If I had to choose one trait that Romeo, Juliet, Friar
Lawrence, and the Nurse all share that leads to the death of the sweethearts in
Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, I would have to say it is their
inability to view the world in a more realistic
fashion.
All of these people have something vested in the
love shared between Romeo and Juliet. Romeo is not realistic, nor is Juliet, with the
idea that they might defy the long-standing feud between their families with any
success. Hate runs high, and even the strongest love, which might break down barriers
between the two young people, is not going to be welcomed by the others involved. We
specifically see this in the character of Tybalt. He has nothing to win or lose when
Romeo shows up at the Capulet party. Even Lord Capulet has no concern regarding Romeo's
presence and orders Tybalt to let it go. However, Tybalt, the hot-head, refuses to do
so. It is people like him that fuel this feud, and inevitably, his murder of Mercutio
pushes the plot quickly to its tragic end.
Juliet is also
unrealistic in that she is a woman, she has no way to stand up to her parents, and
she—in essence—belongs to them to do with her as they wish.
Defiance may be a normal reaction for a young person, and Juliet
can be excused because Capulet had been so casual on the topic of
her marriage before now. However, she is a young woman in a male-dominated society, and
even her mother will not defy Capulet.
The Nurse is
unrealistic as she allows this relationship to move forward. She may be sentimental
because Juliet is like her dead daughter, Susan, and we know she loves Juliet like a
child, but the Nurse is a servant. She has no say in the household and she cannot do
anything to help Juliet fight the power of her parents. Instead of being forthright with
Juliet, and/or going to her parents when Romeo starts hanging around, she acts more like
Juliet's girlfriend and less like her guardian, and promotes the relationship until the
marriage has taken place—and her favorite, Tybalt, is killed. It is only then that the
Nurse changes her position regarding Romeo's place in Juliet's life. When Juliet
believes the Nurse has turned her back on Romeo, Juliet cuts the Nurse out of her
life.
The Friar's intentions are good: he wants to find a
way to bury the strife between the two families and believes their love is the key to
this hope. However, he should know enough of the sins of people, their shortcomings, and
their inability to put anger behind them to ever believe the Capulets and Montagues
would end their strife for any reason—short of death. This feud has
been going on so long, that no one seems to remember exactly what started it. The
families have been threatened by the Prince with death. If this
will not stop them, the Friar should have been more realistic: for if the families would
not reconcile in the face of the secret marriage, what did he
expect would happen to Romeo and Juliet, even had Romeo not been banished? Would both be
rejected by parents who hated their in-laws? And how would Rome and Juliet
survive?
I believe all of these characters were
unrealistic, and their failure to live with the realization that hearts do not change so
easily leads Romeo and Juliet to disaster. (Of course, Shakespeare also told us in the
Prologue that the lovers were star-crossed.)
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