Who Is to Blame for the Deaths of Romeo and Juliet?

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Hath had no power yet upon they beauty:/ Thou art not conquered; beauty’s ensign yet/ Is crimson in thy lips and in the cheeks,/ And death’s pale flag is not advanced there”(Shakespeare 5.3.92-96). Romeo stares at the coma stricken Juliet as she lays in her casket, and he can see that her lips and cheeks are crimson red and not pale like it is supposed to be. Regardless of the vital signs that show Juliet was awakening from her “death,” because of Romeo’s fatal character flaw to make rash decisions, he cannot figure out that Juliet is still alive and does not understand why Juliet’s lips and cheeks are still rosy pink. Romeo impulsively kills himself without thinking about the consequences of his actions, so when he rashly poison himself though Juliet awakened within minutes, he also caused her death.

Friar Lawrence is another person who is indirectly the cause of Romeo and Juliet’s deaths, because he agrees to marry Romeo and Juliet, hides Romeo in his cell to be with Juliet one last time, tells Juliet about the plan, and leaves Juliet in the tomb by herself. The morning after the ball, Romeo comes to Friar Lawrence’s cell, gushing and talking about a girl who Friar Lawrence assumes is Rosaline. When Romeo finally tells him about Juliet, Friar is confused because just yesterday Romeo was love sick over Rosaline, so he is a little weary when Romeo tells him that he has fallen in love with Juliet and hopes that he could marry them. At first, Friar Lawrence is reluctant to do so because Romeo was just head over heels with Rosaline yesterday, but finally agrees to marry the two children of the feuding families. Friar Lawrence tells Romeo, “in one respect I’ll try assistant be; For this alliance may so happy prove,/ To turn your household’s rancour to pure love” (Shakespeare 2.3.93-95). Friar Lawrence only agrees to marry the two teenagers because he hoped that their union will end their parents’ feud. However, he ends up placing the two teen’s lives at risk. Due to Friar Lawrence’s failure to tell the Capulets and the Montagues about their children’s marriages to each other, more mistakes were made. By marrying Romeo and Juliet, Friar Lawrence he makes it much harder for Juliet to be able to accept the engagement between her and Paris because in the Catholic Church a person is not allowed to be married to two people, ultimately leading to her death. When Romeo was told to run by Benvolio he ended up in Friar Lawrence’s cell, fleeing the crime scene before the prince arrived. Romeo comes to Friar Lawrence once again begging for help. When Romeo is told that he is being exiled, he acts impulsively and grabs a dagger, ready to commit suicide because he feels that banishment is far worse than death itself. Friar stops Romeo and tells him instead, “go, get the to they love, as was decreed/ Ascend her chambers, hence, and comfort her./ But look thou stay not till the watch be step/ For then thou canst not pass to Mantua,/ where thou shalt live, till we find a time/ To blaze your marriage, reconcile your marriage, reconcile your friends” (Shakespeare 3.3.146-152). Friar Lawrence instructs Romeo to do as they talk about, go to Juliet’s room, spend their wedding night together and leave when it is morning. Friar also promises to tell both families about their marriage before bringing Romeo back. Friar Lawrence’s prominent role in Verona as a priest/religious man would have allowed him to go straight to the Capulets and the Montagues to tell them about the union of their children, and because of his authority, they would have had to listen to him, and stop from being exiled. However, Friar Lawrence allows Romeo and Juliet to be with each other one last time to make their wedding night official, which ultimately leads to their deaths. After the death of Tybalt, Lord and Lady Capulet tell Juliet that the marriage between her and Paris is being moved to Thursday, this results in Juliet acting out and threatening to kill herself if they do not delay the marriage. Lord Capulet gives Juliet an ultimatum; she was to either marry Paris or he would disown her and throw her out on the streets. This makes Juliet angry so she goes to Friar Lawrence and asks for his help, Friar agrees to help Juliet because he senses how desperate she is to get out if her engagement. Friar Lawrence hands Juliet an elixir and tells her, “all the veins, shall run/ A cold and drowsy humor, for no pulse/ shall keep his native progress; but surcrease/ […] And in this borrow’d likeness of shrunk death/ Thou shalt continue two and forty hours,/ […] Shall Romeo by my letters know our drift/ […] and he and I will watch thy waking” (Shakespeare 4.1.95-97, 104-105, 114-116). Friar Lawrence instructs Juliet to consent to marrying Paris, then on the night before the wedding, she must go into her room alone and drink the elixir that will make her appear dead for 42 hours. Then in the morning, she will be put into Capulet’s tomb next to Tybalt, while he will send Friar John with a letter for Romeo in Mantua to help him retrieve Juliet when she wakes up. Friar Lawrence’s plans did not go through because he places important information in the hands of someone else, if he was so determined to see the plan go through, he should have gone to Mantua himself to deliver the letter to Romeo. Friar Lawrence could have also acted as Juliet’s middleman and explained to her parents that he had married Romeo and Juliet that day. Juliet may have been disowned by her father and mother but she would have accomplished her ultimate goal, to be reunited with Romeo in Mantua. Friar Lawrence does not think his risky, haste, unpredictable plan through, making him the ultimate cause of Romeo and Juliet’s death. Unfortunately the message to Romeo never arrives, and Friar Lawrence is informed of this when Friar John returns back to Verona, proving that Friar John did not stress the importance of that letter reaching Romeo. Friar Lawrence is outraged and gives Friar John a new letter telling Romeo to meet him in his cell. Once Friar Lawrence arrives at the graveyard, he is told by Balthazar that Romeo is in the tomb with Juliet, however when he arrives in the tomb, he is too late to save Romeo. Friar still gets there in time to be there with Juliet when she wakes up, he turns to Juliet in a rush and says, “I hear some noise. Lady, come from that nest/ of death, contagion, and unnatural sleep./ A greater power then we can contradict/ Hath thwarted our intents. Come, come away/ […] stay not to question, for the watch is coming;/ come, go, good Juliet,” (Shakespeare 5.3.151-154, 158-159). Friar is worried because he hears some noise in the distance and does not want the citizens of Verona to know that he has helped assist Juliet in faking her death, but Juliet would not budge because of her loyalty and love toward Romeo so Friar leaves her.