In
William Shakespeare's dramatic play ROMEO
& JULIET… Well let’s tell you
about it from this so you can get an idea of how Shakespeare works.
“Two
households both alike in dignity, in fair Verona where we lay our
scene, from ancient grudge break new mutiny, where civil blood makes
civil hands unclean. From forth the fatal loins of these two foes, a
pair of star-crossed lovers take their life, whose misadventured
piteous overthrows doth with their death-marked love, and the
continuance of their parents rage, which, but their children’s end,
naught could remove, is now the two hours traffic of our stage, the
which if you with patient ears attend, what here shall miss our toil
shall strive to mend.” (Page 992)
Many
things could have caused the death-marked love, but this shall
determine only three.
One
of the reasons that his tragedy occurred is one of the key factors
depicted throughout the play. The feud between the Caplet’s and the
Montegue's. If the Capulet's and Montegue's hadn’t hated each other
so Romeo and Juliet wouldn’t have had to hide their marriage. “…But
love the better than thou canst devise till thou shalt know the
reason of my love, and so, good Capulet, which name I tender as
dearly as mine own, be satisfied.”
See, if they didn’t feud Romeo wouldn’t have had to word himself
so carefully. Also if they didn’t feud Romeo wouldn’t have
needed to jump between Tybalt and Mercutio’s duel. If this hatred
didn’t happen Tybalt and Mercutio wouldn’t be six feet under
right now. Mercutio and Tybalt fought because of the tension between
them and they both ended up dead. Romeo killed Tybalt out of
vengeance for Mercutio's death. A third example is that Romeo was
banished from Verona. Since Romeo was banished Juliet was “forced”
to drink the potion and “kill” herself. Also since he was
banished his mother supposedly died from grief. There are more but
these are the best.
Another
aspect of what caused the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet was the
relationships between parents and children. If Romeo wasn’t
banished lady Montegue wouldn’t have died. That’s a strong
relationship. “…Alas,
my liege, my wife is dead tonight! Grief of my sons exile hath
stopped her breath.” See the more
the tragedy grows the more people die. The relationships are so
strong but not all are strong, some are breaking. Another example is
that if the Capulet's hadn’t hated the Montegue's so much they
would have let Juliet marry Romeo. I mean if they didn’t like
Montegue's they didn’t like Romeo. Capulet had a fit when she said
she wouldn’t marry Paris imagine if she said she was already
married to Romeo. A third example is if Capulet hadn’t forced
Juliet to marry Paris she wouldn’t have had to take such desperate
measures. Henceforth she wouldn’t have had to go through all the
what ifs & she wouldn’t have had to confuse Romeo. These now
that you look at them aren’t good examples but you get the point.
The
last and final cause is the timing. I mean timing is everything yet
it doesn’t seem like it. For instance Romeo running into Tybalt
then killing him minutes after marrying Juliet. “…But
love the better than thou canst devise till thou shalt know the
reason of my love, and so, good Capulet, which name I tender as
dearly as mine own, be satisfied.”
See there’s the quote again but it works two ways. Another example
is if the friar had arrived sooner then both of them dying wouldn’t
have happened. He comes barging in there seconds after Romeo kills
himself. The last example is that Romeo just so happens to come and
kill himself right before Juliet wakes up he even notices that she
doesn’t look dead. This gives a whole new meaning to the term
star-crossed wouldn’t you say?
There
are many more causes to the tragedy but the above are probably the
main ones. Shakespeare was trying to make a point that sometimes
things are destined to happen and sometimes others just screw them
up. He must have been pretty successful since his play became famous
worldwide. Well let’s close with this, “For
never was there a story of more woe than this of Juliet and her
Romeo.”
[Close
curtains] & [Exeunt]
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