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Fate In Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet

Decent Essays

Romeo and Juliet is a fascinating story about two star crossed-lovers, who face a terrible fate as a result of their love. Their destiny is to stop the feud of the Capulets and the Montagues, by committing suicide. This leads the families to reunite. Fate is a very important aspect in the story because it controls what the lovers do. This means that the lovers don't have control of their own situation. In Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare uses repeated references to fate in order to argue that fate is inescapable and nothing can change it, leading to the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. Right from the start, Shakespeare makes it evident that fate plays an important role throughout the story by using keywords in the prologue. Shakespeare uses the chorus …show more content…

He uses “star crossed” lovers to describe Romeo and Juliet, meaning that they will be ill fated. Moreover, William Shakespeare specifies the couple as “death marked,” meaning they were already destined to die. Furthermore, critic Marilyn Williamson writes, “Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy of fate, as implied by both the prologue and the concluding lines of the play.” By stating that both Romeo and Juliet will have a tragic ending together, and having many events that seem like the story will end happily, Shakespeare makes it evident that fate is like a prison for …show more content…

One prime example of these events is when Friar Laurence finds out that the letter was not delivered to Romeo because of the seemingly random chance that the messenger was stuck in quarantine. Likewise, when The Friar realizes his plan has failed, he realizes that fate was the true mastermind: FRIAR LAURENCE. I hear some noise. -Lady, come from that nest. Of death, contagion, and unnatural sleep. A greater power than we can contradict. Hath thwarted our intents

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