7. Is any character or characters more responsible than others for the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet? How so? What makes them responsible? Explain.
The tragedy of Romeo and Juliet was brought on by a sequence of events. The sequence of events was affected by multiple characters, some more than others. The characters with the most impact were Friar Lawrence and Romeo. These characters accompanied by the society were responsible for the tragedy.
Friar Lawrence was the main culprit. Assuming that Romeo and Juliet were in true love, Friar Lawrence jumped to conclusions and married them. He thought this marriage would end the feud. However, just marrying Romeo and Juliet is not enough to end the feud because the only way for this plan to work is to tell the parents. Due to a lack of truth until the end, once the tragedy has occurred, marrying Romeo and Juliet creates more problems. This is where the society comes in. At the time, marriage happens at a much younger age and is about family reputation. Love is not a factor in marriage. Marriage unites two families with similar reputations. As a result, the family looks good and gains wealth and connections from the marriage. Reputation to the Capulets is very important. Lord Capulet agrees that Paris should marry Juliet. While Juliet does not want to marry Paris she must do what her father wishes and what is best for the family. Seperately, these events are not problems, but they conflict each other. Juliet cannot be married to two people. Overall, while Friar Lawrence believes he is doing good, he puts himself and Juliet into a sticky situation.
Romeo only makes matters worse. He gets into a fight with Tybalt. To end the fight he kills Tybalt and Prince Escalus finds out. Thinking he is being kind to Romeo, the Prince banishes him. This not only separates Romeo and Juliet, but it also makes the Capulet family angry toward Romeo. The banishment also sparks both characters thoughts about dying. Romeo speaks to Friar Lawrence: “Ha, banishment! be merciful, say 'death.” In this quote, Romeo wishes the Prince had sentenced him to death. To both Romeo and Juliet, banishment is much worse than death because it means they will be separated. As a response, Friar Lawrence once again tampers with fate. He comes up with a plan that he thinks will allow Romeo and Juliet to be together outside of Verona. The first part of the plan is to have Juliet drink a potion that will make her appear dead. Then, he will send a letter to Romeo informing him of this predicament so that Romeo will come to see Juliet and when she wakes they can run away together. However, he fails to properly inform Romeo that Juliet will awake. Therefore, Romeo finds a ‘dead’ Juliet and drinks poison to kill himself. Friar Lawrence is responsible for this decision because he is aware that Romeo and Juliet would both rather die than be apart and he does not get the letter to Romeo. Thus, lining himself up to discover both teenagers dead because once Romeo takes his life, Juliet can’t help but take hers. In the last hope to stop Juliet from killing herself, Friar Lawrence fails.
In conclusion, Friar Lawrence is the most responsible for the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. He has many opportunities to save the star-crossed lovers and fails each and every time. He is, however, not the only one to blame. The society had flaws, and Romeo made a poor decision that lead to his death. In the end, Friar Lawrence accomplished one goal: uniting the families, which was a result of the tragedy. 
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Quote: Romeo and Juliet
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