Jean de la Fontain once said, “A person ofter meets his destiny on the road he took to avoid it.” In Shakespeare’s tragedy, Romeo and Juliet this same circumstnace occurs. Within the play, two adolescents, Romeo and Juliet, fall in love; however, their love is forbidden due to being born of rival familes. They make many attempts to live a unified, content life but, their efforts fail, and result in the death of themselves and many others. There are many factors in the casue of the immense tragedies in this play however, Romeo’s foolish decision, the ongoing feud between the Capulets and the Montaguges, and fate are mostly to blame, which eventually exemplify the forcefulness of both love and hate. While Romeo seems innocent primarily, he is responsible for making some irrational decisions as a result of both love and hate. When Capulet’s servant is given a list of guests to invite to a party, he asks Romeo to help him read it. To demonstrate thanks, the servant extends an invitation to Romeo so long as he is not a Montague. After some debate, Romeo decides, “I’ll go along, no such …show more content…
The play begins with a large conflict in the streets between the two families to establish their hostility. This is made obvious by Lord Montague when he says, “Who set this new quarrel new abroach?” (1.1.100). This conflict is what continues to prevent Romeo and Juliet from being a happy, united couple, and attempts to make them choose family over their own desires. At the conclusion of the play, the Prince even blames the families for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet saying, “ See what a scourge is laid upon your hate, that heaven finds means to kill your joys with love” (5.3.292-293). Their hostility heavily discourages Romeo and Juliet’s love which is one of the reasons they go through with Friar Lawrence’s faulty