Who is to Blame for the Deaths of Romeo and Juliet | Teen Ink

Who is to Blame for the Deaths of Romeo and Juliet

May 20, 2009
By Ryan Peterson BRONZE, Park Ridge, Illinois
Ryan Peterson BRONZE, Park Ridge, Illinois
1 article 0 photos 0 comments


“Grudge no expense - yield to no opposition - forget fatigue - till, by the strength of prayer and sacrifice, the spirit of love shall have overcome.”-Maria W. Chapman. Grudge between two people or peoples can create a massive impact on their relationships. One of the bloodless ways to defeat it, is to love. The two families, Montagues and Capulets, showed this is possible. A long grudge caused Romeo and Juliet to love each other in secret. Eventually, it led them to death. The Prince, Friar Laurence and Lord Capulet contribute to the death of the two young lovers. 

Prince Escalus is definitely to blame for the lives of Romeo and Juliet. He repeated to the two families that he was going to punish them severely if they brawled again, except he never lived up to his word. The Prince actually admits that the deaths of Romeo and Juliet were his fault when he says, “Where be these enemies?- Capulet, Montague, see what scourge is laid upon your hate, that heaven finds means to kill your joys with love, and I, for winking at your discords too, Have lost a brace of kinsmen. All are punished” (V,III,301-305). When the Prince says 'all are punished' he means that the blame is on the Montagues, Capulets and himself. The Prince did not handle the families conflicts with great authority either. Since all of the Prince's punishments were minor, the families could keep fighting without worrying about the outcome. Verona was and still is a big city which contains thousands of people, and if the Prince could not keep only two families restrained he should not be Prince.

Friar Laurence is a major culprit of the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. He created a gargantuan plan that he improvised in a matter of seconds and expected every step to work out. Here is just a few steps that Friar Laurence’s plan contains, “Hold, then. Go home; be merry; give consent to marry Paris. Wednesday is tomorrow. Tomorrow night look that thou lie alone; Let not the Nurse lie with thee in thy chamber” (IV,I,91-94). Friar Laurence did not exactly put all of his thought into this plan because first of all, it didn’t work and second, he thought of this immense plan from the top of his head. If he really wanted the plan to work, he should have delivered the letter to Romeo by himself so then he would have known that Romeo received it.


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This article has 9 comments.


on Aug. 15 2016 at 8:02 pm
omg this wa like tha bes i hav eva seen

on Aug. 6 2016 at 2:52 pm
anonymous06 PLATINUM, Northbridge, Massachusetts
35 articles 5 photos 31 comments

Favorite Quote:
"I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work." -Thomas Edison

Exactly! Sure there were a lot of outside influences, but it was ultimately Romeo and Juliet that were responsible for it. Besides, that's kind of the point of tragedy in that time- a character of high born class falls due to their own character flaws.

mickey123 said...
on Jan. 7 2016 at 10:56 am
Can't you blame tybalt to?

mplo said...
on Dec. 30 2015 at 10:28 am
The hatred between the two families is what ultimately led to the deaths of Romeo and Juliet.

Es~Trella said...
on Mar. 24 2015 at 9:59 am
I think that Capulet is to blame because he caused Juliet to use the potion.

on Jul. 7 2014 at 2:30 pm
If  someone from the Montague's or the Capulet's were seen battling in the streets they would of been sentanced to death, but the Prince did not stay true to his word and instead banished Romeo.

on Mar. 7 2011 at 7:22 pm
AndrewM. BRONZE, Glendale, Arizona
2 articles 0 photos 1 comment
I tend to disagree with that.  I think that in the end, the only people who you can blame for Romeo and Juliet's deaths were themselves.  They had their free will.  They made the choice to kill themselves.  No one could have possibly made that decision for them.

giggles said...
on May. 10 2010 at 8:03 am
you r a life saver i had no idea wat 2 wright bout but i came by this thaks a lot if i was to ever meet you i would give you a big bear hug lol thanks once again

debra93 BRONZE said...
on May. 29 2009 at 6:38 pm
debra93 BRONZE, Salem, Missouri
2 articles 0 photos 4 comments
I totally agree with you on it.