Who Was Responsible For The Deaths Of Romeo And Juliet

Are our futures led by fate or are they led by the decisions we make? In William Shakespeare’s play, "The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet", a pair of star-crossed lovers, Romeo and Juliet, take their lives. Their choices led to many deaths and destructions. Romeo and Juliet ended their lives and should be blamed, but so should the Nurse and Friar Lawrence. I think that Romeo and Juliet contributed to their own deaths because they didn’t make good decisions and were very impulsive. One thing that Romeo did that led to their deaths was he crashed the Capulet ball. If Romeo never went to the Capulet Ball, he would have never met Juliet. In Act 1, Romeo admits, "And we mean well in going to this masque; But ‘tis no wit to go" (1.4.48–49). At first,

One way Friar Lawrence contributed to their deaths was by actually marrying them. He did this in Act 2 (2.3.90–23 and 2.6.36-37). The main reason he did this was that he thought it might end the feud between the families. He wanted to be the one to end the feud and impress the Prince, so he did this selfishly. One way the Nurse contributed to their deaths was because when Lord Capulet and Lady Capulet wanted Juliet to marry Paris, the Nurse told her to just marry both Romeo and Paris when Juliet had no desire to marry Paris. In Act 3 (3.5.218–219), the nurse argues, "I think it best you married with the county. O, he's a lovely gentleman!". She tells Juliet to marry Paris and forget Romeo, she essentially betrays Juliet because Juliet trusted her, and she goes ahead and only gives her a solution that she knows Juliet won’t like. This leads to another reason Friar Lawrence helped contribute to Romeo and Juliet’s deaths. When Juliet didn’t like the Nurse’s solution, she went to Friar Lawrence, and his solution was to take a sleeping potion and pretend to be dead. Friar Lawrence’s plan was for Juliet to go home and say she would marry Paris; not have anyone in her room when she sleeps so she can take the sleeping potion; have everyone think she’s dead; Friar Lawrence himself is going to send Romeo a letter telling him about the plan; and when she wakes up, Friar

One thing that makes me think this is that the feud was long-lasting through generations. They were born to not like the other family, and it’s not their fault that the families were fighting. Romeo and Juliet didn't know each other well, so when they first met, they didn’t even know they were from the family they hated most. In Act 1 Prologue, the chorus mentions, "From ancient grudge break to new mutiny". This quote implies that the feud and fighting have been going on for generations. Another thing that makes me think this is that Romeo and Juliet chose to kill themselves. No one from the opposite family killed them, they did it themselves. Romeo chooses to go to an apothecary to get poison when he thinks Juliet is dead. When Romeo gets to the Capulet’s tomb and sees what he thinks is a dead Juliet, he chooses to take the potion that kills him because he doesn’t think he can live without his love. In Act 5 (5.3.120), Romeo declares, "Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die". When Juliet sees Romeo dead, she also doesn’t think she can live without her love. Friar Lawrence arrives and tries to get Juliet to leave, but when she refuses, he flees, leaving her to stab herself. In Act 5 (5.3.169–170), Juliet comments, "Yea, noise? Then I’ll be brief. O, happy dagger, This is thy sheath; there rust, and let me die" Killing themselves when the other was dead, or was what they thought was dead,