Who Was Responsible For The Deaths Of Romeo And Juliet

“ A pair of star-crossed lover take their life, Whose misadventured piteous overthrows Doth with their death bury their parent’s strife” (Prologue 6-8 Shakespeare). In Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare, Romeo, a seventeen year old, and Juliet, a twelve year old, fall in love and get married within twenty-four hours of meeting each other. They don’t tell their parents, so Juliet is set to be married to another man. When Juliet fakes her death to get out of the marriage, Romeo thinks she is actually dead and both of the lovers end up committing suicide. In this tragedy, who is really responsible for their deaths? In this context, responsible means “...having control over or care for someone, as part of one’s job or role” (1). The Capulets,

He should have cracked down on the Capulet-Montague feud. In the first scene, right after a fight sparked by this feud, Prince Escalus threatened, “If you ever disturb our streets again, Your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace” (Act 1 Scene 1 87-89 Shakespeare). Prince Escalus made a threat but he didn’t follow through. The reader doesn’t know the prince’s previous attempts to end the feud but we do know that they were ineffective. We also know that if he had made that same threat before, he didn’t follow through then, either. He specifically made this threat to Lady and Lord Capulet and Lady and Lord Montague. However, later in the play, Romeo, Tybalt, and Mercutio fight and Prince Escalus doesn’t follow through with the original threat even though he clearly had the authority to do so. There are several ways the prince could have successfully ended the feud. For example, a fine or jail time for those involved in a fight, or even if he had started to help the families negotiate their disputes when he noticed the feud starting. If Prince Escalus had made more effective attempts to end the feud closer to when it started, or even prevent the feud, Romeo and Juliet would have been able to be together without all the secrecy. Ending the feud earlier would have avoided the entire