Romeo and Juliet Kill Themselves Because the Adults in Their Lives Fail Them

Because Lord Capulet neglects his child, the couple views death as their only escape from suffering. As a teenager, Juliet wishes to have the freedom to make her own choices, like marrying her parents’ sworn enemy. Unfortunately for her, her father attempts to control her life and resorts to threatening her when she does not obey him. His harsh treatment of his devoted daughter tears her away from Romeo’s side, delivering the couple to a fate worse than death: separation. The lovers lose faith in life when Capulet arranges Juliet’s marriage to Paris, preventing her from being with her husband. As the distressed teen tries to find an escape from her upcoming wedding, she states, “If all else fail, myself have power to die” (III.v.244). Capulet believes that females must be dutiful to the men in their lives, so he does not doubt his daughter will follow his every instruction. His ignorance about women leads him to give her away to Paris, taking away her freedom to choose her life partner. By setting her up in an unwanted match with another man, he makes the characters feel desperate to escape their tragic lives. Due to her ignorant parent, Juliet resorts to desperate measures that invite tragedy into the children’s lives. The commanding lord also plays a role in their demise by scolding his child for not following his orders. Capulet threatens to disown his daughter if she disobeys him, contributing to her and her husband’s suicides. After her hard-hearted father admonishes her, the devastated adolescent falls into a spiral of grief, asking, “Is there no pity sitting in the clouds that sees into the bottom of my grief?... Cast me not away!” (III.v.198-200). Many challenges face the lovers’ romance: their families’ feud, the town exiling Romeo and his wife having to be with another. Romeo’s banishment already threatens Juliet’s staggering will to live, and now the adult has introduced another barrier to their love. She cannot take another misery overshadowing her newborn joy, so she begs her merciless guardian to reconsider giving her away like an object. Capulet believes that the women in his life should listen to him and follow his every command. When his daughter does not fit his misogynistic view of females, he feeds her grief by threatening to abandon her if she is not dutiful to him. The pressure he places on her makes her dissolve into panic and comply with Friar’s dangerous plan. Ultimately, Juliet’s ill-fated decision to listen to Friar costs her and Romeo their lives and their dreams of a life together. Capulet’s controlling nature brings him the unwanted consequence of losing his only child and son-in-law. The lord’s dominating behavior causes him to let his daughter down when he pressures her to obey him. He also leads to the lovers’ destruction with his harsh words and accusations toward Juliet. Capulet falls short as a father figure, his mistreatment of his daughter prompting her and Romeo to give up on life because they cannot be together.

Capulet is not the only grown-up in the couple’s life that brings them to their demise. Nurse is also to blame for the teens' deaths by being a poor maternal figure to the inexperienced Juliet. Without a supportive parental figure, the grief-stricken young woman leads her and her beloved to catastrophe. The teenager needs someone to guide her, but her former wet nurse is an inadequate mentor. Nurse foolishly helps the girl impulsively marry Romeo, leading to their ruin. After the dreamer falls for her rival, her nurse agrees to set up the wedding, visiting Juliet’s husband-to-be and planning the details, “This afternoon, sir? Well, she shall be there” (II.iv.174). After becoming infatuated with the boy, Juliet immediately decides to make him her husband. Their rushed marriage sets the stage for the tragedy of their romance, all made possible by the servant’s compliance. Juliet is still a young woman and needs an older person in her life to give her helpful advice and keep her safe. The teenager relies on her nurse for proper counsel that will not put her in harm’s way, but the woman is a poor support system that leads the children to their dooms. Nurse does not instruct the teenager to wait to become a wife, nor does she explain why a hurried marriage is a poor decision. The woman fails to give Juliet helpful advice, causing the teens to rush into a lifetime commitment and eventually become blind to the value of life. The maternal figure also emotionally abandons the adolescent when she advises Juliet to desert her husband. Juliet has no source of guidance left when Nurse traitorously suggests she wed Paris, so the forsaken lovers choose death. After Juliet’s authoritative father orders her to marry another man, her disloyal nurse recommends she comply and abandon her husband. The youth feels betrayed by her mentor disparaging Romeo, referring to the woman as “Ancient damnation! O most wicked fiend! Is it more sin to wish me thus forsworn, or to dispraise my lord with that same tongue which she hath praised him with above compare so many thousand times? Go, counselor!” (III.v.237-241). Despite the suffering Juliet undergoes due to Nurse’s faulty advice, she still looks up to the woman to help her through her grief. But when the old lady denounces her mistress’ beloved, the young lady decides that Nurse is a traitor.  Because her advisor abandons Juliet’s love, the girl decides that the woman does not genuinely care about her or her lover. Feeling betrayed, Juliet swears never to seek help from her again. Separated from her only source of adult counsel, the forsaken girl agrees to Friar’s risky plan, sealing her and her lover’s demise. Nurse allows the romantic to marry her enemy, setting up the devastation their families suffer when the couple dies. Then, the adult deserts the child by recommending she forget her love, leaving the girl without parental guidance. The erring woman’s shortcomings bring her mistress to hopelessness so heavy that she goes through with a treacherous scheme. Nurse’s many blunders as a parental figure leave Juliet isolated, making the couple feel that death is their only option.