their relationship, and it is his plan that ultimately goes awry. He is the one who gives Juliet the potion to help her fake her own death. He is the one who tries and fails to get a message to exiled Romeo to tell him of this plan. He is also the only one who could have really prevented Romeo and Juliet from killing themselves, but he arrives at the tomb too late—just after Romeo has already killed himself—and then he leaves Juliet there alone, enabling her to stab herself. In the final scene of the play, he tells the whole story to the lovers' fathers andthe Prince, saying,

"and, if aught in thisMiscarried by my fault, let my old lifeBe sacrificed, some hour before his time,Unto the rigour of severest law."

Here, he acknowledges himself that he may have had some hand in how events unfolded and offers himself up to the mercy of the Prince.

There are several characters who could be considered most to blame for the tragic deaths of Romeo and Juliet, beginning with the Capulets and Montagues. It is their longstanding family feud that prevents Romeo and Juliet from publicly expressing their love. The bitter family feud forces Romeo and Juliet to conceal their love and marry in private at Friar Laurence's cell. If their families were on good terms, Romeo would have been officially invited to the Capulet ball and Tybalt would not have been offended by his presence. Romeo could have simply approached Juliet, and the two lovers would have been more than happy to publicly reveal their strong feelings for each other.

Tybalt can also be blamed for Romeo and Juliet's tragic deaths. Tybalt's aggression influences Romeo to intervene in his fight with Mercutio, leading to the death of Romeo's close friend and his eventual exile. If Tybalt were not such a hothead, Mercutio would still be alive and Romeo would have never been banished. It is Romeo's banishment and Paris's sudden marriage proposal that influence Friar Laurence to devise a faulty plan in hopes of reuniting the lovers.

One can also place the blame on Romeo for his and Juliet's tragic deaths. Romeo's impulsive, rash actions influence him to marry Juliet in secret. Rather than taking things slow with Juliet and considering their family feud, Romeo insists on marrying her. His impetuous personality also influences him to react out of passion and kill Tybalt. It is Romeo's rash behavior that also causes him to commit suicide at the end of the play.

There are several people that could be blamed for the deaths of these two young people, including their parents, by keeping the feud between the two families going. Mercutio can be blamed, to some degree. He was the one who got Romeo to go to the ball. When Mercutio was killed, Romeo avenged his death, and ended up having to leave Verona instead of staying with Juliet.

However, one of the characters who is most to blame could be Friar Laurence. Friar Laurence was the wise adviser to Romeo and Juliet. He kept their secret and helped them be together. He was the one who married the two, hoping that the marriage would cause an end to the feuding. He was the one who came up with the idea of giving Juliet the potion to put her in a coma-like state for 42 hours. He wrote a letter to Romeo, explaining the plan, but the letter never reached Romeo. After the two of them died, the Friar left, so his plan was never found out. Friar Laurence, being a man of God, could have gone to the families and told them that the feuding had to end. They may have listened to him. They trusted him. The nurse is another one who can be blamed, as well. She was Juliet's trusted friend. She sent letters to Romeo for Juliet. She helped Juliet when she was going to marry Romeo. When it was told that Romeo was gone, the nurse agreed that Juliet should marry Paris. She didn't stand up for Juliet's love for Romeo.

Some of the blame also has to be placed on the shoulders of Romeo and Juliet. They were young and reckless. Instead of trying to figure out a way to make their relationship work, they both killed themselves. They have to be held responsible to some extent. This beautiful tragedy has many people that can be blamed. Two young people, who truly loved each other, felt that they had no other choice than to do what they did. The people in their lives could have prevented all of this. That is the true tragedy.

Just about every character can be blamed for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet, including Romeo and Juliet. Since the Montagues and Capulets are warring families, Romeo and Juliet both realize their marriage could very likely end in bloodshed. Tybalt can be blamed for Romeo’s death since his quick temper results in Mercutio’s death and Romeo’s exile. Friar Lawrence and the Nurse can both be blamed because they enable the marriage. Friar Lawrence marries them in secret, and the Nurse acts as a messenger of sorts between Romeo and Juliet. Even Mercutio could be blamed, since his rash decision to fight Tybalt results in his death and Tybalt’s. All of these characters contribute in some way to the deaths of Romeo and Juliet, for each hasten fate to its tragic conclusion.

On one hand, one might claim that Romeo's and Juliet's parents are to blame for their children's deaths.  After all, these children were raised in a culture of aggression where they have learned that hating their family's enemy is crucial and that violence is often the answer to problems.  Were it not for the families' grudge against one another, Romeo and Juliet might have been free to tell their parents about their feelings or they might not have been so quick to jump to violent action as an answer.

On the other hand, one could blame the Nurse and Friar for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet.  Romeo and Juliet are children, and they are encouraged by these two adults who they trust to go forward with the relationship.  The Nurse serves as a go-between for them, the Friar marries them in secret, and he even comes up with the plan for Juliet to fake her own death.  If the Nurse and the Friar had advised the couple to speak with their parents, it is possible that they would not have ended up dead.  It is even possible that their parents might have been supportive of the match.  The chorus says in the prologue that Romeo and Juliet come from "two households, both alike in dignity," and this statement makes it clear that the families are equal in status.  Further, when Tybalt gets angry that Romeo has attended the Capulets' party uninvited, Lord Capulet says that "Verona brags of [Romeo] / [As] a virtuous and well-governed youth" (1.5.76-77).  In other words, then, he has nothing against Romeo, personally, and has actually heard good things about him.  Further, at the end of the play, when the deaths of these youths have been discovered, Montague vows to erect a golden statue of Juliet to honor her faithfulness, and Capulet makes a similar promise to commission a statue of Romeo to lie by "his lady's" (5.3.314).  Thus, when the families learn how much their children loved each other, they try to honor that love.  Therefore, it seems entirely possible that if the Nurse and Friar had encouraged the lovers to be honest with their families, the play might have turned out very differently.

The question is actually more difficult than it seems since there are so many factors one needs to consider in order to make a final determination. One should understand that the tragedy arose because of a number of unfortunate issues and events which all added to the drama.

In the first place, if there had been no feud between the two families, the tragedy might never have occurred, for it was the primary cause for all the succeeding events. It was because of this that our two star-crossed lovers had to meet in secret, Tybalt killed Mercutio, Romeo retaliated by killing Tybalt and Romeo was banished. Furthermore, the feud also led to friar Laurence marrying the two doomed lovers in secret in the hope that their marriage would lead to a resolution of the conflict between the two families.

