"Romeo and Juliet" - "The tragedy of the two lovers is caused not so much by their own flaws as outside influences or forces."

Essay by batgirls_pineapplesJunior High, 9th grade June 2006

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In this essay I will display that the tragedy of the two lovers, Romeo and Juliet was caused not so much by their own flaws as outside influences or forces. In most other Shakespearean tragedies, the tragedy occurs because of certain faults in the characters personalities but in 'Romeo and Juliet' the tragedy is caused by circumstances beyond Romeo and Juliet's control rather than their own flaws.

Numerous 'circumstances' in the play led to the death of Romeo and Juliet, indicating that it was their fate to die, maybe to finally resolve the ongoing feud between their two families. As quoted by Romeo "O I am fortune's fool!" (ACT THREE, Scene 1, 137), this is telling us that the characters in the play are being 'played' by fortune. People in the time of Shakespeare believed in fate and destiny, and they believed they could not do anything to change their fate, which was mapped out by the Gods.

The first outside influence that affected the lives of Romeo and Juliet was that both were born the offspring of two enemy houses. "My only lone sprung from my only hate!" (ACT ONE, Scene 5, 138) For this reason, they were unable to share the radiance of love with any members of their family and had to have a secret relationship. This proved to be harder than they could have ever imagined and became progressively more complicated and hard.

Probably the biggest and most disastrous influence in this masterpiece was the death of Mercutio which in turn led to the death of Tybalt and later Romeo's banishment. If Mercutio had not provoked Tybalt, the fight would have not broken out and Tybalt would have not killed Mercutio at that crucial time. Romeo would have not avenged Mercutio's death and killed Tybalt,