Romeo and Juliet are to Blame for Their Own Death Essay Example

In the play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, we see two foes fall for each other and ultimately meet their fatal ends. Throughout the play, Romeo and Juliet fall in love and make brash decisions, which eventually leads them to meet their fate. As easy as it may be to blame their deaths on someone else, we cannot ignore the fact that Romeo and Juliet were most to blame for their own deaths. 

Right from the beginning, we can tell that Romeo is a very emotional character. Normally that wouldn’t be a bad thing, but it's the fact that his emotions lead to terrible decision making. When we first meet Romeo, we find out that he is “in love” with a girl named Rosaline. Romeo even goes as far to say, “One fairer than my love? The all-seeing sun Ne'er saw her match since first the world begun” (Act I, Scene 2). Which is basically just him saying no one compares in beauty to Rosaline. So from what we can gather, this love he feels is quite serious, or so we think. Not even 24 hours later, Romeo is already making goo-goo eyes with Juliet, “Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight! For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night” (Act I, Scene 5). Just a little reminder that this is the same Romeo who was sulking and moping about his beautiful love, Rosaline. Romeo was just proclaiming his love for Rosaline and now he is onto another woman. It is this type of behavior that caused his death. He felt overwhelming emotions, so he started to make decisions on a whim. The exact same thing happens with Mercutio. After Mercutio was slain by Tybalt, Romeo had let his emotions get the best of him and, in an attempt to avenge Mercutio, he killed Tybalt, which led to his exile. So there seems to be a trend with Romeo doing reckless things because of his emotions. This continues when Balthasar informs him of Juliet’s “death”. So what is Romeo to make of this news? Maybe he should cry to let the emotions out, or talk to Balthasar about the overwhelming amount of grief. Though that would require him to put his emotions to the side. So Romeo heads back to Verona to “see” Juliet. Except Romeo doesn’t just see Juliet, “‘Here's to my love! [Drinks.] O true apothecary! Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die’”(Act V, Scene 3). After seeing Juliet dead, he killed himself. Even after noticing how she still looked fair and didn’t look like a typical dead person, he killed himself. Romeo didn’t even think to confer with Friar Laurence, even though the Friar had been helping him the entire time. Romeo didn’t once think that maybe he should just think it through and confer with the Friar. Yet again, Romeo lets his emotions get the best of him and then made a decision on a whim. Only this time, it proved to be fatal.

Though Romeo did have some responsibility with both of their deaths, we cannot ignore Juliet. From the moment Romeo and Juliet met, it was “love at first sight” for the both of them. All was fine in those first moments of their new relationship, that is, until they found out each other’s names. Juliet was a Capulet and Romeo was a Montague. They could never be together and Juliet knew that, “‘My only love, sprung from my only hate! Too early seen unknown, and known too late’” (Act I, Scene 5). Juliet had known from the start that she was not supposed to be with Romeo. She knew how it was wrong, yet she still pursued Romeo in the name of “love”. Though the feelings Juliet thinks she has aren’t love, its feelings of freedom and wanting to escape. Earlier in the play, we learn that Lady Capulet, Juliet’s mother, wanted Juliet to get married to Paris. When asked where Juliet stood on marriage, she gave a less than pleasing answer, “‘It is an honor that I dream not of’” (Act I, Scene 3). Juliet had made it clear that she did not want to get married, but when Romeo came around, all of those ideas were out the window and she was ready to marry him the next day. So it seems like Juliet did not truly love Romeo. It seems like she was more in love with the idea of not being trapped by her family. This is once again proven when Capulet makes Juliet marry Paris on Thursday, “‘Tell me not, friar, that thou hear'st of this, unless thou tell me how I may prevent it. If in thy wisdom thou canst give no help, Do thou but call my resolution wise and with this knife I'll help it presently’” (Act IV, Scene 4). Juliet had made it quite clear that the wedding must be prevented or she will kill herself. The thought of being trapped in a marriage with someone she doesn’t even like seems to scare her, and rightfully so. Though her feelings of being scared and feeling trapped get the best of her makes her so desperate that she is willing to end her life, and in the end, that ultimately happened. Once seeing Romeo dead, she felt like she couldn’t go on because her “true love” was gone. In reality, she didn’t truly love Romeo, she just loved the idea of him. Now that he was gone, she felt trapped once again and the only way out was death. Similarly to Romeo, Juliet had let her emotions get the best of her and, as we know from Romeo, emotions can be quite powerful. For Juliet, those emotions proved to be fatal.

Though we may like to blame their deaths on the Montague-Capulet feud, Friar Laurence, or even Tybalt, we cannot ignore the fact that in the end, Romeo and Juliet were responsible for their own deaths. Both characters had ended up making fatal decisions based on emotion. In the end, there is no one else to blame besides Romeo and Juliet, themselves.