are madly in love with each other and will go to any lengths to be together. To support my thesis that the conflict between the heads of the Montague and Capulet families are responsible for Romeo and Juliet’s death, I quote from Romeo and Juliet (V, iii, 291-293) Prince: ‘… Capulet! Montague! See, what a scourge is laid upon your hate, that heaven finds means to kill your joys with love! What the Prince is saying is that, see what dreadful punishment has been laid upon your hatred. Heaven finds a reason to kill your joys with their love!’ There are many forces in the tragic play of Romeo and Juliet that are keeping the two young, passionate lovers apart, all emanating from one main reason. In this essay I will discuss these as well as how love, in the end, may have been the cause that led to the tragic deaths of Romeo and Juliet. Their strong attraction to each other, which some call fate, determines where their forbidden love will take them.
The leading force, in my opinion, that led to Romeo and Juliet’s death is the conflict between the two fathers, Capulet and Montague. It’s because of this conflict that Romeo and Juliet feel they must hide their love which, in the end, is the cause of their deaths. Because of this conflict, confrontations occurred and insults were thrown. Hatred is bred which is evident when Tybalt, who is Lady Capulet’s nephew, joins the fight against the Montague family. Tybalt hates Romeo and doesn’t hesitate to let it be known. The next force is hatred and it is widespread and commonplace in this play, it sometimes seems necessary for others to join the fight in order to portray loyalty for a particular person.
Romeo wanted the fighting to end so he could announce his love and marriage to Juliet so he wasn’t happy when his best friend, Mercuto, decided to stick up for him against Tybalt. In desperation, Romeo intervenes between the two, which in turn breaks Mercuto’s concentration and allows Tybalt to stab him. Like any good friend, Romeo now has to challenge this death and fight Tybalt. Romeo kills Tybalt, which ultimately leads to his banishment.
Romeo spent one night of passion with Juliet before going into ‘hiding’ after killing Tybalt. He chose to hide in the Mantua countryside where nobody would recognize him. Shortly thereafter Romeo was officially banished by the Prince from Verona, where Juliet lived with her Capulet family. The Prince declared that if Romeo was seen within the walls of Verona he would be killed on the spot. In my opinion these events originated from the fight between Montague and Capulet, however indirectly. Let’s imagine that the Montague and Capulet families were not at war with each other.
Tybalt would have no reason to hate Romeo, which lead to the death of Mercuto, Tybalt’s death and Romeo’s banishment. Love is a very strong force that can bring two strangers together and create sheer happiness and joy; however, under certain circumstances, love can be a very dangerous thing. In the tragic play of Romeo and Juliet, the two lovers die simply because of their strong love for each other and their fear to express it. The fathers of Romeo and Juliet are the heads of the two warring houses.
In this play, Shakespeare doesn’t tell the reader why these two men are fighting. Because Romeo and Juliet are young and impressionable, they keep their love and marriage a secret for fear of what their fathers would do. This tragic play portrays the fault and horrific consequences in accepting people based on their last name or family history. Both Romeo and Juliet question their surnames because this seemingly small problem is what’s keeping them apart. So have we learned from what Shakespeare was trying to portray? Do you now accept people at face value or based on what they stand for? Has anything changed since Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet?