Preventing the Tragic Ending in Romeo and Juliet Essay Sample

William Shakespeare was an English playwright from 1564-1616. He is acknowledged globally for many of his famous plays, one being “Romeo and Juliet.” Romeo and Juliet is a very tragic love story between two young children. The two children belonged to two feuding families, so their love life was a secret to their families. This resulted in complications that led to the deaths of both Romeo and Juliet. Many characters could prevent the tragedy of the two children’s deaths; however, Romeo could have changed the outcome of events himself to save Juliet’s and his own life.

Firstly, Friar Laurence could have communicated with Romeo better. A series of events leads to Romeo wanting to end his life with poison. Balthasar delivered Romeo the tragic news of Juliet’s death. In reality, Juliet was faking her death to dodge her marriage with Paris because she is already married to Romeo under secrecy. Romeo was supposed to get a letter explaining this plan from Friar Laurence. Still, the letter did not get to Romeo due to an outbreak of a plague, “Black Death,” which prevented the messenger, Friar John, from entering the city due to restrictions to prevent the spreading of the epidemic. This left Romeo thinking Juliet was dead and lost his will to live. Romeo quoted, “I shall lie with Juliet tonight,” meaning he planned to end his own life to join Juliet. Romeo planned to end his life using poison, which Romeo bought from a poor apothecary. The apothecary gave in to sell him the poison because he was penniless and required money. Romeo brought the poison along to where Juliet was ‘dead,’ and he confirmed Juliet's death because he saw with his own eyes that Juliet's body lay dead. This was the final confirmation needed until Romeo drank the poison. If Friar Laurence had decided to sit next to Juliet's body waiting for Romeo’s arrival, he could have communicated with Romeo on the situation and explained to him the plan. It was very predictable that Romeo would come to check and confirm Juliet’s death. However, Friar Lawrence decided to leave Juliet’s body unaccounted which caused Romeo to believe that she was dead. When Friar Laurence came into the tomb where Juliet had slept, Romeo was lying dead. Overall, Friar Laurence’s poor choices and irresponsibility were huge factors to Romeo and Juliet’s deaths and could have been very easily avoided by not attempting a crazy plan such as faking an end, or if Friar Laurence was more responsible and stayed by Juliet’s side the whole time while she was asleep. 

Secondly, Lord Capulet and Lord Montague played a massive part in the two children’s deaths, and both could potentially avoid it. The two are both leaders of the two feuding families, and fights between these two houses often broke out on the streets of Verona. If either Lord Capulet or Lord Montague decided to communicate with one another to end the bad blood, Romeo and Juliet’s marriage would not have been under secrecy. This would have prevented complications such as Juliet being forced into another marriage with Paris because Juliet’s family would respect and acknowledge her marriage with Romeo. Another complication that would not have happened if the rivalry had ended is Romeo’s banishment. If Montage and Capulet had settled the conflict, Tybalt would not have initiated a fight against Romeo and Mercutio, preventing Romeo from getting banished from Verona because then Romeo would not have killed Tybalt. The two leaders of the rival houses disrupted and complicated Romeo and Juliet’s relationship, leading to their deaths, which could have been solved by conversing and forgiving between the two families and letting go of the grudges and hatreds.

Lastly, Romeo, the main character of this play, was the biggest reason for his own and Juliet’s deaths. Romeo had many opportunities and chances to avoid the tragedy of their deaths. Romeo's first mistake was being too impulsive and fast-moving with his relationship with Juliet. Romeo should not have taken the relationship too fast, and he should have solved the family feud before they got married to Juliet. Being married secretly brought many issues and predicaments. Suppose they got the two families to stop feuding. In that case, they could have married generally like everyone else, and their parents would respect the marriage and not force Juliet into another marriage. The second mistake Romeo made was in the fight against Tybalt. Romeo could have controlled and calmed Mercutio down to prevent him from fighting back Tybalt, they could have run away to evacuate the scene, or Romeo could have held in anger and let the city of Verona bring justice. If Romeo had evaluated the situation better and evacuated the scene with Mercutio, or if Romeo held in his rage to avenge Mercutio, Romeo would not have received banishment. If Romeo was never banished, Friar Laurence could have informed Romeo of the plan and avoided the miscommunication. Romeo’s third mistake was lovesick with Juliet. If Romeo was mentally more robust and got over Juliet’s death, neither one died. Instead, Romeo decided to kill himself. He lost his purpose for life because he was in mad love with Juliet. Romeo was blind-sighted by love and completely lost all of his will to live once he assumed Juliet was dead. If Romeo did not end his life so quickly, Juliet would have woken up, and neither would have died. Romeo made mistakes because he is a very emotional person. Romeo would not have taken the marriage too fast, killed Tybalt, or killed himself if he was better at controlling his emotions, which would have prevented Juliet’s and his death.

For the reasons stated, there were many opportunities for many characters to prevent the deaths of the two children, especially Romeo. If any of the characters had done something differently, the tragedy could have been avoided. This tragedy’s leading causes were interference from others, bad luck, and very vulnerable emotions.  Romeo, Friar Laurence, Lord Montage, or Lord Capulet could have prevented the tragedy.