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Who is to Blame in Romeo and Juliet? Essay

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Romeo and Juliet is set in Verona. They are two star crossed lovers from two different families who have been feuding for generations. This is apparent in the line “The quarrel is between our masters and us their men”. This demonstrates that the play is destined to result in tragedy. The effect that is created on the audience is that the families have been fighting constantly for many years and that it has been passed down from generations to generations. The Montague’s and Capulet’s ancestors were feuding and this fight has carried on over the years. Looking from a social context women were ruled over by men. Women were possessions or baggage. This relates to the play through Capulet and Juliet’s relationship. Capulet tells Juliet …show more content…

An Elizabethan audience would find this engaging as they loved fights which lead on to end in tragedy. In the Elizabethan era this is what their society would have been like. Secondly Tybalt sends a decree for a fight and he kills Mercutio. This is shown by “I will not budge for no man’s pleasure, I”. This reveals that Mercutio wants to have a fight with Tybalt. Tybalt wants to have a fight with Romeo the most but Mercutio gets in the way. Mercutio feels that he must stand by the Montague’s. He feels he needs to be a true Montague and fight. Romeo retaliates and kills Tybalt in anger and revenge for his friend. This is apparent in the line “Either thou or I, or both, must go with him. This conveys that Romeo felt he had to get revenge for Mercutio but he really didn’t mean to kill Tybalt and couldn’t believe that he’d actually done it. Thirdly Romeo is banished from Verona for the murder of Tybalt. This is shown by “And for that offence immediately we do exile him hence”. This implies that Romeo has committed such a terrible crime that he is not even permitted to stay in Verona. This can link to the tragedy of the play because if Romeo just controlled his anger and revenge and didn’t kill Tybalt the Romeo and Juliet would be able to see each other. Romeo can be blamed for the tragedy in this way. Then Capulet forces Juliet into marrying Paris but she doesn’t abide. I know this because he says “Hang thee young baggage, disobedient wretch!”

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