Romeo and Juliet

In Romeo and Juliet, a play written by William Shakespeare, the Capulets and Montagues take part in a pointless feud. Juliet, a teenage Capulet, and Romeo, a teenage Montague, fall deeply in love and marry only one day after they meet. After only two days of marriage, the two loving teens take their own lives in a tragic turn of events. The cause of this double suicide is the ongoing feud between the two families. This bout causes Romeo and Juliet to hide their marriage. Capulet forces Juliet to marry Paris when she already has a husband, and Romeo kills Tybalt in a street fight between these two foes resulting in his banishment.
The ancient family grudge between the Capulets and the Montagues causes Romeo and Juliet to hide their marriage from their parents. Keeping their love from everyone the two love-stricken teens are forced to visit with each other under the cover of night. As night comes, Juliet hopes that Romeo will too, “Come, night. Come, Romeo. Come, thou day in night, for thou wilt lie upon the wings of night” (Shakespeare 3.2 17-19). If Romeo and Juliet could see each other in the light of day and tell their parents and all the citizens of Verona about their love, the two would not have killed themselves. Since the parents do not know that the two lovers have gotten married they try to force Juliet to marry Paris.
Capulet and Lady Capulet have the intentions throughout the play for Juliet to marry Paris and when they tell Juliet, she is stuck in a heart-wrenching dilemma. Paris goes to Lord Capulet two times and on the second time Capulet agrees to have Juliet marry him and become her “first” love. Juliet insists to stay loyal to her husband, Romeo, but also wants to please her parents. Capulet threatens Juliet with very harsh consequences if she does not follow his instructions, “Hang thee, young baggage, disobedient wretch! I tell thee what: get thee to church o’ Thursday, or never after look me in the face…An you be not, hang, beg, starve, die in the streets” (3.5.166-204). When Juliet refuses Capulet to marry Paris the first time, he is infuriated and only when she has an escape route from marrying Paris does she agree to marry him. Friar Lawrence gives Juliet a potion that will make her appear dead throughout the day that she is supposed to marry Paris. The appearance that she is dead causes Romeo to rush to her side from Mantua and eventually kill himself. When Juliet awakes from the trance she finds Romeo dead and kills herself. This would not have happened if Juliet’s parents did not force Juliet to marry Paris.
When Mercutio gets stabbed by Tybalt in a street duel between these two fighting families Romeo immediately seeks revenge against Tybalt. When Tybalt returns to the seen where Mercutio lay fatally wounded Romeo takes out his anger. Romeo gives Tybalt a taste of his own medicine and fatally stabs him. This double murder causes both families to rush to the Prince of Verona to seek the harshest penalties for the opposite family. This results in Romeo, the only living person of this fight remaining, to be banished from Verona and instructed to stay in Mantua for the rest of his life, “And for that offense Immediately we do exile him hence”(3.2.196-197). If the Prince does not exile Romeo from Verona he would have been let in on the plan of Friar Lawrence and Juliet and ultimately would not have killed himself. If Romeo does not kill himself it is most likely that Juliet will not either, and they would both live to see another day.

The ongoing feud between the Capulets and Montagues cause Romeo and Juliet to take their own lives. If Lord and Lady Capulet do not force Juliet to marry Paris, the fake death, leading to the double suicide does not happen. If Romeo and Juliet do not have to hide their marriage from everyone, Juliet’s parents would not have forced Juliet to marry Paris and the two would not have killed themselves. Finally, if Romeo had not killed Tybalt, because Tybalt killed Mercutio out of hatred for the Montagues, Romeo would not have been banished. Since he was banished he received false information from Balthasar that Juliet was really dead, and he ended up killing himself. The only legitimate thing that can be blamed for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet is the hatred of their parents and the feud between the two households.