It is, therefore, clear that all those involved in these circumstances were in some way or another complicit in the eventual suicide of the two infatuated youngsters, including themselves. They were much too impulsive and naive and quickly accepted whatever guidance they were given, especially by friar Laurence. The question, however, remains: who, out of all those involved, was most responsible?

Clearly, the one whose actions led directly to their demise should be seen as most complicit in this regard, and it seems as if friar Laurence is the most guilty. Firstly, he is the one who so easily acquiesced to Romeo's request for a marriage. Instead of advising against such an impulsive step, the friar naively assumed that it would act as an incentive for the warring families to realize the folly of their fight since love conquers all. He tells Romeo in Act 2, scene 3:

But come, young waverer, come, go with me,In one respect I'll thy assistant be;For this alliance may so happy prove,To turn your households' rancour to pure love.

His meddling, though, created more problems. 

Added to that, the friar's support for their illicit affair encouraged the two lovers and was most probably the reason why Romeo refused to engage Tybalt in a swordfight leading to Mercutio's fiery intervention and subsequent death. This, in turn, led to avenging his best friend's death and he killed Tybalt in a subsequent duel. He was then banished at the risk of death. 

Furthermore, it was the friar who told Juliet to drink a sleeping potion to fake her own death so that she could escape having to marry Paris. It would have been immoral for her to do so since she was already married to Romeo, and she obviously did not love Paris. The friar tells her in Act 4, scene 1:

Take thou this vial, being then in bed,And this distilled liquor drink thou off;When presently through all thy veins shall runA cold and drowsy humour, for no pulseShall keep his native progress, but surcease:No warmth, no breath, shall testify thou livest;The roses in thy lips and cheeks shall fadeTo paly ashes, thy eyes' windows fall,Like death, when he shuts up the day of life;Each part, deprived of supple government,Shall, stiff and stark and cold, appear like death:And in this borrow'd likeness of shrunk deathThou shalt continue two and forty hours,And then awake as from a pleasant sleep. 

This act brought about greater complications since Romeo did not receive the friar's urgent message about Juliet's true condition and he, believing that she was indeed dead, killed himself; she later did the same on discovering her love's corpse next to her.

The friar's actions truly epitomise the expression: 'The road to hell is paved with good intentions.' It was his desire to do good that directly led to the unfortunate deaths of both our inexperienced and impulsive lovers.

The families are most to blame for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. Without their longstanding feud, the events of the play would very likely never have happened. 

From the first brawl at the opening of the play, we see a deep-seated aggression between the Capulets and the Montagues. Tybalt sums it up best: "I hate the word as I hate hell, all Montagues and thee." Tybalt's deep-seated rage against the other family leads him to take Romeo's presence at the Capulet party as an insult, and he will later challenge Romeo because of it. This blind hatred, exemplified by Tybalt but not unique to him, puts Romeo and Juliet in a position where they must take extraordinary measures to preserve their love.  Ultimately, they are unable to continue without each other, but it was the hatred of the families that set the circumstances for their ultimate demise. 

This is an often-considered question and you should definitely check out the link below for further discussion. I consider myself somewhat biased in this analysis because I always felt as though Juliet portrayed such maturity and loyalty that she did not deserve to be mixed up with such a childish young man as Romeo. She was only thirteen years old, yet the adults around her and the man she chose to love let her down. In my opinion, then (and it simply comes down to a subjective analysis), Romeo is most at fault for three reasons stemming from his inability to listen to the truth.

First, he should have listened to himself. In Act I, Scene 4 after Mercutio's narcissistic Queen Mab speech, Romeo tells the audience in an aside that he feels whatever comes next (he's on his way to Capulet's party) will lead to his death. He says,

I fear too early, for my mind misgivesSome consequence yet hanging in the starsShall bitterly begin his fearful dateWith this night’s revels, and expire the termOf a despisèd life closed in my breastBy some vile forfeit of untimely death.

Although I joy in thee,I have no joy of this contract tonight.It is too rash, too unadvised, too sudden,Too like the lightning, which doth cease to beEre one can say “It lightens.” Sweet, good night.This bud of love, by summer’s ripening breath,May prove a beauteous flower when next we meet.

There is no one person responsible for Romeo and Juliet’s death, but they are each partly to blame.

Friar Lawrence takes responsibility for Romeo and Juliet’s death because he secretly married them, he gave Juliet the potion that made Romeo think she was dead, and he failed to get word to Romeo that she wasn’t.  However, there are many other people who can be considered responsible, including Montague and Capulet, Mercutio, Tybalt, Paris, and Prince Escalus.

The two lovers would not have died if Juliet’s parents had not insisted that she marry Paris, so a large part of the blame belongs with them.  Montague is also responsible for continuing the feud between the two families that led the two lovers to keeping their marriage secret.

If Mercutio had not fought Tybalt, and Tybalt had not returned to fight Romeo, Romeo would not have been banished for killing Tybalt.

Now, Tybalt, take the ‘villain’ back again

That late thou gavest me; for Mercutio's soul

Is but a little way above our heads,

Staying for thine to keep him company.

Either thou or I, or both, must go with him. (Act 3, Scene 1)

The prince is also partly to blame, because he could have found a better way to deal with the feud.  He seems very frustrated with the two families, because people are dying in the streets due to the silly feud.  Considering the circumstances of Romeo’s killing Tybalt he just banishes him, but he could have looked into the situation a little more. If Romeo had not been banished he would not have fled and then returned to find Juliet supposedly dead.

Finally, you can’t forget to lay blame on the star-crossed lovers themselves.  Romeo and Juliet act impulsively, irresponsibly, and foolishly from the beginning of the play until the end.  They did not need to marry in secret, Juliet did not need to fake her death, and Romeo did not have to kill himself as soon as he saw her.  Likewise, Juliet might have put some thought into it before killing herself when she awoke to find Romeo dead.

Although the deaths of the two lovers do “bury their parents’ strife,” it is certainly at a high cost.  Rash actions on most of the characters’ parts resulted in the tragedy of the young love cut short.  It is a lesson to us all to think before we act.

