Romeo And Juliet Essays (1379 words) - , Term Papers

Romeo and Juliet Where would the audience perceive the blame to lie for the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet? As with many things it is difficult to lay the blame on one specific occurrence as even the slightest mishap, especially in this story, can mount to something far worse than ever expected. The question I am trying to answer is where the audience would perceive the blame to lie and personally I feel the answer to that question lies greatly with who the audience actually is. A modern day audience compared to an Elizabethan one would have vastly different opinions, as would a teenager and his or her parents. Nevertheless, right from the first page in the book it becomes apparent that this story isn't going to be black and white. The two families' 'ancient grudge' is the first insight of many more under-lying occurrences to come. Each one having a small yet significant influence on the end result of the story. A sensible approach to this question would be to firstly try and narrow down the main suspects. This inevitably leads us to fate. The prologue describes Romeo and Juliet as A pair of star-cross'd lovers, as though there fates had already been mapped out by the stars. Just these few words state the extent that fate will play, possibly giving the audience a biased opinion right from the very start. The next notable indication of fate occurs when Capulets servant approaches Romeo and asks him to read an invitation. A less than sensitive audience may disregard this point, although it paves the way forward for the tragedy to occur. This holds a great deal of blame but if the audience doesn't pick up on it then that blame is unrecognised. Perhaps Mercutio's curse would be seen to be the blame. Three times he chants, A plague O' both your houses which may be seen by the audience to condemn all hope for the two lovers. Following this is Friar John's unbelievable misfortune as he finds himself trapped in a house of plague on his way to Mantua. The letter is never received which allows Balthasar to unknowingly ruin the 'plan', by telling Romeo of Juliet's death. Each of these aspects of fate play an important role leading to the story's conclusion, but without the actions of other characters their contribution would be meaningless. The well-meaning friar for example. He disregarded all sense and agreed to the couple's marriage in a last bid for peace. His actions may have been with good intentions but, ultimately had he used common sense and said no to begin with, the tragedy may never have occurred. It is arguable however the amount of blame that can be placed on this decision for if the couple really felt that strongly they could always have eloped. Either way, it is the Friar's actions from this point onward that really condemn him. Knowing full well of the dangers involved he presents Juliet with a potion and continues to describe its effects. The roses in thy lips and cheeks shall fade, To wanny ashes; thy eyes' windows fall, Like death when he shuts up the day of life A potion strong enough to cause apparent death must have phenomenal risks attached, but still he obliviously decides to take that chance. Although the Friar's actions were wrong, one thing that can be said for him is that they were with good intentions, only this isn't true of all cases. In one of the last scenes of the play, for the first time Friar Laurence selfishly thinks of himself. Paris and Romeo were dead and Juliet was beginning to regain consciousness in the Capulets tomb. Had the friar stayed there at least her life could be spared. Instead the friar flees in a bid to save his skin, leaving Juliet to take her own life. His deeply felt guilt becomes clear when he comes clean at the end. Miscarried by my fault, let my old life, Be sacrific'd, some hour before his time The friar feels that he is to blame, he wouldn't feel guilt otherwise. After hearing the friar's confession I think the audience would blame him too. There is also another character in the play that the audience