Romeo and Juliet

“As rich shall Romeo’s by his lady’s lie, poor sacrifices of our enmity,” said Lord Capulet in Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare (5. 3. 319-20).   Lord Capulet, Juliet’s father, is telling Montague that he will build a statue of Romeo, due to the fact that Romeo and Juliet’s death was a result of the Capulet-Montague feud.  It is believed by the author of this essay that the feud is responsible for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet.  The feud was the entire reason that the Montagues and Capulets were fighting, and it caused Romeo and Juliet to have the need to keep their love a secret.  Also, the feud caused the death of Tybalt (a Capulet), resulting in tension between Lord Capulet and Juliet.  Lastly, it is believed that the feud is the primary cause of the death of both Romeo and Juliet because Lord Capulet actually stated this exact fact in the final scene of the play.  Although many people blame individual characters for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet, the actual feud is to blame for their demise.  The feud is the reason Romeo and Juliet had to keep their love a secret.  The feud caused the families to fight and Tybalt to die (forming tension between Capulet and Juliet).  And, Capulet said himself that Romeo and Juliet were sacrifices of their rivalry.
It is believed that the Capulet-Montague feud is the primary cause of the deaths of Romeo and Juliet, because the feud caused them to keep their love a secret.  From the first meeting of the “star-crossed” lovers, Romeo and Juliet could not publicly express their feelings for each other because their love would not be accepted by their families.  The Montagues and Capulets have been feuding for years, and they would be appalled if they found out that their children were interested in each other.  Romeo and Juliet could not share their feelings for each other with their family; they had to meet in secret.  In 3.5, their need for secretiveness is exemplified after Romeo and Juliet spent their first night together.  “It is, it is.  Hie hence! Be gone, away!” says Juliet, attempting to get Romeo to leave her room so that Juliet’s family does not catch them talking to each other (3. 5. 26).  The fact that the “star-crossed” lovers had to keep their love a secret resulted in some of the direct causes of their deaths.  For example, since Capulet didn’t know that Romeo and Juliet were married, he attempted to arrange a marriage for his daughter.  This resulted in the creation of a complex plan to get Juliet out of a marriage to Paris, and in to a wonderful life with Romeo.  This plan, which will be discussed more later, failed and was a direct cause of the deaths of Romeo and Juliet.  The feud caused Romeo and Juliet to keep their love a secret, which resulted in some of the direct causes of their deaths.
Because of the feud, there was dueling between people of the different houses. In one street fight, Tybalt (Juliet's cousin) kills Mercutio (Romeo's cousin and best friend).  Romeo decides he cannot just stand back and watch his cousin die without any repercussions for the Capulet house.  Romeo thinks it is blood for blood and slays Tybalt.  As a result, Romeo is banished from Verona.  Once Juliet hears the news, she is extremely happy that Romeo is still alive, sad for her cousin’s death, and devastated that Romeo has been banished.  Juliet's parents noticed that Juliet is depressed.  Naturally, they think the cause of her sadness is Tybalt's death.  To cheer Juliet up, the Capulets arrange a marriage for Juliet to Count Paris.  Juliet refuses to marry Paris, and the Capulets are baffled at the idea that Juliet would not like to marry a rich count like Paris.  “Soft, take me with you, take me with you, wife.  How, will she none? Doth she not give us thanks?  Is she not proud?  Doth she not count her blessed,” says Capulet (3. 5. 141-43).   Capulet does not understand why Juliet would not like to marry Paris, and eventually forces his daughter to get married.  Juliet becomes upset and needs to derive a plan to escape a marriage to someone she doesn't love.  Friar Lawrence comes up with a plan to give Juliet a potion to make her sleep, and look like she is dead.  Friar Lawrence sends a letter to Romeo telling him that Juliet is not actually dead, and that he needs to meet Juliet in the Capulet's family tomb so that they can both escape to Mantua.  This plan ultimately fails, because the letter does not get delivered.  Romeo shows up at the tomb, and sees that Juliet is dead.  Romeo thinks there is no purpose to living and kills himself.  Juliet wakes up from the sleeping potion, and notices that Romeo is dead, so she's thinks there's no purpose to living and also kills herself.  Ultimately, the fight between Tybalt and Romeo was a direct cause of Romeo and Juliet's death. The fight between Romeo and Tybalt was a result of the feud.  So, the feud is to blame for their deaths.              
The final piece of evidence (that the feud is the cause of Romeo and Juliet death) is that Capulet said at the end of act five and that Romeo and Juliet were sacrifices of their rivalry.  “As rich shall Romeo’s by his lady’s lie, poor sacrifices of our enmity,” said Lord Capulet (5. 3. 319-20).  In this final scene, Capulet and Montague have just found out that both of their children have died.  They feel great guilt, because they know that their feud was the cause of Romeo and Juliet's death.  They are planning to build statues of each other's children, to remember them and remind the Montagues and Capulets that they should never feud again.  Shakespeare himself wrote through the actor Capulet that the deaths of Romeo and Juliet are results of the Montague-Capulet Feud.

In the play Romeo and Juliet, the death of the “star-crossed” lovers was tragic.  The tragic ending of the play was a result of the feud between their two families.  Some of the characters in the play did have an effect on the fact that Romeo and Juliet died, but the feud is the primary cause for their deaths.  Romeo and Juliet had to keep for love a secret because of the feud.  The feud caused Romeo to kill Tybalt and Romeo to be banished.  This banishment and the death of Tybalt resulted in the need to create a plan to get Juliet out of a marriage to Paris. The plan was a failed attempt, and directly resulted in the deaths of Romeo and Juliet.  The last piece of evidence presented that the feud caused the death of Romeo and Juliet was that Capulet said himself that Romeo and Juliet died because of the feud.