It's difficult to give a definitive answer to this question, because the circumstances surrounding their deaths are the result of misunderstanding, impatience and fear, as well as timing and circumstance. One could say Romeo and Juliet themselves are responsible for their own deaths, since both of them commit suicide. But the hateful feud that divides their families and compels their parents to forbid them to see each other is also a factor. Tybalt, Juliet's cousin, kills Mercutio, Romeo's best friend, and Romeo kills Tybalt in a fit of rage, and is banished. So on some level Romeo's behavior sets in motion the events that lead to their deaths: their plot to run away, Juliet's staged death helped by the Friar, missed communication keeping Juliet's plan secret, and Romeo's misunderstanding of it that prompts him to kill himself. Since Romeo is characterized as fickle and impulsive, he could be said to be slightly more to blame. But the final lesson of the play is that the hatred of the families for one another is ultimately the cause of their deaths.

In one sense, you could argue that the feud is responsible for Romeo's and Juliet's death.  If the families had not being fighting and has not had bitter hatred toward each other, Romeo and Juliet falling in love would not have been a problem.

Romeo's impetuousness, or the general rash decisions that both Romeo and Juliet make, can be the cause of their deaths.  If both had just slowed down, thought things through and didn't feel so desperate, perhaps their lives would have turned out differently.  However, they were working against time, as Romeo was banished and Juliet was to be marrying Paris soon.

The most obvious cause of Romeo's and Juliet's death is fate.The prologue spells it out rather clearly:

Two households, both alike in dignity, In fair Verona, where we lay our scene, From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. From forth the fatal loins of these two foes A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life;Whole misadventured piteous overthrows Do with their death bury their parents' strife. The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love, And the continuance of their parents' rage, Which, but their children's end, nought could remove.. (emphasis added)

Before anything else, Shakespeare indicates that Romeo and Juliet will die--there's no other way that this play could end.  The actions of the play could be different, but the outcome will always be the same.  Many argue the idea of fate versus free-will, but Shakespeare is very clear as to what he believes is responsible for Romeo's and Juliet's deaths.

Romeo and Juliet, while old enough to fall in love and get married secretly, are still only children.  They did have the courage to defy their families secretly but not out in the open.  They went to the Friar and the Nurse for help.

The Nurse is actively involved from Act 1 where the two meet at the ball and then pine for each other and for their misfortunes for having fallen in love with the enemy.  She is the one who listens to Juliet's wimpering and the Nurse runs errands to Romeo and to the Friar on the children's behalf.  All this running around in secret has caused a more desperate situation than necessary, when she should have spoken up.  However, remembering that she is a hired helper rather than a noble woman or family member may have had something to do with her compliance.  She acts for Juliet out of love for the girl.

The Friar also should have spoken up.  He is responsible for marrying the two and then arranging for Juliet's supposed death so that she may escape with Romeo to parts unknown.  His note goes astray so that Romeo hears only that his wife is dead.  She wakes up only to learn that her husband has killed himself, and she quickly follows.

Had the Nurse and Friar confessed to the marriage, the children wouldn't both be dead.  However, the feud probably wouldn't be resolved and the two would have been forced to get an anullment since their families would not have stood for secret marriages.

Any number of people can be held responsible for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. Their parents can be held responsible for their stupid feud, which causes the two young people to go to such extremes to prove their love. Some blame goes to Friar Laurence for suggesting that Juliet take a potion to make it appear that she is dead. Ultimately, however, I think Romeo and Juliet take most of the blame themselves. If Juliet had not taken the potion, Romeo would not have killed himself, thinking she was dead; Juliet, likewise, would not then have killled herself when she saw Romeo's dead body. They might have found a more mature way of handling the situation, such as appealing to the Prince for help or just running off together.

There is a great deal of debate over this very subject. Lets start with a few possibilities, and then examine what Shakespeare himself said.

First, one must consider Romeo and Juliet themselves. They are impetuous teenagers. No one was forcing them to rush into marriage, and no one forced them to take their own lives. They behaved immaturely and irrationally, and did actually commit suicide.

Second, there are many arguments for the Friar and the Nurse. As adults, and as co-conspirators, they had many opportunities to come forward and "turn the kids in". If not that, they could have at least counseled Romeo and Juliet against their choice of marriage, recognizing that it was too problematic and certainly too soon. The Nurse is the only one to encourage Juliet to leave Romeo's path, when she encourages Juliet to marry Paris. But bottom line, these adults weren't guiding their charges very well.

An argument could also be made for Mercutio and Tybalt. Had either one been able to control their temper, as Romeo asked both to do, then the events would not have been set in motion that led to Romeo and Juliet's death.

However, Shakespeare goes to great length to tell the audience that it is the parents, the families at large, and their feud that is the real cause for the teenagers' deaths. See these lines from the prologue:

The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love, And the continuance of their parents' rage, Which but their children's end naught could remove,

Their love is death-mark'd because of their parents' rage, as proven by the fact that the rage only ended when Romeo and Juliet's lives ended. Then, in the last scene, Shakespeare has the prince lay the blame on Capulet and Montague (and, incidentally, himself):

Where be these enemies?--Capulet,--Montague,-- See what a scourge is laid upon your hate, That heaven finds means to kill your joys with love! And I, for winking at your discords too, Have lost a brace of kinsmen:--all are punish'd.

The Prince says they are all punished for the feud by the deaths of those they love. They are responsible.

So, there's a few options for you. See which one makes the most sense for your interpretation.

Who is most to blame is definitely an arguable question, but here are some plausible suggestions. The collapse of the support system for the young couple begins at the top. The prince of Verona fails to control his subjects. Juliet’s parents, particularly her father, sets a bad example and continually makes poor choices. The Roman Catholic Church is at fault as well, for the friar whom the pair trusts also misguides them. Lastly, because the couple has no strong adult to turn to, they are forced to rely on their own immature abilities to reason. The combined results of all these factors result in tragedy.

In Act V, Scene 3, Friar Laurence's fear of the guards finding him in the tomb directly leads to the death of Juliet; for, had he remained with Juliet, she would not have been able to kill herself.

Friar Laurence. ....For the watch is coming. / Come, go, good Juliet, I dare no longer stay.

Juliet. Go, get thee hence, for I will not away.

[Exit Friar Laurence]

If, then, there is but one culprit who must be chosen, Friar Laurence is the most culpable as he secretly marries the lovers, he hides Romeo, and he provides Juliet with the sleeping potion; moreover, he leaves the emotionally vulnerable Juliet when he could have forced her out of the tomb with him.

His failure to speak with the parents and seek to ameliorate their hatred and his other actions go completely against his religious vows as well as being unconscionable.

