Before I go into why Juliet killed herself, we need to
explain why Romeo did in the first place!
Romeo and Juliet
were extremely eager to get married, but they couldn't as their families hated each
other, and would forbid such activity. But, being in their youth and being blinded by
love, they come to desperate measures in order to get
married.
Romeo and Juliet ask a religious Friar friend,
Lawrence to come and wed them secretly. Reluctantly, Friar Lawrence agrees and engages
them together. Now, all Romeo and Juliet have to do is elope to somewhere where their
families would never find them, but it's not as simple as packing their things and
leaving. Romeo leaves for the night to think things
through.
Juliet, being impatient (and with a wedding coming
up, as her father has forced her to marry Paris, whom she does not want to marry)
decides to ask Friar Lawrence to drug her with a certain potion that would put her into
such a deep sleep that it would appear if she were to be dead. That way, her family (the
Capulet's) would think that she would be dead. Friar Lawrence agreed, and said that he
would send a letter to Romeo explaining what is
happening.
Juliet takes the 'deep sleep' potion and falls
onto her bed. Her family comes up to her bedroom and suspects that she is dead, and give
her a funeral. The word goes around that Juliet had died, when really she was only in a
deep sleep.
Unfortunately, the letter Friar Lawrence had
sent to Romeo never made it to him. Instead, it got lost and was never seen again. Romeo
heard of Juliet's random and unsuspecting death, and was naturally in shock. He went to
the apothecary (a place where medicines and potions are sold) and bought a lethal potion
that would kill him quite quickly.
Romeo went to Juliet's
temporary tomb, gave his final solioquy (speech) (after fighting off Paris) and drank
the potion, dying almost instantly right next to Juliet's tomb. Ironically, Juliet wakes
up only seconds later to find Romeo dead on the ground from a potion. She, also in shock
reacts unreasonably to the death of Romeo and tries to lick all the lethal potion she
can off Romeo's lips. Unfortunately for her, it was not enough to end her woes, so she
picked up Romeo's dagger and stabbed herself, killing her almost
instantly.
If you don't understand why Juliet killed
herself, it is because of the shock and the devastation she got from seeing her love
dead on the ground from drinking lethal potion. She, being only thirteen did not think
things through and ultimately killed herself because of all the negative thoughts and
emotions she got from seeing her one love, Romeo dead.
When
everything ends up like this (where the protagonist/s kill themselves or die in the end)
it is called a tragedy. Romeo and Juliet may be a love tale, but it is ultimately, and
unfortunately a very sad tragedy.
Hopefully I've answered
your question :).
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