Who is to Blame in Romeo and Juliet?
Prompt: William Shakespeare’s tragic play Romeo and Juliet often makes people wonder how
things could have gone wrong for the two “star-crossed lovers." As the story unfolds, it is
evident that many characters play a vital role in the events that ultimately lead to the tragic
deaths of Romeo and Juliet, but none hold the responsibility as much as the lovers themselves.
In a well-developed, double-chunk, four-paragraph essay, explain and analyze how Romeo and
Juliet are ultimately to blame for their own deaths.
As you write, remember your essay will be scored based on how well you:
•develop a multi-paragraph response to the assigned topic that clearly communicates your thesis
to the audience.
•support your thesis with meaningful examples and references from the text, carefully citing any
direct quotes.
•organize your essay in a clear and logical manner, including an introduction, body, and a
conclusion.
•use well-structured sentences and language that are appropriate for your audience.
•edit your work to conform to the conventions of standard American English.
First Paragraph (Introduction)
Pogo, a popular comic strip, coined the line “We have met the enemy, and he is us”
(Shaiven 12). In The Bean Trees—a popular novel by Barbara Kingsolver—one character tells
another “Whatever you want the most, it’s going to be the worst thing for you” (62). So what do
these two quotes have in common? The idea that of all the people and things out there that can
harm us, we seem to do the best job ourselves. This idea is not a new one; it has been around for
thousands of years—in the stories we call tragedies. One of the earliest philosophers/literary
critics, Aristotle (384 B.C.-324 B.C.), says this about the protagonist of a
tragedy: “In the ideal tragedy, the protagonist will mistakenly bring about his own
downfall—not because he is sinful or morally weak, but because he does not know enough (“The
Poetics”). In other words, tragic heroes cause their own deaths by making mistakes that could
have been prevented. And this is true of Romeo and Juliet in William Shakespeare’s tragedy of
the same name. If they had only made better decisions, Romeo and Juliet would not have died
(Tybalt, Mercutio, and Lady Montague would have survived as well). So even though other
factors do contribute to the deaths of Romeo and Juliet (e.g., the families’ feud and the Friar’s
mistakes), these two characters are most to blame for their own deaths. In Shakespeare’s tragic
drama Romeo and Juliet, the two title characters are responsible for their own deaths because
they make the impulsive and ill-informed decisions that eventually lead to their suicides.
Second Paragraph (Body)
First of all, Romeo causes his own death because he makes two crucial errors in
judgment: he_________________ and he__________________ . THEN, YOU DISCUSS AND
CITE CDS FOR THE TWO BAD DECISIONS ROMEO MAKES. REMEMBER, YOU MUST
WRITE AT LEAST TWO OF YOUR OWN SENTENCES FOR EACH CD (SO THAT’S AT
LEAST SIX); AND REMEMBER YOU MUST PROVIDE A PARENTHETICAL
CITATION FOR EACH CD. HERE IS THE TEMPLATE FOR YOUR CS: If Romeo
had________________ rather than____________ and had_________________ rather
than____________________ , he would not have drunk the poison and killed himself in the
Capulet vault.
Third Paragraph (Body)
Juliet’s suicide is also the result of hasty and ill-informed decisions; she makes the
mistake of_____________ and the mistake of__________________. THEN IT’S THE SAME
PATTERN AS PARAGRAPH TWO. HERE IS THE TEMPLATE FOR YOUR CS: Juliet
would not have killed herself with Romeo’s dagger if she had been more prudent in her decision
making, deciding to ___________________ instead of__________________ and to__________
instead of ______________________ .
Last Paragraph (Conclusion)
Overall, Shakespeare’s tragic drama Romeo and Juliet (and tragedies in general) have a
lot to teach us: we can learn from the mistakes of tragic heroes not to be impulsive and rash in
our decisions. Most of the mistakes we make are not deadly, but some are. For example, the
leading causes of death among American teenagers are (in order) automobile accidents,
homicide, and suicide—with over one half of all teenage deaths due to accidents of some sort
(“National Vital Statistics”). It does not take a genius to figure out that better decision-making
could have prevented most of these teenage deaths. Being prudent and taking time to make good
decisions improves the quality of everyone’s life. In fact, one poor decision that I learned from
was….FINISH THIS SENTENCE. THEN WRITE TWO OR THREE MORE ABOUT A BAD
DECISION YOU MADE, WHAT THE NEGATIVE CONSEQUENCES WERE, AND—MOST
IMPORTANTLY—WHAT YOU LEARNED FROM THE EXPERIENCE. Life is precious;
making good decisions will help us make the most of it.