Book Reports / Romeo and Juliet: "The Mantle of Mistakes" [4]

This is my - probably - my first essay, ever. I'm only 14 years old so bear with me. xD So, basically, it's about how William Shakespear's Romeo and Juliet's protagonists' death was caused by other characters. Thanks in advance for any constructive criticism, feedback, and for reading this crappy essay:

How is one supposed to learn from their mistakes when they do not even know that they made them in the first place? Every person makes mistakes, but only those that are wise learn from them, and actually realize they made them, while others merely overlook them. Errors and mistakes should be corrected, before it is too late. In William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, one is able to witness how severe mistakes that were neglected, and left unrealized, led to the tragic destruction of the two protagonists. Romeo and Juliet are from two families, the Capulets and the Montagues, who have past rivalries and do not associate with one another. Romeo and Juliet hurriedly marry each other, but because of their ill-fate, they eventually met their demise. Their death is caused not so much by their own flaws as by numerous obstacles in their path, which are created by other characters. The characters that most dramatically and critically affected the circumstances that led to the deaths of Romeo and Juliet are Tybalt, the Nurse, and the Friar Laurence.

The hot-blooded and furious Tybalt bore a grudge against Romeo, "Boy, this shall not excuse the injuries, that thou hast done to me" (Act III, sc i, ll 65-66) which inevitably led to a series of misfortunes. He had held that grudge since the day he confronted Romeo at the Capulet's party, where Tybalt was dishonoured in front of a whole debauchery. Later on, he pursued Romeo to take revenge, and erroneously slew Mercutio. Romeo then slew Tybalt to avenge his friend's death, and ran away. Meanwhile, the Prince announced that Romeo would be banished from Verona, "Immediately we do exile him hence" (Act III, sc i, ll 187). This caused Juliet to weep for her husband. Her parents assumed that she was sad because of Tybalt's death, and decided to get her married to the County Paris immediately, which is the biggest misunderstanding of all. Above all, her father threatened to disown her if she did not agree. This forced Juliet to take drastic measures, and drink the potion, which was followed by the death of Romeo and Juliet. If Tybalt had not pursued Romeo and initiated the conflicts, neither Mercutio nor Tybalt would have met their end, and Romeo would not have been banished. If Romeo had not been banished, Juliet would not have gone to such drastic measures to evade her marriage with Paris. If Juliet had not taken Friar Lawrence's potion, Romeo would not have killed Paris, or drank the poison, and Juliet would not have committed suicide. In other words, Tybalt disregarded the Prince and Lord Capulet's strict orders, and was obsessed with his family pride, which led to the ending we have now.

Besides the childlike behaviour of Tybalt, an adult that should take responsibility for the tragedy is the Nurse. She helps the two get married. She even goes as far as to tell Romeo, that, "For the gentlewoman is young and therefore, if you should deal double with her, truly it were an ill thing to be offered to any gentlewoman, and very weak dealing," (Act II, sc iv, ll 163-166) meaning that she makes sure that Romeo knows, that he better mean that he wants to marry Juliet. The Nurse helps Juliet to get to her wedding, which is very foolish of her, since she did not even think the slightest bit about what would happen if the two were to get wed. After Romeo's banishment, the Nurse did not support him anymore. Moreover, she did not understand that Juliet's love for Romeo was genuine, and not some childish infatuation. She betrayed Juliet, even though she was a wise and experienced woman. She encouraged her to forget about Romeo and marry the County Paris, "I think it best you married with the County" (Act III, sc v, ll 225) which discouraged Juliet greatly, since the nurse was the only person Juliet could earnestly confide in. This betrayal by the nurse left Juliet alone to make her own decisions. The nurse was supposed to be one of Juliet's best friends. Now when it was important for Juliet to have someone support her, she was disheartened. She also knew of the secret marriage between Romeo and Juliet, yet she did not notify others of it. As a result, the Nurse thought she was helping Juliet by leading her on that path, but, in truth, she was only helping her towards her death.

Likewise, the gullible and somewhat secretive Friar Laurence played a big part in the death of the young couple. Of course, the Friar did all the actions without even slightly thinking about the results. He was present throughout Romeo and Juliet's lives; he united them, came up with a plan to keep them together, and was an ally throughout their tragedies. Nevertheless, Friar Laurence's foolish actions in marrying Romeo and Juliet, creating thoughtless plans, and his fear of committing sin, all contributed to the deaths of them. For instance, after the death of Mercutio and Tybalt, and Romeo's banishment, Friar Laurence was still not aware of the consequences of Romeo and Juliet's marriage. Instead, he continued his effort in reuniting Romeo and Juliet. The plan he concocted for reuniting them was very risky, and badly thought out. Juliet was willing to commit suicide if the Friar did not help her, so, to appease her, the Friar gave her a potion to drink that would keep her in a death-like state for forty-two hours. Meanwhile, he sent a letter to inform Romeo of the plan, but it never reached him. Friar John, the person who was supposed to deliver the letter, told this to Friar Laurence, "I could not send it-here it is again-" (Act V, sc ii, ll 14). This reveals to us that Friar Laurence had no told the messenger about the significance of the letter. Also, Friar Laurence did not abide by his agreement with Romeo, "Sojourn in Mantua; I'll find out your man, / and he shall signify from time to time" (Act III, sc iii, ll 168-169) which meant he would notify Romeo of happenings via his manservant, Balthasar. Furthermore, the Friar contributes to the death of Juliet by his cowardly behaviour in the tomb. He does not comfort her at seeing her love dead and he also does not give her hope for future life other than life among holy nuns, and "I'll dispose of thee / among a sisterhood of holy nuns" (Act V, sc iii, ll 156-157). After that, he abandons her, as he does not want to be seen or caught in the midst of all that. This is very irresponsible, cowardly, and selfish, especially since Juliet had threatened to kill herself in the presence of Friar Laurence earlier in the play. In any case, because of Friar Laurence's short-sightedness and lack of a well-thought out plan, he doomed those he tried to help. Therefore, it would have been best for the two, if they had not known Friar Laurence at all. He had put the core of the catastrophe into motion, all starting with rashness, hastiness and numerous bad decisions. He tried to please everyone, but ended up pleasing no one.

In brief, from the very beginning, the young couple was destined to die. Almost every decision made by the three characters, leads up to the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. These characters are Tybalt, the Nurse and Friar Laurence. They assisted fate in succeeding to not allow Romeo and Juliet to be together. The deaths were the fault of the people who did not realize their mistakes, and now grieve. All of them made considerable mistakes by not thinking before they acted. If the nurse had continued supporting her, the friar thought carefully and Tybalt did not hold a grudge, these deaths would not have occurred. The outcome would have been completely different. The errors of one moment became the sorrow of whole lives.