Failure of Guiding Figures That Causes of Romeo and Juliet's Deaths Essay Example

From strangers to friends, friends into lovers, and strangers again: not for Romeo and Juliet though. Their story begins with love at first sight. Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is a very popular love story. Many debate whether the "tragedy" of the two lovers was a result of either dumb love or fate... and only few challenge this. But what if it's not. What if it’s the outcome of failure? Not the failure of the two lovers, but the failure of those same people who consider them to be failures. In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, it is the failure of guiding figures that causes of Romeo and Juliet's deaths. First, Lord Capulet's short-temperedness leads Juliet to secrecy and bad decisions. Moreover, the nurse assists Juliet and Romeo in concealing stuff and loses Juliet's trust. Finally, Friar Lawrence also assists in the concealment of information and preforms and encourages poor decisions.

To begin, Lord Capulet's anger drives Juliet to secrecy and poor choices. First, Lord Capults short-temperedness outbursts towards Juliet causing her to be secretive. Capulet discusses with Juliet that she will be marrying Paris, Juliet refuses which makes Capulet very mad “God’s bread, it makes me mad” (III.v.187). This demonstrates Capulet's rage causes Juliet to be scared to tell her father that she is already married and consummated especially since shes married to a montague. She is afraid of her fathers ferocity and what he might do. Her fathers ferocity leads to problems in the future. Furthermore, after Juliet refuses to marry Paris Lord Capulet insults and forces Juliet to marry Paris and threatens to disown her “Hang thee, young baggage, disobedient wretch! I tell thee what: get thee to church o’ Thursday, Or never after look me in the face (III.v.166-168).  Lord Capulet is enraged. He yells at Juliet forcing her to go to church on thursday to get married. If she doesn't, Lord capulet tells Juliet to never look him in the face. Another way of threatening to disown her. This pressures Juliet to come up with a horrible plan of killing herself.  Lord Capulets rage and enforcement has a big effect on Juliet's bad actions.

Moreover, the nurse assists Juliet and Romeo and loses Juliet's trust. The nurse helps with Juliet and Romeos marriage. After the nurse talks to Romeo about there marriage, the nurse helps Juliet get married with Romeo by telling her to go to Friar Lawrences cell because thats where she will get married. “Then hie you hence to Friar Lawrence’ cell. There stays a husband to make you a wife” (II.v.73-74).  This was a bad thing done by the nurse because she did not get Juliet's parents permission nor informed them of the marriage she helped Juliet get married secretly. This makes Juliet refuse to marry Paris because she is already married and steer her to terrible directions. In addition, the Nurse tells Juliet to forget about Romeo and marry Paris. This causes Juliet to stop trusting her “I think it best you married with the County. O, he’s a lovely gentleman! Romeo’s a dishclout to him” (III.v.230-232). After Lord Capulet forces Juliet to marry Paris, understandably Juliet does not want to so she asks the nurse for advice. The nurse suggests that she should marry Paris and forget about Romeo because he is a dishcloth compared to Paris. Juliet is shocked because she cannot believe the nurse, the person who she grew up and who spent the most time with betrayed her. Juliet does not trust the nurse so she goes to find advice elsewhere. She ends up getting bad advice that gets her killed. This could of been avoided if the nurse suggested some good advice or told her parents the truth. The nurses advice was not good because it's hard for Juliet to forget about her husband and marry someone else. Romeo killed Juliet's cousin and she still loved him what made the nurse think Juliet would forget about Romeo and marry Paris.The Nurse is a very good friend for Juliet and she is very helpful for Juliet. She wants the best for Juliet but her help causes Juliet many problems.

Additionally, Friar Lawrence also helps Romeo and Juliets secret marriage and performs and encourages poor decisions. Friar Lawrence helps Romeo and Juliet get married with a dangerous plan “I’ll thy assistant be, For this alliance may so happily prove To turn your households’ rancor to pure love” (II.iii.97-99). Romeo asks Friar Lawrence to get Juliet and him married. Friar agrees to help Romeo and Juliet with their secret wedding. He believes it might turn the hatred between the two families into pure love. Knowing this is a bad idea Friar gets the two married secretly without their parents aware about it. This results in Juliet being put in a bad situation. She has to marry Paris or else. She is already married and does not want to. So she does the unspeakable to not marry Paris and stay with Romeo. This results in a awful outcome. Moreover, Friar Lawrence gives Juliet a sleeping potion to take and fails to deliver the message to Romeo by hand "Take thou this vial, being then in bed” (IV.I.95). Juliet is forced to marry Paris but she does not want too. She asks the nurse what to do. Juliet didn't like the nurse's idea. So she asks Friar Lawrence for advice and he gives her a sleeping potion. He explains that she should take it in bed and the potion will make her appear dead. She will be put in a tomb then Friar will send a message to Romeo to get Juliet when she wakes up. Friar Lawrence tells Friar John to deliver the message to Romeo. Friar Johns comes back and says he was not able to send the message “I could not send it” (V.ii.14).This causes Romeo to be unaware he then takes his life next to Juliet. Friar should have never gave Juliet a sleeping potion in the first place. This was a very dumb and risky plan by Friar that got Juliet killed. Since this was a very important plan Friar should have at least delivered the message to Romeo by hand to prevent any unexpected bad news. Furthermore, Friar Lawrence abandons Juliet to kill herself. As Friar approaches the tomb of Juliet. He was in shock when he saw Romeo and Paris dead on the floor. He then finds Juliet awakened. Then with no hesitation he tells Juliet they have to go and that he does not dare to stay longer. Juliet tells Friar to go and that she will not go anywhere. “Go, get thee hence, for I will not away” (V.iii.165).  Friar abondonds suicidal Juliet. Juliet takes her life with Romeo's dagger. Friar should have not abandoned Juliet knowing she has suicidal thoughts especially since Romeo died. He should have stayed with Juliet and made sure she doesn't take her life or carry Juliet with him somewhere safe.  Friar Lawrence's bad decisions plays a big role in Romeo and Juliets death.

To conclude, in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, the collapse of role models is the reason for Romeo and Juliet's passing; as Lord Capulet's fury drives Juliet to secrecy and poor choices, the nurse helps Romeo and Juliet, but Juliet loses trust in her, and lastly Friar Lawrence also aids the star-crossed lovers in performing and encouraging bad decisions. William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is a well-known romantic tragedy, and as such, it is natural to assign blame to the parties directly in the relationship. Many people believe that the tragic demise of two lovers, Romeo and Juliet, was caused by either stupid love or fate. In all actuality, for the reasons provided above, this is certainly not the case. Instead, it is simply the result of misguiding role models—the real perpetrators of said tragic ending. This is why readers mustn’t conform and restrict themselves to the widely “shared perceptions” of literature. After all, admittedly Romeo and Juliet are the less sought after perspective in Shakespeare’s play, and that is exactly why blame must be factually be appointed where it’s due.