Who Is Responsible for the Death of Romeo and Juliet?

"Love is like a violin. The music may stop now and then, but the strings remain forever." –Anonymous

"Hatred does not cease through hatred at anytime. Hatred cease through love. This is an unalterable law." –Buddha

Love and hatred are defined as two extremely opposite terms literally; however, they are combined perfectly to provide the prerequisites of the tragic ending. Love impels Romeo and Juliet to surmount any obstacles place between them. Nevertheless, love is also the direct cause of their death. Their unforeseen love effectively determines their fate. Their fate omened their death at last. If they choose to love each other without regrets, they need to know they are responsible for their tender love and their thunderstruck death as well. Hatred, on the other hand, becomes another main force that urges and accelerates their death. The enmity between the two families makes their love much more difficult. They do not have the right and freedom to choose whom they really love. In addition, Capulets' coercion towards Juliet's marriage automatically becomes the key reason leading to their death. Therefore, the families with enmity have the responsibility for their death as well. Friar, as a kind-hearted person, is another direct character who brings about Juliet and Romeo's death. He first introduces the idea of death to the two immature teenagers. He ought to be held responsible for their death.

Romeo and Juliet are the two main characters in this play. They are young, impulsive, and immature. It is not their fault to fall in love at first sight. Young people always cannot be rational towards the emotions they sense. Even elders sometimes can not be wise enough when they face the word love. Love has no mistakes, no flaws, and no unexpectedness. However, Romeo and Juliet cannot escape from the responsibilities for their death. The immature and impulsive love that all youth will have leads to Romeo and Juliet's death in the end. Romeo's impulsiveness of following Juliet's death vividly represented how immature a youth can be when he experienced love. "The doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss… Here's to my love" (Act V, Scene iii, 114-119). When Juliet wakes up and finds Romeo's dead body, she decides to follow her lord, "Drunk all, and left no friendly drop to help me after? ...To make me die with a restorative" (Act V, Scene iii 169-172) Both Romeo and Juliet treats love idealistically. When they fall in love with each other, they do not really consider the serious outcome of their death. Romeo and Juliet are like two flying birds in the sky, and what they have come across is just heading against the wind. Miserably, when they cannot fly easily and freely in their own sky, they choose to break their wings, the most ignorant way, to continue their love with a discontinued way--die. Their immature behaviors breed the tragic consequence. Death is not the only approach to solve problems. Youth, as an ignorant group, always represent their love by providing their determinations that they can sacrifice themselves for their love. Therefore, their deaths are brought by their impulsiveness. If they can think over for a while before they commit suicide, the interval between the death of Romeo and the revival of Juliet will not become the forever separation of these two "star-crossed" lovers. They should not be punished, because they have already learnt the lesson life teaches them. The cost of this lesson is paid by their death. If anyone says they deserve a punishment for the blind love, their eternal separation is the cruelest punishment for them. They should be pardoned at the time they are buried. Also, their immature and unprepared love is relentlessly breaks up by their families who remained hateful towards each other.

The feuding families automatically become another key force that leads the death of Romeo and Juliet. There are already a lot of difficulties set up in the path towards their love, but the families add other kindling to ignite the fire that caused the death of two innocent lovers. The change within Lord Capulet urged Juliet to desperately find Friar for help; Lord Capulet emphasizes hatred and revenge rather than considering about his own child's happiness. They attempt to bury hatred with hatred and not think that love is the only outlet for enmity. Apparently, the feuding families of both sides should be responsible for their children's death. They are the parents, but it is also them, who make these two teenagers' love much more difficult. The conversation between Romeo and Juliet clearly identify the pressure coming from their families. "O, Romeo, Romeo, Wherefore art thou Romeo? …And I'll no longer be a Capulet. (Act II, Scene ii, 35-38). Their love can be at a merry