Love is one of the most powerful emotions. It can bring out the best and worst in people. It has the power to bring people together, although it can also sway impulsive actions that can result in the worst of things. Love in itself is a complicated emotion one can feel. Most importantly, however, nothing can stand in the way of unconditional love. This is clearly illustrated in the play of Romeo and Juliet, a tragedy written by Shakespeare about an age-old feud between the Capulets and the Montague families. A family feud based on upkeeping reputation and social status with constant outbreaks of violence that under those circumstances inevitably lead to the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. Deaths that could have been prevented if the force of unconditional love did not intervene and did not get in the way of a possibility for a happy ending. Friar Lawrence as well as the Capulet-Montague feud are to blame for the tragic deaths of Romeo and Juliet, unlike Romeo and Juliet themselves as commonly believed.

Friar Lawrence is responsible for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet because of his hypocritical and selfish character. For instance, in just the second act of the play, Romeo comes to church to tell Friar Lawrence about Juliet, and the Friar quickly replies, ‘“Holy Saint Francis, what a change is here! / Is Rosaline whom thou didst love so dear, / So soon forsaken? Young men’s love then lies / Not truly in their hearts, but in their eyes (…) And art though changed?”’ (Shakespeare. 2.3.65-67;79). In this scene, Friar Lawrence complains about Romeo’s sudden, ‘illogical’ change in thought, yet he marries Romeo and Juliet just two scenes later. The hypocrisy in his actions signifies his true inner thoughts and values. He makes himself out to be a wise, sympathetic man and takes advantage of the fact that he is more of a father figure to Romeo than his actual father (Lord Montague). Friar Lawrence does not think about the consequences of his actions and abuses the power he has as a religious leader as well as a parental figure. Since he decides to marry them in secret and under the given conditions, he is also responsible for the aftermath.  Furthermore, after Juliet wakes up from her 42-hour sleep-like condition and sees that her love, Romeo, lays dead beside her, she threatens to kill herself. Friar Lawrence gives her the opportunity to escape; however, when she refuses, he quickly escapes without a second thought and leaves Juliet to mortally stab herself (Shakespeare.5.3). In this selection, Friar Lawrence barely puts up a fight when Juliet tells him that she will not be going anywhere. Although he has a good reputation for being the “trustworthy” Man of God that he makes himself out to be, in reality, he is simply a man who could not stand to have his reputation damaged in any way. His plan from the beginning to reunite the families is selfish and displays his unconditional love for himself. He does not stop to think about the consequences of marrying Romeo and Juliet in secret, he only thinks about how in the end it will somehow work out for the better. This plan and way of thinking only encourages him to go out of his way to ensure that the negative consequences of his unplanned ideas are not pinned on him. Considering this, Friar Lawrence’s hypocritical and selfish character could not prove his guiltiness any better, and he is equally at fault as the Capulet-Montague feud itself.

The toxic and non-sensical feud between the Capulets and Montagues is to blame for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. For example, after Romeo gets banished and escapes to Mantua, he hears about Juliet’s supposed death. He cannot believe the news and decides that he wants to join her in death. Consequently, he buys a poison from a local apothecary that is enough to kill 20 men. He keeps the poison and returns to Verona where Juliet lies in her tomb (Shakespeare.5.1). In this scene, Romeo realizes that the only way to reunite with his love is to join her in death. The poison he buys is poison that symbolizes the toxic feud between the Capulets and Montagues: the feud that poisoned the lovers’ relationship which caused it to end in such a tragedy. The feud in itself is deadly, but with no logical reason. In another instance, after having spent their wedding night together, Romeo must be out of Verona before daybreak as a result of the family feud and all the brawling it has caused. The couple is torn over the fact that such a simple barrier of bearing the cursed names of the two feuding families can keep them apart:

JULIET. Some say the lark makes sweet division. This doth not so, for she divideth us.

ROMEO. More light and light, more dark and dark our woes. (Shakespeare.5.3. 29-30;36)

The feud is a complicated and powerful barrier for the young lovers even though it is based on only their names. No one clearly understands why the feud exists in the first place and additionally, the feud has no clear goal. As a result of the feud, the couple cannot rightfully be together. The only way they can, is at night, and still the conditions of the feud play a major role. The families and servants fight in the name of either Capulet or Montague. The names mean nothing except that they dictate who one’s enemies and allies are. The hatred caused from a problem that has no logical roots or foundation is hatred that only the deaths of two young and innocent lovers can resolve. The unconditional love for one’s family name is enough to blindsight them which has caused everyone to make impulsive decisions with irreversible consequences. The feud lead to a large amount of people dying in vain and very few were able to understand that all the fighting was meaningless until the tragic loss of Romeo and Juliet. Accordingly, the Montague-Capulet feud plays a deadly role in the lives and deaths of Romeo and Juliet. In addition to this, they cannot be blamed for their own deaths due to these various influencers.

Contradictory to the previous points, many falsely blame Romeo and Juliet for their own deaths, claiming that they had an alternative that could have prevented the entire tragedy from taking place. It is mentioned at the very beginning of the play where the Chorus narrates:

A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life, / Whose misadventured piteous overthrows / Doth with their death bury their parents' strife. / The fearful passage of their death-marked love / And the continuance of their parents' rage, / Which, but their children’s end, naught could / remove. (Shakespeare.1. Prologue.6-10)

Romeo and Juliet did nothing wrong. All they did was fall in love. It may seem as if they could simply forget about each other and become like the rest of their family, who judge others by simply their name and no more. However, in reality, they are manipulated by characters and are forced to face unbeatable obstacles. Suicide is the only option left for them; it is something they feel forced to do under their given circumstances. It is the figures in their lives that generate conflicts based on their love that has such disastrous consequences. The conditions the couple live in do not allow them to stand up for themselves without being looked down upon or in some cases thrown out of the household. Without these powerful influencers, the “star-crossed lovers” may have had their happy ending. Thus, one cannot blame Romeo and Juliet for their tragic deaths as the circumstances and societal pressure drove them towards suicide, their only remaining option at the time.

The unconditional love in this tragic play generates conflict with consequences beyond repair. Friar Lawrence’s ambitions and the ‘poisonous’ and senseless Capulet-Montague feud were solely based on maintaining a reputation. So much so, that the only thing that could help them realize all the harm that was done was in vain, were the tragic deaths of Romeo and Juliet. The role unconditional love plays is the role of one of the most dangerous emotions, and emotions are already powerful weapons in life as it is. The more intense one’s love for something or someone is, the more clouded judgment one will have. However, sometimes for the better, as Bridgett Devoue once wrote, “Love is a necessary tragedy.”