There is plenty of blame to be spread for Romeo and Juliet's death, but Lord Capulet's role in it is his insistence that Juliet marry Paris almost immediately after Tybalt's death.

Capulet misinterprets Juliet's grief and unhappiness, which is due to Romeo's banishment, as mourning her beloved cousin Tybalt. Although he has felt before that Juliet, not quite 14, is too young to marry, now he thinks it is the proper cure for her melancholy.

Capulet's heart is the right place, as he loves his daughter and wants to do what is best for her, but once he has made up his mind, his patriarchal prerogative takes over, and he loses his temper when Juliet resists the match. Rather than listen to her, he calls her a "disobedient wretch" and threatens to disown her if she doesn't comply with his demands.

Perhaps if he had not lost his temper, Juliet might have felt safe to confide in him her secret marriage to Romeo, but at this point she fears him too much. For that reason, she turns to the friar and his much riskier plot of taking a potion that feigns death. This, of course, leads to the mishap in which Romeo thinks she really has died and returns to Verona to commit suicide.

More indirectly, Capulet, though he has the power to do so, takes no concrete steps to try to the resolve the feud, even after Tybalt is killed. He knows how destructive the feud is, but he is willing to tolerate it, which means that Romeo and Juliet have to keep their love secret.

It could be argued that Capulet is to blame for Romeo and Juliet's deaths because of his insistence that Juliet marries Paris. Although he is initially reluctant to agree to the marriage (because he feels that Juliet is too young), he soon changes his mind and realizes that Paris is an ideal suitor.

Juliet, however, does not love Paris. In fact, she meets Romeo and falls in love with him instead. When Juliet refuses to marry Paris in act 3, scene 5, Capulet becomes angry and threatens to ostracize her from the family. For a young woman, this could be disastrous:

Hang thee, young baggage, disobedient wretch!

I tell thee what: get thee to church o' Thursday,

Or never after look me in the face.

Capulet, therefore, gives Juliet a choice: she either obeys him or loses her family. His refusal to listen to his daughter forces Juliet's hands. She knows that Capulet will not accept her marriage to Romeo, therefore she must go to extreme measures to be with him.

However, there are other factors to consider when we think about responsibility. Capulet certainly plays a role, along with his wife, but the feud between the families also plays an important role, as does Friar Lawrence's ill-conceived plan.

Romeo and Juliet’s deaths could be interpreted to be Lord Capulet’s fault because he insisted that Juliet marry Paris.

Lord Capulet is a complicated man. On the one hand, he has a fiery temper. On the other hand, he can also be reasonable. When it comes to his daughter, Capulet is very passionate. His actions unfortunately lead to Juliet’s death, and Romeo’s too.

Lord Capulet takes part in the duel in the marketplace, but he behaves more reservedly during his daughter’s party. Juliet is his prized possession. At first, he seems very reasonable. He does not want his only daughter to marry too quickly. He advises Paris to win her heart.

And too soon marr'd are those so early made.The earth hath swallow'd all my hopes but she,She is the hopeful lady of my earth:But woo her, gentle Paris, get her heart,My will to her consent is but a part;An she agree, within her scope of choiceLies my consent and fair according voice. (Act 1, Scene 2)

He also seems to be mellow at Juliet’s ball. Tybalt is ready to fight Romeo then and there, but Capulet won’t let him. He says Romeo has a good reputation and argues that a fight will disturb their guests. Tybalt holds off until later, when he does try to engage Romeo. He kills Mercutio, who steps in to defend Romeo, and Romeo slays Tybalt.

It seems that Tybalt’s death changes things for Lord Capulet. He is so entrenched in grief that he reverses his position of patience on Juliet’s marriage. He insists that she marry Paris in only a few days. Juliet is horrified. After all, she is already secretly married to Romeo. Capulet just makes a lot of threats and seems to get angrier and angrier.

Hang thee, young baggage! disobedient wretch!I tell thee what: get thee to church o' Thursday,Or never after look me in the face:Speak not, reply not, do not answer me;My fingers itch. (Act 3, Scene 5)

He threatens to throw Juliet out if she doesn’t do what he says. She is grieving too, for her cousin and for Romeo. Her new husband was banished when he killed Tybalt. Juliet does not know what to do. She can’t marry Paris. Her only choice seems to be to go to Friar Laurence and ask for help. He gives her a potion to fake her death.

Capulet’s insistence that Juliet marry Paris immediately is what leads her to take the potion, which is what leads Romeo to think she is dead. Romeo kills himself, and when Juliet wakes up she kills herself because he is dead. Thus Capulet’s actions help lead directly to the deaths of the two young people.

It's difficult to apportion direct blame for the tragic demise of Romeo and Juliet. As the Prologue tells us, it was the destiny of these "star-cross'd lovers" to die such a tragic death. However, if we reject the Elizabethan worldview, which held that the movements of the stars control our destinies, then there are a number of likely candidates who most certainly contribute to the play's sad outcome.

The lion's share of the blame would surely go to the heads of the Montague and Capulet families. They are the ones who've been keeping up this bloody, bitter feud, a feud which prevents Romeo and Juliet from following their lovestruck hearts and spending the rest of their lives together.

Romeo's and Juliet's parents don't see marriage in terms of love; they unthinkingly subscribe to the prevailing convention among the upper classes that marriages are nothing more than strategic political alliances between powerful families. This attitude makes it almost inevitable that Romeo and Juliet's relationship will eventually come to grief. It places one more seemingly insurmountable hurdle in their way, making it virtually inevitable that they will take increasingly dangerous risks in pursuit of their dreams.

Then there's Friar Laurence, who undoubtedly means well but, in the end, contributes to the young lovers' demise with his hare-brained scheming. His plan to have Juliet take a sleeping draught which will make everyone think she's dead is risky, to say the least—not to mention rather cruel to Juliet's loved ones.

There's so much that can go wrong with the Friar's plan, and just about everything does. A moment's reflection would have told him that he was playing with people's lives and so should've come up with a better plan, one less likely to involve such danger. His recklessness and irresponsibility arguably made a bad situation a whole lot worse.

The feuding Capulet and Montague families are primarily responsible for the tragic deaths of Romeo, Juliet, and Paris. If both families were not hostile toward each other, Romeo and Juliet would have had no reason to hide their marriage and would more than likely have enjoyed a happy, uneventful life together.

