Who Is Responsible for the Deaths of Romeo & Juliet

508 Words3 Pages
In the play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet’s love comes to a quick end when they both die. They were both from rival families making it harder for them to be together. Friar Lawrence is responsible for their deaths because he puts together the plan for Juliet’s fake death. This plan fails and ends with Romeo and Juliet dying. The death of the star crossed lovers, Romeo and Juliet was caused by Friar Lawrence. He is responsible because he came up with the plan for Juliet to have a fake death. Friar Lawrence convinces her to do this when he says, “Take thou this vial, being then in bed, And this distilling liquor drink thou off; when presently through all the veins shall run a cold and drowsy humor; for no pulse,” (Romeo and Juliet VI, scene i, 93-96). He tells her to take the medicine and it makes everyone believe that she is dead. Romeo finds out she is “dead” and comes to see her. This then leads to both their suicides. This is also evident in Douglas Dupler’s essay when he writes “ In the end, rather than mediating his position of religious authority, the friar devises a secretive plan that goes wrong and leads to the death of the young lovers,” (Dupler 3). It is explained in this essay that Friar Lawrence goes against his beliefs and concocts the plan that then fails. In summary, Friar Lawrence is the one responsible for Romeo and Juliet’s deaths. Even though Friar Lawrence can be seen as the one to blame for the deaths of Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet, some may believe that the Capulet family is truly responsible. Juliet’s parents are very forceful and insist she marries Paris. Juliet disagrees strongly at first with her father. His reaction to her response is, “I tell thee what: get thee to church o’Thursday, or never after look me in the face. Speak not; reply not; do not answer me,” (Romeo and Juliet III, scene v, 161-163).
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