Fate In Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet

The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet is one of the greatest love stories ever told. This is evident in today’s society, with the story being retold again and again in theatre productions, books, and movie spinoffs. The story is of two lovers, whose love was doomed from the start due to their disputing families, the Capulets and Montagues, who would never see a marriage between the two. Romeo and Juliet eventually take their own lives, ceasing their families’ fighting. William Shakespeare, the playwright who wrote Romeo and Juliet and likely the most famous playwright ever, uses light and dark imagery within the story to highlight the lovers’ affection for one another against the backdrop of their lives. The motif of light and dark is used, with

Throughout Romeo and Juliet’s flourishing relationship, celestial imagery is used when talking about each other and bringing out the pure love they have for one another. Through a combination of metaphors, personification, poetry, similes, and allusions, their emotions for each other are shown with celestial imagery being the center theme of their love. Romeo speaks delicately about Juliet’s eyes when he acclaims “Two of the fairest stars in all the heaven,” (2.2.15) Romeo refers

Seal'd up the doors, and would not let us forth; So that my speed to Mantua there was stay'd.’What makes a story so compelling?(5.3.10-12) In Shakespeare's tragedy ‘Romeo and Juliet, the author makes fated occurrences to introduce the next event. In the story, many are fated occurrences that is not impacted by the decision of the characters but, happens naturally. Further, exploring these events will tells us how fate changes outcome.

Romeo is using a metaphor to compare Juliet’s voice to lovely music. In Romeo and Juliet states, “How silver-sweet sound lovers’ tongues by night,/ Like softest music to attending ears”(2.2. 167-168). As a result from this metaphor the reader can fully grasp an image of Juliet and Romeo’s affection towards her. In the same scene Romeo says that with her beauty she will kill the envious moon. In the Shakespeare play Romeo and Juliet states, “Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,/ Who is already sick and pale with grief”(2.2. 4-5). In other words Romeo has illustrated the beauty of Juliet and the inclination he has for his lover, Juliet.The reader can illustrate Juliet because of the personification and metaphors that Romeo

In act 1 scene 5 as Romeo breaks out into a rhyming sonnet that are often well known in Shakespeare’s plays as a way to empathize any important situations of love or any arguments. During this sonnet, there is use of light lexis. First of all, Romeo describes Juliet as a source of light, as he states in an oxymoron, “o she doth teach the torches to burn bright!” By using

The second scene primarily consists of Romeo and his remarks for Juliet, as seen here: “It is the east, and Juliet is the sun/Arise, fair sun, and kill the moon” (2.2.4-5) It is evident that this quotation by Romeo has examples of both light and dark imagery. Romeo metaphorically compares the sun and moon to Juliet and Rosaline,

Shakespeare uses light references to present their passionate love towards each other such as “o she doth the torches to burn brighter” which infers that Juliet’s beauty outshines the torches that light the party. As on the other hand, Shakespeare uses images of darkness to symbolizes the negative aspects of their love. The use of dark image reminds the audience that it is a doomed relationship because they are” star-crossed lovers”. Furthermore, because their relationship is kept as a secret, they can only be together when “night’s cloak to hide”. Even though, a dark setting portrays the romance but also implies that their relationship must stay hidden as their union is heavily forbidden. There is a constant conflict between light and dark images.But Romeo and Juliet’s conversations are also full of images of angels,saints and gods “My lips, two blushing pilgrims,ready stand”. These images could show that their love is pure and innocent and approved by god. However, it can also emphasize their powerful love, as they don’t only love each other, but also worships each other. For a Shakespearean audience this could be seen as dangerous and sinful- as you weren’t supposed to worship anyone except

Most of Shakespeare's plays are conceived around a foundation in either tragedy or comedy, this polarity of themes allowing him to experiment with the full range of human emotions. Typically, an integral part of a Shakespearean tragedy is love, which is frustrated by a breakdown in order, or the character of the hero, due to some human limitation. The play Romeo and Juliet has all these typical characteristics. However, the resultant conclusion of events for the characters in this tragedy is adversely affected by the hands of fate, and not solely the product of human limitations. Fate in fact has a decisive role in the events of the play; it is a series of rapid coincidental events, which lead to the final tragedy.

     Fate, for better or worse, interrupts everyone’s daily life, whether he/she chooses to acknowledge it or not. Thinking about fate conjures up different feelings for different people; some people believe strongly in it, some people think of fate as ridiculous, and some do not care one way or the other. However, in many instances, such as in William Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, far too many coincidences occur to be strictly coincidental. Fate creates a powerful effect throughout the entire play, starting in the prologue, continuing as Romeo and Juliet meet and fall in love, and tragically ending in the lovers’ deaths.

refers Juliet as a ‘bright angel’, who is ‘a winged messenger of heaven’ .This religious imagery highlights the perfection of Romeo’s love to Juliet

In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, the images of light and dark are one of the most constant motifs seen throughout the play. Characters such as Romeo and Juliet, are often seen discussing light, or being in the presence of light. People who are associated with darkness are usually seen as violent or evil. Shakespeare uses the motif of light and darkness to show Romeo and Juliet’s love for each other, to show that rash decisions have destructive consequences, and we often come across the motif by seeing the technique of applying light to good, and dark to evil. William Shakespeare uses the motif light and darkness to illustrate Juliet’s beauty.

Though the Prologue offers the first and perhaps most famous example of celestial imagery in romeo and juliet references to the stars, sun, moon, and heavens run throughout the play, and taken as a whole that imagery seems to express a different view of human responsibility. In Act 1, scene 4, Romeo says that he fears “some consequence yet hanging in the stars” when he and his gang approach the Capulet’s ball. In his next mention of stars, however, Romeo doesn’t refer to their astrological power. Rather, he uses the image of stars to describe Juliet’s otherworldly beauty. Most of the subsequent

He uses rhyming couplets, ‘as a rich jewel in an Ethiop’s ear, Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear’. This suggests his love for her is so powerful, it changes the way he speaks. Romeo also uses religious imagery to describe Juliet, such as ‘This holy shrine, the gentle sin is this.’ He compares her to a shrine which shows how their love is pure and how he worships her. This shows he has confused his love with religion. In act 1, scene 4 Romeo says, ‘I fear, too early, my mind misgives some consequences yet hanging in the stars.’ This suggests that he feels something is going to go wrong, which shows that their relationship is doomed from the start. In Elizabethan times people were superstitious and thought that their lives were mapped out in the stars. If you tried to change your destiny it was considered a sin. They also believed that their lives were planned by the wheel of fortune. Philosopher, Boethius proposed a theory of that people can rise in power of luck, but; it has to come down. In act 3, scene 5 Juliet refers to this. ‘O fortune, fortune! All men call thee fickle.’

Romeo and Juliet is a play about two star-crossed lovers who have passionate and unconditional love for one another. Due to a family feud, the two lovers cannot be together, resulting in a great tragedy. Throughout the play, William Shakespeare uses figurative language to bring more depth and meaning to his dialogues. Due to the descriptive writing, readers are able to better understand and connect with the characters and the story. In Romeo’s famous love speech for Juliet, 2.2, Shakespeare uses many literary devices to show the audience that Romeo’s love for Juliet is true and everlasting. By using a metaphor, Shakespeare compares Juliet’s beauty to the sun to show the light Juliet brings

The life-death theme of the story can also be shown as a light-dark or love-death relationship. Romeo talks about Juliet as a bright angel shining in the darkness of night, "bright angel, for thou art As glorious to this night, being o'er my head, As is a winged messenger of heaven Unto the white upturned, wond'ring eyes"