One could also place some of the blame on Friar Lawrence and the Nurse. Friar Lawrence and the Nurse are the only two individuals who are aware of Romeo and Juliet's relationship, and they help arrange their secret marriage. Friar Lawrence's plan to give Juliet a sleeping potion backfires when his letter is not delivered to Romeo in Mantua, and he is forced to rescue Juliet from the Capulet tomb. When Romeo receives the news of Juliet's "death," he purchases poison, kills Paris at her tomb, and commits suicide. The Nurse is also aware that Juliet has already married Romeo and does not anticipate that her upcoming marriage to Paris will have a devastating impact on Juliet's psyche.

One could also argue that the hot-headed Tybalt is somewhat responsible for the lovers' deaths. If Tybalt had never challenged Romeo and fought Mercutio, Romeo would have never been banished and could have, perhaps, eventually expressed his love for Juliet publicly to end the feud.

The most obvious culprit is the long-standing feud between the Montagues and the Capulets; thus, ignorance, spite, and a lack of forgiveness lead to the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. However, we can also blame circumstance: if Friar Laurence's messenger had reached Romeo in time, he would have known that Juliet was merely asleep, and not dead in the chamber. Thus, luck and faulty communication are also responsible for the final outcome. 

We could also argue that Tybalt is to blame for instigating the duel which leads to his and Mercutio's deaths. If he had not been so hot-headed and prone to violence, a better outcome may have been achieved. Romeo, too, would also have to shoulder the blame for slaying Tybalt (and Paris).

Last, we could argue that Friar Laurence's behavior—that is, secretly marrying the couple, and encouraging Juliet to fake her own death—was irresponsible, and that he could have thought of a safer way by which to reconcile the two families.

In Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, two families are feuding. Because of the dangerous attitudes of the Capulets and Montagues, a tragedy occurs. Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet end their lives due to fact that they cannot freely love one another. The murderous animosity between the two families keeps the two "star-crossed" young lovers apart. 

If the Montagues and Capulets had not been enemies, Romeo and Juliet could have loved one another freely. Since the two families hate one another, Romeo and Juliet had to keep their love a secret. Juliet could not love Romeo without her family's destructive interference. Romeo could not love Juliet without his family's destructive interference.

Because two families would not end the feud, Romeo and Juliet had to make secretive plans to be together. When Friar Laurence's plan--giving Juliet a sleeping potion--failed to reach Romeo's ears, he planned his own suicide, thinking Juliet was actually dead. When Juliet awakened, she discovers her Romeo is dead. She kills herself with Romeo's dagger. Two innocent lives are forever in eternity. Romeo and Juliet could not be together because of their families' hatred for one another. 

When Juliet's and Romeo's dead bodies are discovered, even the Prince blames their deaths on the two feuding families.

The Prince chastises both Montague, whose wife has just died from grief, and Capulet, telling them that this event is the product of their hate...because they are all to blame for the feud.

Ironically, the two families decide to end the feud after losing Romeo and Juliet:

These losses, as promised, bring the end of the feud—Capulet and Montague swear to raise monuments to the other's child, now cured by the love of Juliet and her Romeo.

When it comes to who is to essentially to blame for the tragic ending of Romeo and Juliet, for the most part, we can agree with Prince Escalus's opinion expressed in the final scene. Prince Escalus very blatantly and accurately lays all blame on Lords Capulet and Montague:    See what a scourge is laid upon your hate,    That heaven finds means to kill your joys with love!    And I, for winking at you, discords took.    Have lost a brace of kinsmen. (V.iii.303-06)Another important point concerning the hatred and feud can be found in the opening prologue. Shakespeare makes a point of stating that, while the feud between the two families is a longstanding one, a period of peace had been reigning, but the present generation of Montagues and Capulets had decided to rehash the old argument, as we see in the line, "From ancient grudge break to new mutiny" (First Prologue, 3). Hence it is essentially Lords Capulet and Montague's decisions that created all of the hatred and violence, leading to the play's tragic end. Had this hatred not existed, the couple's hasty marriage would not have been an issue; nor would fate have played a role in their deaths; nor would Tybalt have become so enraged by Romeo's presence at the Capulet ball, causing his own death as well Romeo's banishment and eventually Romeo's and Juliet's own deaths.While the hatred is ultimately to blame, we must also remember that, as a tragedy, the play also contains a tragic hero. According to Aristotle's commonly accepted definition, a tragic hero must be a generally noble person who has some character flaw that leads to his/her demise. Romeo's character flaws are his impetuousness and the fact that he allows himself to be governed by his rash, passionate, intense emotions rather than by reason. Being guided by rational thought would have prevented Romeo from crashing the ball, from killing Tybalt out of revenge, and would have even helped him to realize the moment he saw Juliet in the tomb that she could not possibly actually be both dead and rosy cheeked, all of which would have prevented the couple's death in the play.

One of the things you need to remember is that these are two doomed lovers. In the prologue, the chorus mentions theses are "star-crossed lovers". In Shakespeare's time, many people believed that our lives have already been predetermined by some higher power. All the major events have some element of chance. Romeo went to the party to see Rosalind but meets Juliet. Romeo kills Tybalt by a rash and emotional impluse and this leads to his banishment. Friar Laurence's letter doesn't reach Romeo becuase of the plague. Juliet wakes up after Romeo kills himself moments before. Perhaps the two were meant to die no matter what happens.

Some may say that it is on-going feud between the Capulets and Montagues. If feud didn't did exist, they two would still be alive and together. There wouldn't have been a fight between Tybalt and Mercutio and no reason to banish Romeo.

Others might point the finger at Friar Laurence. He was the only adult that could have done something to prevent the death of the lovers. He could have not performed the marriage rites. He could have tried to get to the tomb sooner. He could have told both families what he had done when Tybalt and Mercutio was slain.

Still others may blame Romeo's implusive nature. If he had kept his cool during the fight, he wouldn't have stabbed Tybalt. If he had tried to confirm Juliet's "death", he wouldn't have made the decision to return to Verona with a vile of posion in hand. If he had waited a moment while in the Capulet tomb, he may have seen his wife wake up and the two of them could run away to start a new life together.

When you think about it, there are so many things that one can pin the blame for this tragedy.

There are a number of events and character choices that lead to the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. Rather than placing the blame on one person, let's look at all the factors that contribute to this tragic ending.

