Romantic love stories typically end with a blissful moment, but it is not the case in Romeo and Juliet, the author of which preferred a tragedy rather than a happy ending. William Shakespeare puts a different vision of a love story by writing his most famous play Romeo and Juliet. Published in the 16th century, the tragedy depicts a forbidden romance of two Verona citizens who struggle with their families to live happily together. However, nobody wants them to be together and in the end, both lovers die. Even though Romeo is thought to be responsible for their deaths, Friar Laurence and Tybalt somehow contributed to the lovers’ fate.
The first character to blame is Friar Laurence, who secretly decided to marry the eloped lovers, Romeo and Juliet. Particularly, knowing possible repercussions the lovers can be subjected to, the friar still wants to marry them. The monk proclaimed, “for this alliance may so happy prove, to turn your households’ rancor to pure love” (Shakespeare 44). The other reason the monk Laurence is guilty of the lovers’ deaths is because he advised Juliet. The friar recommended that she took a sleeping potion to avoid the marriage arranged by her parents. This advice was inconsiderate as Laurence was unaware of the possible consequences. The last reason to blame the friar is that of his indiscretion of not sending a servant to Romeo to warn him that Juliet is not dead. Thus, Friar Laurence should have created more elaborate plans to prevent this tragedy.
Another character, who is guilty, is Juliet’s cousin, Tybalt. In other words, he started the conflict by fighting at the beginning of the play. He was the one who provoked even worse hatred between the families. Moreover, Tybalt observes Romeo at the Capulet’s party, enrages, and threatens to kill him. For Tybalt could not realize that Romeo did not harm anyone, he decided to avenge, causing the lovers’ demise (Herman and Sitio 46). He inadvertently killed Romeo’s friend and consequently died in a fight with Romeo. Thus, if he could have held his fits of temper, the main characters would have survived.
Others claim that the character to blame for the occurrence is Romeo himself. One cannot deny that Romeo was not supposed to attend Capulet’s party, but he did go there, and Juliet’s cousin Tybalt got angry when he saw Romeo: “the king will sentence you to death if you are caught” (Shakespeare 57). Moreover, he wanted to avenge his friend Mercutio’s death by murdering Tybalt. For Romeo could not restrain from expressing his wrath, he was banished from Verona and lost a chance of settling down the family feud. Therefore, the main character is amongst the ones to blame because of the ardent nature that forced him to make wrong decisions. However, Romeo cannot be considered to be responsible for his and Juliet’s deaths. Therefore, he is not guilty of poisoning himself and subsequently dying because he was suppressed by the people around who he blamed for Juliet’s death.
In conclusion, it is evident that Romeo and Juliet’s deaths were not only caused by the poisonous mixture but turned out to have been influenced by other people. The Friar Laurence, Tybalt, and Romeo himself, to some extent, cause the tragic event by not thinking before committing some actions. Many improper decisions made led to the death of separated loves. As a result, if all characters had been able to think logically, the tragedy would not have happened.
Works Cited
Herman, Bloner, and Ihsan Sitio. “Ethnography of Communication Analysis in the Short Story of Romeo and Juliet.” Education Journal, vol. 2, 2019, pp. 41-50.
Shakespeare, William. Romeo and Juliet. 2017.