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Romeo And Juliet Character Analysis

Decent Essays

One of William Shakespeare’s most famous works is the story of “Romeo and Juliet.” The play is a romantic tragedy where several characters die within a few days. The play starts by introducing one of the main characters, Romeo and later on in the story, Juliet is introduced. Romeo meets Juliet at a party and they instantly fall in love. Juliet soon proposes marriage, they get married, but soon they both die. There are several characters that could be to blame for the tragic death of these two teenagers, but the three most blamable characters are Friar Lawrence, Fate, and Lord Capulet. The most blamable character for the death of Romeo and Juliet is Friar Lawrence. Friar Lawrence made on mistake which set off a chain reaction of other events that resulted in Romeo and Juliet’s death. In Act IV Scene i, Friar Lawrence said, “Ah Juliet, I already know thy grief, it strains me past the compass of my wits, I hear thou must, and nothing may prorogue it, on Thursday next to be married to this county,” (DBQ:Project, 2013) and “if thou darest, I will give thee remedy.” (DBQ:Project, 2013) The first quote explains Friar Lawrence’s sympathy for Juliet having to marry Paris. Friar Lawrence knows that Juliet is in love with Romeo, but she is being forced by her parents to marry Paris. The second quote from Friar Lawrence shows a solution to Juliet’s problem. Friar Lawrence’s “remedy” is to give Juliet a potion which would put her to sleep for a few days. The effects of the potion would make Juliet appear to be dead, so Friar Lawrence would then send letters to Romeo saying Juliet is not actually dead, and Romeo needs to come rescue her and then the two lovers could live a happy life. While this plan was well thought out, it was not executed very well. The letters never made their way to Romeo, so Romeo assumed Juliet was dead and he then committed suicide. When Juliet woke up and saw Romeo was dead, she also committed suicide. Friar Lawrence is the most blamable character for Romeo and Juliet’s death because he was the one who gave Juliet the potion in the first place. If Juliet would have never received the potion, Romeo would not have committed suicide, so neither would have Juliet. While Friar Lawrence is the most

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