The Chorus opens the play and tells us what will happen—how the feud between these two families has deadly consequences. Overall, we could say this feud is to blame, as it drives many of the characters' choices that more directly lead to death. The Chorus tells us, "Which, but their children's end, naught could remove," which shows that nothing could have stopped the feud earlier in the play. It ends with the death of these two children.

Tybalt is a hothead, and his fight with Mercutio is a tipping point in our lovers' story. Tybalt challenges Romeo, who refuses to fight, but Mercutio steps in instead. If Tybalt backed away or if Mercutio did not take the bait, perhaps the story would have ended differently. When Tybalt kills Mercutio, Romeo's rage gets the best of him and he kills Tybalt, which leads to his banishment. All three of these characters make choices that contribute to the deaths of Romeo and Juliet.

In the final scene, Friar Laurence says he takes some of the blame. He is the one who orchestrated Juliet's sleeping potion, but alas, his letters to Romeo are not delivered. If he had been able to give Romeo warning that Juliet was merely asleep, Romeo would not have killed himself. If Juliet woke up a little sooner, Romeo would have found her alive. Of course, if we are going to place blame on the Friar, we could also place blame on the parents. Friar Laurence stepped in because Juliet was desperate after Lord Capulet demanded she marry Paris. If Lord Capulet had not set the wedding so soon, perhaps there would have been time to smooth things over and figure out a better solution.

There is plenty of blame to go around. We could even look at the small character of the apothecary, who provides Romeo with the illegal poison. By finding blame in many different characters, we see how truly these tragic events are the result of this long-standing feud.

I would argue that their deaths are the fault of their parents.  After all, it is the feud between their parents that initially makes Romeo and Juliet off limits to one another.  If the Capulets and Montagues weren't fighting, their children would likely have been able to be honest about their mutual love.  However, that is not possible because, as they are aware, their families would never accept the relationship. 

Further, Juliet is driven to desperate means due to her parents' threats and demands.  If they were not attempting to force her to marry the County Paris against her will, she would not go to Friar Lawrence's cell begging for his assistance, he would never concoct his plan, and she would never fake her own death, an action that leads to a miscommunication of epic proportion that results in Romeo's suicide by poison, an event that leads to Juliet's suicide by dagger.  Lord Capulet is brutal to his daughter, insisting that he would let her die in the streets before he would ever help her again if she disobeys him.  If he and his wife didn't push Juliet, she would not have taken the drastic measures that resulted in her own and her husband's deaths.

A number of characters contribute to Romeo’s banishment. Tybalt intends to challenge Romeo for attending a Capulet party. He instigates a number of fights, telling Benvolio in the first scene, “What, drawn, and talk of peace! I hate the word, / As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee.” Mercutio is another hot-headed individual who gladly reciprocates Tybalt’s aggression. In spite of Benvolio’s pleas for peace, Mercutio draws and fights Tybalt after exchanging insults. Romeo attempts to control this brawl, inadvertently causing Tybalt to stab Mercutio. The death of his friend spurs Romeo to attack and kill Tybalt.

Characters in the play disagree as to who carries the blame for these deaths. Benvolio reports Romeo’s initial reluctance to fight as well as Tybalt and Mercutio’s eagerness. Lady Capulet entirely blames Romeo for his actions, but Lord Montague defends Romeo as a mere deliverer of justice: “His fault concludes but what the law should end, / The life of Tybalt.” The penalty for murder and fighting in the streets is death, so Romeo simply followed the law by executing Tybalt after he had stabbed Mercutio.

The prince is furious (partially because Mercutio was a kinsman), and he decides to fall somewhere in the middle: he exiles but does not execute Romeo, unless he returns. Tybalt started a fight, Mercutio took him up on it, Romeo killed Tybalt in revenge, and the prince punished Romeo with banishment. Therefore, Tybalt, Mercutio, Romeo, and the prince all play an important role in Romeo’s exile. The two people who may have the most to do with it, however, are Capulet and Montague, the two patriarchs who perpetuates the feud that led to all the violence in the first place.

Feel free to answer this question with who you think is to blame. It is a question that asks for a subjective response, so the key is going to be your explanation as to why that character is to blame. This question could be made more difficult if you have to pick a single character. Tons of things go tragically wrong in this play, and I always think of a snowball rolling downhill. It gets bigger and bigger as it travels until it's an uncontrollable mess. You could list quite a few "if such and such didn't" or "if so and so didn't" statements for this play. That kind of statement can help guide you as to where blame could be placed for the events of the play. I think the friar deserves a great deal of the blame. He does very little in the way of steering Romeo toward waiting longer to take action regarding the supposed love between Romeo and Juliet. He agreed to perform the wedding ceremony and he agreed to help Juliet with her death faking. I could even place blame on Benvolio for convincing Romeo to go the Capulet party. If that didn't happen, everybody likely lives to the end of the following week. I also feel strongly that Romeo and Juliet deserve most of the blame. I understand that they are teenagers and teenagers aren't always prone to making wise decisions, but rushing into a marriage that they know their families would oppose should have been a giant red flag for them.

A number of people are responsible for the tragic events in Romeo and Juliet, including Romeo and Juliet themselves. Since the Montagues and Capulets are feuding families, Romeo and Juliet are fully aware of the social consequences of their actions. Their decision to pursue their love, regardless of the consequences, ultimately results in their deaths. 

Another character responsible for the tragic events is Tybalt. Tybalt becomes enraged when he sees Romeo at the Capulet ball. The next day, he challenges Romeo to a duel. Romeo refuses, but Mercutio fights in his stead. Tybalt kills Mercutio, and Romeo, enraged at the death of Mercutio, kills Tybalt. This conflict violates the Prince's earlier decree, so Romeo is exiled from Verona.

Another character responsible for the tragic events is Friar Lawrence. Though well-intentioned, the Friar's decision to secretly wed Romeo and Juliet ultimately results in their respective suicides. More specifically, the Friar's decision to give Juliet the sleeping potion eventually results in Romeo mistaking Juliet for dead, and Romeo's grief causes him to commit suicide. Upon waking, Juliet sees Romeo's dead body, so she commits suicide, too.

Jamie wrote, "I agree that Romeo and Juliet bear the ultimare responsibilty for their choices, but isn't this true of all the characters? "

Yes, absolutely--but most of them didn't kill themselves. They all had some responsibility. Remember "It takes a village"? This is almost "It takes a city to kill a couple."

But most of it falls, I submit, on R & J.

