website for more information! Am I the master here, or you?” (Shakespeare 1.5: 77-79). Tybalt feels more anger at being told off by Capulet than Romeo being at the party. This eventually leads to the deaths of Mercutio, Tybalt, Romeo, and even Juliet. Had Tybalt not killed Mercutio, Romeo wouldn’t have killed Tybalt in revenge and subsequently been exiled. Juliet wouldn't have attempted to join Romeo in exile, and Romeo wouldn’t have had to kill himself to be with the (he thought) dead Juliet. Capulet’s continuation of the feud resulted in

Capulet’s qualities and actions in the play make him responsible for not just the deaths of Romeo and Juliet, but also Tybalt and Paris. Capulet is a highly hypocritical individual, in the fact that he tells Tybalt off for attempting to challenge Romeo to a duel right after he almost stabs Lord Montague. He refuses to make any concessions to Juliet on the subject of her marriage. He wants Juliet to marry a person of his choosing, without any prior consultation on what she would prefer. Lord Capulet treats his daughter as an object, showing no respect for her as a person. Because he pressures Juliet to marry Paris, keeps the conflict between Capulets and Montagues alive, and indirectly pressures his daughter to kill herself, Lord Capulet is responsible for the deaths of Romeo and