ENG2D.-08
Ms. Brown
2014-12-18
Who’s fault is it?
Influential adults can have a big impact on a child’s life. Their decisions should guide the youths into making choices that would boast a positive outcome for their future. However, making a poor decision can lead the youths into making awful decisions as well. In that situation, the adults are ultimately responsible for the bad actions of those minors. In the play Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare shows that the adults fail to guide the inexperienced youths during their time of need and due to their poor advice, lead the youths to their deaths. Shakespeare shows that the most influential adults that bear the primary responsibility for the youth’s deaths are Lord Capulet, the Nurse …show more content…
Throughout the play, the audience sees Lord Capulet’s change from a selfless man to a selfish one. When Paris comes to Lord Capulet and asks for Juliet’s hand, Lord Capulet claims that he is not in a hurry to marry her off. He tells Paris ‘’My will to her consent it but a part / an she, agree within her scope of choice’’ (I. ii. 17-18) which means that Juliet can choose her husband as long as he’s appropriate for her and even challenges Paris to woo her if he can. Lord Capulet is an understanding father and cares for his daughter’s well-being at this point, but the situation changes quickly. When Paris comes after Tybalt is slain, Lord Capulet makes a ‘’desperate tender / Of [his] child’s love. [He] think[s] she will be ruled’’ (III. iv. 12-13) and proposes that she be married by Thursday. By this point, Juliet has no more say in the decision. When Lady Capulet discloses that Juliet does not agree to marry Paris, Lord Capulet lashes out and says to his wife ‘’Is she not proud? Doth she not count her blest, / Unworthy as she is, that we have …show more content…
Even when she did not agree with Juliet’s decisions, the Nurse still complies. When Romeo kills Tybalt; the Nurse weeps for Juliet’s cousin. However, she is surprised to see Juliet defend Romeo for his actions. Although she thinks it is wrong, the Nurse comforts Juliet and tells her ‘’Hark ye, your Romeo will be here at night. / I’ll to him; He is hid at Laurence’s cell.’’ (III. ii. 140-141) The Nurse shows that she is loyal to Juliet’s desires and wishes and is even ready to break the law so that the lovers can be together. Romeo’s banishment drives Lord Capulet to force Juliet into an arranged marriage with Paris. Juliet needs the Nurse to help her get out of the situation but the Nurse turns her back on her and her advice is ‘’Romeo is banish’d; and all the world to nothing / [...] I think it best you married with the County’’ (III. v. 215, 219) Juliet is taken back by the Nurse’s sudden change of mind and cannot believe that she would betray her like that. Juliet tells herself ‘’Thou and bosom henceforth shall be twain’’. (III. v. 240) She expresses that she does not trust the Nurse anymore and will not let her in on her secrets. The Nurse’s sudden act of betrayal drives Juliet to find another way to escape her arranged marriage and desperately ask Friar Laurence for poison without asking the Nurse her opinion on the plan,