Greg

The Friar definitely oversteps his position, but he like everyone else, is bound by Fate! Fate is the most responsible, and in some ways fate is a real character in Romeo and Juliet. From the very beginning, we're told that Fate will play a major role in the play. 

The Friar is guilty of misdeeds and poor judgement, but he acts in service to fate, the only constant in the play from beginning to end. 

The question as posed, of course is "who" is most responsible. While today Fate is not a "who", in the time that the Romeo and Juliet story first emerged, it could be said to be an unseen but not unimportant actor in people's lives, and Shakespeare's version is, I think, true to that idea.

As fond as I am of the star-crossed lovers, I have to blame them for their deaths. Is it sad? Yes, but if you are willing to break social guidelines, you have to take the risks. They took action; they are responsible.

Greg

Not someone I relish quoting, but I think ol' Dr. Phil has a point when he argues, "choose the behavior, choose the consequences."  I agree that Romeo and Juliet bear the ultimare responsibilty for their choices, but isn't this true of all the characters?  For example, the Montagues and Capulets choose to continue their pointless feud; the Friar chooses to oppose Church doctrine and parental wishes; Lady Capulet chooses to have her daughter raised more by her nurse than by herself; even Mercutio (for whom I also have a weakness for, btw, Greg) chooses to engage in testosterone-driven sparring that gets himself killed.

The Friar definitely oversteps his position, but he like everyone else, is bound by Fate! Fate is the most responsible, and in some ways fate is a real character in Romeo and Juliet. From the very beginning, we're told that Fate will play a major role in the play. 

The Friar is guilty of misdeeds and poor judgement, but he acts in service to fate, the only constant in the play from beginning to end. 

The question as posed, of course is "who" is most responsible. While today Fate is not a "who", in the time that the Romeo and Juliet story first emerged, it could be said to be an unseen but not unimportant actor in people's lives, and Shakespeare's version is, I think, true to that idea.

As fond as I am of the star-crossed lovers, I have to blame them for their deaths. Is it sad? Yes, but if you are willing to break social guidelines, you have to take the risks. They took action; they are responsible.

Greg

The Friar definitely oversteps his position, but he like everyone else, is bound by Fate! Fate is the most responsible, and in some ways fate is a real character in Romeo and Juliet. From the very beginning, we're told that Fate will play a major role in the play. 

The Friar is guilty of misdeeds and poor judgement, but he acts in service to fate, the only constant in the play from beginning to end. 

The question as posed, of course is "who" is most responsible. While today Fate is not a "who", in the time that the Romeo and Juliet story first emerged, it could be said to be an unseen but not unimportant actor in people's lives, and Shakespeare's version is, I think, true to that idea.

While fate is responsible for the fact that both Romeo and Juliet were born into two feuding families, Shakespeare makes it very evident that the events leading up to the tragic deaths are a matter of choice rather than fate. For starters, Romeo is not only governed by his own choices, he is a very classic tragic hero and fits Aristotle's commonly accepted definition of a tragic hero by having fatal character flaws. If Romeo had no character flaws that lead to his own demise while otherwise being perfectly virtuous and innocent, the story would be less tragic. Romeo's character flaws are his impetuousness plus his tendency to be guided by his irrational emotions rather than by rational reason, and it is these character flaws that govern his choices in the play. It is through his impetuousness that he allows himself to be persuaded into crashing the Capulet's ball, even though he sensed it would lead to danger. It is through his irrational, emotional drive that he makes the choice to avenge himself on Tybalt for Mercutio's death, even though he knew Tybalt would be killed by the hands of the law. Finally, it is through his irrational emotionalism that he makes the decision to follow through with his own suicide. Shakespeare makes an important issue of the fact that Romeo notices Juliet still looks beautiful in death, that even her cheeks and lips still looked rosy, as we see in Romeo's lines:

Death, that hath suck'd the honey of thy breath,hath had no power yet upon thy beauty.Thou art not conquer'd. Beauty's ensign yetIs crimson in thy lips and in thy cheeks. (V.iii.92-95)

Had Romeo been thinking a bit more rationally at this moment, rather than by being guided by his intense emotionalism, he might have stopped to realize that she really was not dead. The fact that fate misdirected Friar Laurence's letter explaining Juliet's faked death would have been insignificant had Romeo been thinking more rationally; therefore, it is really Romeo's choices, especially his choice to allow himself to be governed by his emotionalism, that leads to the tragedies in the play, especially the final tragedies.Aside from Romeo, Shakespeare even makes a point that Lords Capulet and Montague have made choices to allow themselves to be governed by their own intense, violent, irrational emotions rather than by reason and that it is these choices that lead to the play's tragedies. We especially see this point made in Prince Escalus's speeches, particularly in the final scene, "See what a scourge is laid upon your hate, / That heaven finds means to kill your joys with love!" (303-04). Notice that he is not saying fate is responsible for Romeo's and Juliet's deaths; instead, he is saying that their hatred is to blame, and Capulet and Montague made the choice to hate and to continue the feud.Therefore, Shakespeare makes it very evident that, while fate may play a role in certain circumstances, it is ultimately choices that lead to the tragic deaths in the play.

In the final scene, the Prince speaks rightly when he blames Lords Capulet and Montague for not only Romeo's and Juliet's deaths, but also for the deaths of the Prince's own relatives. The Prince blames their hatred and their feud for all of these deaths. We see this accusation in the Prince's lines:

Where be these enemies? Capulet, Montage,See what a scourge is laid upon your hate,That heaven finds means to kill your joys with love!And I, for winking at you, discords too,Have lost a brace of kinsmen. All are punish'd. (Act 5, Scene 3)

However, others are also indirectly responsible for Romeo's and Juliet's deaths. While Friar Laurence broke no law nor holy sanction in marrying Romeo and Juliet without parental consent, even though his motive seems noble, one has to question the sensibleness of his decision. Friar Laurence agrees to marry them because he believed the "alliance may so happy prove, / To turn your households' rancour to pure love." In other words, he believed that uniting Romeo and Juliet in wedlock would put an end to the feud. The flaw in his plan is that the marriage was performed in secret with no immediate plan unveil the marriage. Had he been wiser, he would have foreseen that the ongoing feud would prevent any real relationship between Romeo and Juliet, sabotaging his efforts to create peace. Instead, he should have postponed the marriage until he, himself, could prepare Lords Capulet and Montague for the union. Friar Laurence continued to make things even worse by lying to Lord Capulet in helping Juliet fake her death. For all of these reasons Friar Laurence is indirectly responsible for their deaths. However, he is rightly pardoned by the Prince, because ultimately, their deaths are the fault of Lords Capulet and Montague.Tybalt is also indirectly responsible. Had he not had such a hot-headed temper and instead agreed with his uncle to let Romeo alone for crashing the ball, Tybalt, as well as Rome and Juliet, would have remained alive. Tybalt's death led to Romeo's banishment, which led to both his and Juliet's deaths.Finally the Prince also holds himself indirectly responsible because he did not check Lords Capulet and Montague sooner, nor try to stop the feud sooner. His personal blame is seen in the line, "and I, for winking at you, discords too, / Have lost a brace of kinsmen."

