Who Is To Blame For The Death Of Romeo And Juliet Essay Example

Throughout William Shakespeare's corrupted play, The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, the ones blamed and the accusers are all threatened with the place of blame. The way Shakespeare illustrated the play allowed the readers to make their own standpoint of who is to blame for the unfortunate ending of death. Shakespeare himself never said who was to blame, but he did leave open ends on certain arguments and conversations, which caused the readers to build their own preference on the characters. In William Shakespeare’s action filled play, The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, the characters that hold the blame for the tragic consequences of Romeo and Juliet’s relationship are positioned between sinful Mercutio, Romeo the accuser, and the rivalry of the two evil houses. 

Mercutio throughout Shakespeare’s play was one of the many to blame for the events that occurred and led to the uncanny finale. As Mercutio states, “If love be rough with you, be rough with love/ Prick love for pricking, and you beat love down”(1.4.30). Here, Mercutio convinces Romeo to get rough and take revenge. He is just starting problems that should be handled differently. For example, instead of telling Romeo to be rough back, he could have supported him and listened to what Romeo had to say. Mercutio continued on starting problems by saying, “By my heel, I care not./ And but one word with one of us? Couple it with something, make it a word and a blow”(3.1.40). In this evidence, Mercutio is repeating the action of getting the idea of violence to solve problems into the other characters' heads. Mercutio uses the attitude of not caring and using fighting and violence as an answer, even though violence was never provoked by others. 

In the play, Romeo continuously deflected the blame for problems he caused to others while he was the one who caused the majority of the problems. For example, Romeo exclaims, “I do protest, I never injured thee, / But love thee better than thou canst devise, / Till thou shalt know the reason of my love/ And so, good Capulet, which name I tender As dearly as my own, be satisfied”(3.1.70). This shows how Romeo is not admitting to injuring anyone, he is putting it off and changing the subject. Romeo is smart and condescending, he knows when he has to bring something else up to avoid another question. This also shows how immature Romeo really is. If he cannot admit to his own faults, how is he expected to get married and be able to handle all that comes with marriage. Romeo further proves this by saying, “Is it e’en so?/Then I deny you, stars!/ Thou knowest my lodging. Get me ink and paper, and hire post-horses. I will hence tonight”(5.1.25). Here Romeo is placing blame on the stars and fate, meanwhile he was mostly the cause of this miscommunication and his need to blow things out of proportion. If Romeo would just have stopped and listened for just a minute, both himself and Juliet may have had a chance to be alive and together.

The rivalry between the two houses in Shakespeare’s play led to tension and hate for each other and caused some fatal actions. Shakespeare embellished, “Draw if you be men./Gregory, remember thy washing blow”(1.1.65). This illustration represents how toxic masculinity is shown through the word choices presented. Having “men” really exemplifies how strong this rivalry really is. Especially in this era, if the rivalry was just between the women, it would not be as aggressive, simply because women talk and move on. This toxic masculinity led to a lot of tension. Tension is shown in this example, “What, drawn and talk of peace?/ I hate the word/ As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee./ Have at thee, coward!”(1.1.71). Hate is used frequently throughout this piece of evidence, furthering the feeling of tension in the play. Hearing this arguing as the two families grew up and raised children basically gave the children a rival from birth, because all they know is to fight and argue with each other. This represents how much pent-up anger each of the families have for each other. Maybe things could have been different if they learned to live peacefully with each other. 

All in all, in William Shakespeare’s play, The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, the blame of the characters’ bad actions is tossed around, from Mercutio, to Romeo, and even the house's rivalry. While all of those factors are very different, they all come together to prove the point that they all contributed to the tragic ending that led to death for the two main characters. The connection of how fundamentally everyone in the play can be blamed for something, big or small. This aspect allows the readers to correspond and discuss whether they agree or disagree with who they think is responsible for the blame of the ungodly consequences. Ultimately, having the effect of anyone being able to be blamed in The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet causes a lot of controversy but also connections that bond the readers of this play together.