A Tragedy Is a Play Which Explores Human Weakness and Suffering, Leading to a Disastrous End. What Are the Causes of the Tragedy in Romeo and Juliet and How Does Shakespeare Dramatise Them?

Tragedy is mainly two types, Modern tragedy and Greek tragedy. Greek tragedy is down to the idea of fate and the gods. A hero defies the gods, often due to fatal flaws which is the reason behind his downfall. In Shakespeare plays, tragedy is also identified as a story that ends unhappily due to the fall of the protagonist, which is the tragic hero. Romeo and Juliet is a lot related to the Greek tragedy with the characters having many fatal flaws such as rivalry and youth as well as cultural flaws.

Romeo and Juliet was written by William Shakespeare around 1595. This play has been written among many other tragedies by Shakespeare such as, "Macbeth" and "Hamlet". However Romeo and Juliet is one of the most tragic Shakespeareans plays. In Shakespeare's other tragedies like "Macbeth" and "Hamlet", although those characters are fated to die, this type of tragedy is different, where Romeo and Juliet is the domestic type of tragedy, despite the fact that other characters influence the result of the final tragedy, however only few people are affected. Whereas, in the plays "Macbeth" and "Hamlet", the whole is affected by the outcome due to the political type of tragedy.

Tragedy has been used by Shakespeare to break down and end the rivalry and feud between the two families; Capulets and Montagues and also to bring an end to the play. Many tragedies have been presented in the play including Paris, Mercutio, Tybalt and the death of Romeo, Juliet and Lady Montague. These figures all lead on to each other, each one building up and abetting the next death or tragedy. Tragedies could have been causes for the following reasons; authority, patriarchy, codes of honour, rivalry, masculinity, rebellion, ambition and fate.

From the very beginning of the play, fate was constantly referred to by Shakespeare, starting with the prologue. "A pair of star crossed lovers take their life" here Shakespeare hints that Romeo and Juliet were meant to die together because it was their destiny. Therefore this is what fate had planned for their lives, as it was crossed through the stars. So the audience recognise even further that the tragic death of Romeo and Juliet was something which was definitely happening; inevitable. Shakespeare's job to convince the audience to believe that what has happened in the play was down to fate was easy. As the audience at that point of time would have believed in fate.

Destiny did not just made Romeo and Juliet to be with each other when were vivid, But also made them to be with each other after death. The fated death of Romeo and Juliet was revealed from the opening of the play. Shakespeare tried to deliver to us the idea that to be able to die of destiny you have to believe in destiny; Romeo and Juliet and an Elizabethan audience would have believed in destiny without any problem and so it would have been a persuasive reason to the audience for the tragic end. Romeo was shown to believe in fate through, the stars saying this just before leaving for the Capulet ball "I fear to early for my mind misgives, some consequences yet hanging