It is difficult to understand why this is such a persistent question. Surely in a world where lawsuits can be brought against anyone, blaming them for any misfortune, we can now understand that blame is not an objective concept, nor a particularly useful one. It is quite possible to build a case that EVERY SINGLE PERSON IN THE PLAY is to blame for Romeo and Juliet's deaths, as follows:

1. Juliet. She shouldn't have taken up with a man who hangs around her backyard trying to peek into her window, but should have listened to her parents. She should not have gone along with Friar Lawrence's crazy scheme, or pushed him into proposing it.

2. Romeo. He shouldn't have poisoned himself just because Juliet is dead. His commiting suicide drove Juliet to commiting suicide. If he hadn't gone for suicide, they'd both be alive.

3. Friar Lawrence. Once he knew that his message to Romeo had miscarried, there's no way he should ever have left Juliet's side. He got her into this situation but didn't have the guts to see she got out of it. In addition, it was irresponsible to marry these two people who had just met without the consent of their parents.

4. Friar John. What was he doing, messing around in a plague house? Didn't he know that the message he was carring meant life or death??

5. The Nurse. If you are someone's advisor, give them reasonable advise. Counselling bigamy is ridiculous. If the Nurse hadn't alienated Juliet, she might have approached the issue more calmly and found a solution that wasn't so crack-brained.

6. Capulet. Trying to force his daughter to marry someone she could not marry caused her to take the actions which brought about her death and Romeo's.

7. Montague and Capulet. They had the power to end the feud and reconcile but they did not make the move to do it. If they had, they might have found themselves to be the parents of a happily married couple.

8. Lady Capulet. When you are a mother, you have a responsibility to your children. You can't just brush them off. Lady Capulet was never "there for" Juliet, so Juliet felt abandoned and alone.

9. Tybalt. Here's a guy who was looking for trouble. He wanted to start a fight with Romeo even though Capulet told him not to. The result? He and Mercutio die, Romeo is banished, and Juliet is on her own. If Romeo had been with her, there would have been no suicides.

10. Mercutio. He had no business getting into Romeo's fight. If he had left it alone, Tybalt would not have dared to kill Romeo and might have got into trouble for trying to start a fight.

11. The Prince. He admits it himself--if he had clamped down harder and earlier on street brawling Tybalt would not have tried to start a fight in the market.

12. Samson, Gregory, Abram et al. Have you noticed that it isn't Capulet and Montague who start the fights? No, it's their servants, their wife's relatives (Tybalt) and their friends (Mercutio) who start the thumb-biting. If everyone else wasn't trying to perpetuate the feud, maybe Montague and Capulet would have been able to end it. As it is, they end up being dragged into these conflicts to vindicate those who are "on their side".

13. Benvolio. Not much to blame, perhaps, but who was it that wanted Romeo to go to the party where he would be shown swans that would make Rosaline look like a crow? Also, his efforts to stop Tybalt from fighting with Mercutio were pathetic.

14. The Illiterate Servant. What was he doing, showing the guest list to the first dude he sees walking up the street? If he'd used some sense and asked a Capulet, there would have been no party-crashing and no tragedy.

15. The Apothecary. Selling poisons is illegal and wrong, and it doesn't matter how poor you are.

16. Paris. If you are going to marry someone, don't you think it's a good idea to talk frankly to them and find out if they really want to marry you? He was just as responsible for forcing Juliet into the unwanted marriage as Capulet.

17. Balthazar. He should have made sure of his facts by talking to the friar before blabbing to Romeo.

18. Rosaline. If she hadn't been so cold to Romeo, then maybe he wouldn't have gone after Juliet.

19. Romeo and Juliet seperately. They are ultimately responsible for their own deaths; they both committed suicide, after all.

Pointing the finger of blame is very, very easy, and does not help us or anyone in the least. At the end of the play, we do not see the characters blaming each other. The message is reconciliation and forgiveness

In addition to those who want to blame some person for the tragedy, there are also those who want to blame some larger intangible concept. Frontrunners for this distinction are:

1. The Family Feud. The star- crossed lovers were doomed from the start entirely because of their families hatred of one another.

2. Fate. The Prologue suggests this when it calls them "star-crossed lovers" and talks about "their death-mark'd love"

3. Lack of perspective. They were young, and they couldn't see past their fear of living without each other to make the right choice to go on living. If they could have done that, they probably would have ended up together in the end

4. Love. The love between Romeo and Juliet not only gave them happiness, it caused them pain and heartache, and eventually their lives.

5. Impetuousness. If they had only waited then time would have kept them apart and alive.

6. Society. A conveniently vague concept which can encompass everything else. Could be another way of saying "Everybody".

Perhaps it is very human to want to point the finger at something, but it is hard to know how saying "They died because of Fate" or "They died because of Love" really helps our understanding of the play.

Stephenie Meyer said her books are based on some of the literary classics. Each novel in the Saga was based loosely on another book. Twilight was inspired by Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin New Moon was based on Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare Eclipse was based on Wuthering Heights by Emilie Bronte

Breaking Dawn was based on A Midsummer's Night Dream by William Shakespeare.