If we are to agree with Prince Escalus's view expressed in the final scene, then Lords Capulet and Montague are to blame for Romeo's and Juliet's deaths, as we see in Prince Escalus's lines:

Where be these enemies? Capulet, Montage,See what a scourge is laid upon your hate,That heaven finds means to kill your joys with love! (V.iii.302-04)

In saying this Prince Escalus is asserting that the couple's death served as God's punishment for Lords Capulet and Montague's hatred. Since both Romeo and Juliet were their parents' only joys, and since they died in part because they had to marry in secret, Prince Escalus is also asserting that God killed Lords Capulet and Montague's only joys in life with their love for each other. While Romeo made some rash and fatal decision, and Friar Laurence also made some poor decisions, none of these mistakes would have been an issue or even existed had the two families not been involved in a longstanding feud. Therefore, Prince Escalus is perfectly right to assert that Lords Capulet and Montague are ultimately to blame for the couple's death.Romeo made the rash decisions of crashing the Capulet's ball and of hastily marrying Juliet in secret; plus, he made the rash and fateful decision to avenge himself on Tybalt for Mercutio's death. However, had the hatred between Lords Capulet and Montague not existed, Romeo's presence at the ball would never have been an issue; the couple would never have had to marry in secret; and, Tybalt would never have challenged Romeo to a duel due to feeling insulted by Romeo's presence at the Capulet ball, resulting in Mercutio's death and Tybalt's own death, plus Romeo's banishment and eventually his own death as well. In addition, Friar Laurence made the rash but well-intentioned decision to marry the couple, which later led to the need to fake Juliet's death. When the plan to fake her death goes awry, it leads to her real death; however, neither of these things would have happened had, again, the hatred between the two families not existed. Therefore, Prince Escalus is perfectly right to place the blame all of the deaths in the play on Lords Capulet and Montague.

This is one of the central questions of Romeo and Juliet, and one which is left hanging, in a sense, at the end of the play, when the Prince says "Some shall be pardon'd, and some punished." In the play's prologue, Shakespeare seems to suggest that Romeo and Juliet are simply victims of fate when the Chorus calls them "star-cross'd lovers." A case could be made for many of the characters. First, both Romeo and Juliet knew perfectly well that their love would put their lives in danger in light of the violent feud between their two families. By entering into marriage, they took an enormous risk that ultimately cost them their lives. Romeo, in particular, is portrayed early in the play as impulsive in matters of love. Additionally, both the Nurse and Friar Lawrence, by assisting the young couple in their dangerous course of action, could receive  a certain share of the blame. But most fundamentally, the responsibility for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet lies with their families. By continuing with their feud, they ultimately sacrificed the lives of the two loves. Indeed, both Capulet and Montague acknowledge this fact at the end of the play, when they become reconciled.

There are two good candidates for the role of scapegoat in Romeo and Juliet. A scapegoat is a person who is ultimately blamed for the mistakes or sins of others. First off, Friar Lawrence could easily be considered a scapegoat. He is responsible for marrying Romeo and Juliet, despite the perceived objections of parents who were involved in a bitter feud. He also devises the foiled plan for Juliet to fake her death and be rescued by Romeo at Capulet's tomb. His plan to get a message to Romeo is disrupted as Friar John is delayed by a plague threat in Verona. He flees the tomb after finding Romeo and Paris dead and just as Juliet is awakening. He makes a feeble attempt to pull Juliet away, but she remains to kill herself. The Friar even admits his guilt when he is apprehended in the churchyard after Romeo, Juliet and Paris are found dead in the tomb. He tells the Prince,

I am the greatest, able to do least,Yet most suspected, as the time and placeDoth make against me, of this direful murder.And here I stand, both to impeach and purgeMyself condemnèd and myself excused.

And if aught in thisMiscarried by my fault, let my old lifeBe sacrificed some hour before his timeUnto the rigor of severest law.

From forth the fatal loins of these two foes

A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life

What a good question! And one to which there is no one simple answer.

First, there is a potentially deadly situation: two powerful families who have been at war for as long as anyone can remember. By falling in love and insisting on being together, the lovers place themselves in grave danger. The fact that their passion is stronger than their sense of risk is another cause: their youthful folly, and the excitement of secret meetings. This is aided and abetted by Juliet's Nurse - who allows sentiment to assist putting her young charge, and her lover, at risk.

Rashness, especially Romeo's suicide when he believes Juliet to be dead and cannot live without her, is yet another factor - had he waited another few moments, he would have discovered she was alive after all. And Friar Lawrence, by suggesting such a drastic ruse, must take his share of the blame too. Whether this play lays blame on youthful impetuousness, or on the follies of those older and wiser who should have known better, is something that has posed questions for audiences ever after.

However, the one single cause of their deaths is their author: Shakespeare himself. The play is a tragedy, and in the Prologue tells us that the 'star-cross'd lovers' will 'take their life' - we can only wait for a tragic, fateful ending. It is as if Love, or this love, so young, so passionate, and so sudden, cannot be sustained and must kill the lovers - and the constant references to love/sex and death occur throughout the play, as do the extremes of love and hate. Yet it is not simple - and the play provides plenty of human agencies of the outcome (including the lovers themselves, who after all do kill themselves) and almost cliff-hanging moments when the audience can see what the protagonists cannot. Shakespeare leaves us with the irony that the Montagues and Capulets call a truce once the lovers are dead.

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This would be a good question for the discussion board.  In my opinion, it is the fault of the families for being so stubborn and for hating each other for no good reason.  Their inability to see how much Romeo and Juliet loved each other and how much they longed to be together because of their own feud is truly selfish.  Had they been willing to set aside their pride, they would have been able to save the lives of Romeo and Juliet.