who was to blame for the death of Romeo and Juliet?

Question

I've been reading romeo and juliet and me and a friend started to have a discussion about who was really to blame for the death of these two star crossed lovers, and i'd really appreciate it if i could get opinions of other people. Were the families to blame or Benvolio, or the lovers themselves? maybe someone else, please let me know.

Answer 1

Tybalt as his death was the start of the events!

Answer 2

Ultimately, and this is set forth in the last scene, the feud between the two families is to blame.

But many factors intervened. The youth of the two lovers and the power of first adolescent love which cannot see beyond the beloved is partly to blame. This might not have had such terrible force if Romeo had not been banished. But Mercutio and his propensity to egg people on and to get into quarrels, and Romeo's new allegiance to Juliet and therefore the Capulets brought this about. So here the feud, individual character, and Romeo's changing heart hold some responsibility.

The plague and the fact that the priest could not get there with the letter in time for Romeo to know that Juliet's death was being faked contributed to the death of the two.

I think Shakespeare is not so much trying to assess blame here as to show how when something foundational to a life of peace is out of joint (as in the feud) and human nature comes in with all it's vagaries and sins (the assistance of the nurse, the hope of the priest that their marriage might heal the breach, Mercutio's cutting brilliance and recklessness, the selling of the poison by the apothecary who was tempted to it by his own poverty, etc.), when you add in all these other relationships,
and more besides what I have said, there is blame attached, perhaps, to many within the play, or at least their actions and attitudes help to contribute to the ultimate tragedy.

Shakespeare also shows how external events such as the plague can effect the outcome--a note not come in time--and no help for it because of the quarantines involved in the plague in those days.

I'm not sure it is helpful to think in terms of blame in the play.
It is more a slice of how life is and how life is affected by different things.

Their hearts were so bound together they could not live one without the other, and all these things happen, and the end is their mutual death.

The tragedy serves a purpose, because it wakes up the families to the destructiveness of carrying on their feud, and each one has to look into his own heart and change and learn self control, both individually, and as a family.

In the end many could say, if I had done this or that, or not done this or that, then maybe..........but too much introspection leads to madness. The law came in and showed the families their sin and drove home with force the consequences of that sinful feud in the death of the two young lovers.

Many of the actions were not meant for evil which contributed
to their deaths--the priest's hope of ending the feud by the marriage, the father wanting to marry his daughter into a state similar to the one she had grown up in--the nurse's foolishness in doting on Juliet and helping her in her scheme was not meant for evil, yet produced it.

I think it is meant for us to look at ourselves in the Biblical sense of examining our hearts before God, because we sin without thinking, do harm without meaning to, and this is the lot of man in this world. And it is made worse when we sin knowingly and seek our own revenge as in the two family feud.

Hope that stimulates your thinking.

Hey ho, Maggie!

Answer 3

Fate-not the stars though, just more of a coincidence Let's see...it is because Juliet awoke from the mixture too late The letter to Romeo was lost They came from fighting families Just a tip, you could do this a lot easier if you thought of it because you would know just what you are talking about ~CW

Answer 4

Obvious answer is the families. Many people don't realise that the two 'lovers' were only kids. Around 15 yrs old. So some blame has to handed out to the nurse and the priest. These days, in western Europe, the parents would shrug their shoulders and say, 'They'll get over it - least said soonest mended.'

Answer 5

Stupidity, their own stupidity, and misperception. The plot of Juliet pretending to be dead backfired because Romeo was clueless. Juliet didn't foresee what could have happened if Romeo returned and saw her dead while she was merely in a drug induced sleep.

Answer 6

Why is this question in the history catagory, Romeo and Juliet is a fictional play? Shouldn't this be with questions on literature?

Answer 7

It was the families. They put pressure on them so they decided to run away and get married. I heard that Juliet drank a potion that made her look like she was dead so her parents would leave her alone. But then Romeo came in and thought she was dead so he killed himself. When Juliet woke up she saw him already killed so she killed herself.

Answer 8

The literary interpretations vary. It all depends on the literary theory you apply to the text. Look into Jacques Derrida for the deconstructionist interpretation. Jacques Lacan can give you an entirely different point of view using psychoanalytic literary criticism.

Answer 9

It is important to realise that Shakespeare wrote this play without the intention of it being taken as literal history. It is after all only a play.

Answer 10

Its not a tragedy as the lovers choose to join each other in death.