ROMIO AND JULIET
... days time, then she would have waited for a reply letter from Romeo. None of the confusion would have arisen. Paris doesn’t love Juliet, not as Romeo does, but instead his love is only skin deep. He never really gets to know Juliet. If he did, then she may have liked Paris better than Romeo, which would completely cancel out everything else. The Prince contributes by exiling Romeo near the beginning of the play. Romeo thinks this very unfair (“Tis torture and not mercy. Heaven is here, where Juliet lies.”). This causes many problems. Romeo cannot hear about The Friars and Juliet’s plan, so he doesn’t know that Juliet was still alive when he killed himself on top of her. The Prince doesn’t really play much more of a part than this. The Friar doesn’t play a very large part in Romeo and Juliet’s tragic end. He concocts the potion, but this in itself doesn’t contribute to their tragic end but it is fate, in that the letter he wrote never reaches Romeo in Mantua and so he doesn’t know of the Friar’s plan. The Friar is always giving council to Romeo and Juliet and is really only ever helping the two lovers. The only thing wrong he does is to marry Romeo and Juliet just a few days after they meet. This is not good because it is too hasty as he points out when he says, “These violent delights have violent ends” which comes true within the next two acts. Capulet is the worst offender. He never allows Juliet to marry Romeo, because Romeo is a Montague. Therefore, Romeo and Juliet cannot have a normal relationship and must keep their love for each other well. Capulet also changes his mind very quickly. Near the beginning of the play he answers to Paris’s query that Juliet is still too young to woo Juliet and that he should wait two years. Later on in the play, which is only a couple of days later, he tells Paris that he shall wed Juliet in two days time. This causes all sorts of problems. It means that Juliet must seek help from the Friar that introduces many more things that could have gone wrong. The Nurse also does not help. She tells Juliet to perform bigamy by marrying her to both Romeo and Paris. At the beginning of the act, she is on Romeo’s side and is paying out Paris. After that she rapidly changes and starts preferring Paris instead of Romeo. “Romeo’s a disclout to him” The Nurse quotes. She suggests Juliet should marry Paris. Even though, the Nurse never goes out to hurt Juliet. She is only misinformed. The Nurse occasionally teases Juliet, also. For instance, when she gets back from her meeting with Romeo, she rambles on and on about something else. Finally, at the very end of her speech, the Nurse finally tells Juliet what actually happened in their meeting. This isn’t meant to deliberately hurt Juliet, but she is more just playing around. Mercutio contributes slightly to Romeo and Juliet’s untimely end. When Tybalt tries to agitate Romeo, but does not fight, Mercutio believes he is being a coward a...