` Who was responsible for Juliet’s death?

*quick summary*

"The tragedy of “Romeo and Juliet”, by William Shakespeare, is a romantic and suspenseful story enjoyable to all. Romeo and Juliet fall in love, later to find that they are enemies. They continue their love secretly, until things become complicated, and in the end they both end up dying as the story comes to a close."

              When looking at this question at first glance, it’s hard to believe that it is such a hard question to answer because it requires a lot of thought. Surely in a world where lawsuits can be brought against anyone, we can blame anyone for any misfortune. Knowing this knowledge, we can now also understand that blame is not an objective concept, nor a particularly useful one. It is quite possible to build a case that almost everybody in the play is in blame for the death of the couple. I believe they all do not have a proper alibi to prove themselves innocent in the death of both the two protagonists.

Firstly, I would blame the two feuding families, the Montagues and Capulets. Their hatred towards one another made Romeo and Juliet have to meet in secret leading too Friar Lawrence having to invent the whole plan of Juliet's fake death so they could run away together. It is because of the two families' bitter rivalry that Romeo and Juliet had to keep their love in secrecy, later leading to both their deaths.

Her entire life, Juliet is regulated by her parents. Lord Capulet yells, “Hang thee, young baggage! Disobedient wretch,” (III. iv. 180). Her parents want her to marry Paris for their own personal benefits. By marrying Paris their family would have relation to royalty. Juliet discovers that her parents have arranged her wedding even though she has no love towards Paris. Juliet was forced into a tight situation. Her love, Romeo, is exile and her father wants her to marry Paris, who she does not like. Then, an important factor that caused her to kill herself is Lord Capulet, her own father. He threatens to throw her into the streets and never asks if she wants to marry Paris. He just wants to profit from their marriage in some way. Along with family pressures and the death of Romeo, she cracks and kills herself.

Romeo is also to blame for Juliet’s death. Romeo's hastiness causes their deaths. We can see this when he attacks Tybalt with rage and violence. This ends up in his banishment from Verona. Romeo then believes the first thing he hears of Juliet's death and immediately rushes off to buy some poison thus leading him into his death, When he hears of Juliet's death while in Mantua, it is his hastiness that leads to Juliet's death.

Pointing the finger of blame is very, and does not help us or anyone in the least. I can continue naming characters in the story, and showing proof that they too are equally as guilty as anybody else. Unfortunately, at the end of the play, we do not see the characters blaming each other. The message is reconciliation and forgiveness. Another belief of mine would be not who killed her, but WHAT killed her. It could have been love. The love between Romeo and Juliet not only gave them happiness, it caused them pain and heartache, and eventually their lives. 

Romeo & Juliet dead together