Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is considered one of the most iconic love stories of all time. A story of being in love with a member of the enemy family, and being forced to be separated from your love, results in suicide. The death of the two star crossed lovers is a very controversial topic, and there are many characters who could have been held responsible for their death, such as Friar Laurence, the Capulets, or even Romeo and Juliet themselves. All of the events leading up to their death have been caused by only one thing, fate. The word “fate” has been mentioned many times throughout the play, which often adds a dramatic tone, or foreshadows the ending. Fate has intertwined the lives of Romeo and Juliet, causing them to fall into a forbidden romance that eventually leads to their deaths. …show more content…
Rosaline becoming a nun, the servant asking Romeo to read the invitation to the party, and the plague outbreak are all examples that they were fated together, but not exactly in the best way. “Which, but their children’s end, naught could remove.” (Act 1 Prologue.11) Shakespeare writes this, indicating that Romeo and Juliet’s fates were written in stone, therefore, it could not be changed. Another example of how fate has impacted the flow of the story is towards the end when Friar John could not deliver the letter to Romeo. “I could not deliver because of the plague” The plague outbreak proves that Romeo and Juliet’s futures were in grave danger. There is no way that Romeo could have received the letter, and it was destiny that he couldn't get
Romeo did not just stumble upon Juliet, these repeating coincidences intertwining Romeo and Juliet’s destiny can only be acknowledged as an act of fate. Another sign Romeo and Juliet met as an act of fate is because as soon as fate brought the two together, it tested their love with challenges outside of either of their control to change or stop. One way fate tested Romeo and Juliet’s love was by making their relationship even more difficult than just having opposing families; Tybalt, Juliet’s cousin, kills Mercutio, Romeo’s friend, and Romeo retaliates by killing Tybalt. Another way fate tested Romeo and Juliet’s love was by forcing Paris to be so eager to marry Juliet. The challenges and strong love Romeo and Juliet are presented with were never part of their plan and therefore must have been an act of fate.
In addition to reigning over their love lives, fate also causes the downfall of Romeo and Juliet. Near the end of the play, it appears Romeo and Juliet have a significant
Fate is a hidden, but unavoidable force that leads to certain consequences in people’s lives. The theme of fate plays a crucial role in the main characters of the play, Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare. Romeo and Juliet share a destiny that dooms them to tragic deaths immediately after the exchange of their zealous love. Despite their resolute attempts to challenge their destiny, the lovers still succumb to the inexorable powers of fate. In the Shakespearean play, Romeo and Juliet, the principle of fate propels the lovers together with infatuation, tears them apart through a bitter demise, yet, ensures peace in Verona for many future generations.
Fate was the fundamental factor that led to the suicides of Romeo and Juliet. It is present throughout the entire play, setting the scene for the tragic events to take place. Two scenarios which show that fate played an imperative role in Romeo and Juliet’s deaths are when Romeo read the ball invite which was addressed to someone else and when Friar John had to stop while delivering Friar Lawrence’s message resulting in Balthasar reaching Romeo first. The first scenario is seen in the text where a servant of the Capulet family
The bringing of people together by fate played a huge role in moving along Romeo and Juliet’s plot. A great example of this is how Romeo’s “true love” Rosaline has vowed to remain chaste her whole life. This makes Romeo more open to dating someone else. Benvolio then tells Romeo to go to a party that the Capulet’s are hosting. It is there that Romeo meets Juliet. This is what makes almost every event following happen. This definitely shows how much fate moves the plot along by bringing people
In the play, Romeo and Juliet written by William Shakespeare, is about two “star crossed” lovers who are destined to end in a tragic accident. Fate is the path that leads to the future and cannot be altered no matter the outcome. Set in Shakespearean time, fate was believed to be in control of people’s lives. The fact that Romeo and Juliet would never live a peaceful life, none of the tragedies would have not taken place if they had not met. In the prologue of the play, Shakespeare outlines that “two star’d crossed lovers take their life”. This foreshadowing creates the sense that fate shall claim superiority. The powerful nature of Romeo
Fate was foreshadowed to be an antagonist in the play Romeo and Juliet; even before the play started; it was foreshadowed in the prologue that the “star-crossed lovers” were “death-marked”. Fate impedes the union of a happy marriage between Romeo and Juliet by throwing many barricades in their way. One such barrier is their lineage; because Romeo is a Montague and Juliet is a Capulet, they are enemies by blood. Nevertheless, they
Many people blame fate for the death of Romeo and Juliet. One reason being that Romeo and Juliet’s meeting at the party was determined by fate. However, Romeo went to the party because of love, and he wanted to see if he could find some else better than Rosaline. He saw Juliet and found a new love. Therefore, love is a stronger competitor than fate for their meeting. Moreover, another argument is that the prologue calls Romeo and Juliet “star-crossed lovers”, also known as lovers who are doomed because of outside forces (such as fate). While Romeo and Juliet may have had tough circumstances regarding their relationship, their doom was their own decision. They killed themselves in the name of love, not because of chance or
In the play of ‘Romeo and Juliet’, William Shakespeare explores the idea of fate, through the characters experiences. The play was taken place during the Elizabethan Era where the social norms were completely different to those today and the idea of fate was well and truly believed by the society. Shakespeare incorporates this concept of fate in different ways, he makes references to celestial bodies, employs premonitions and orchestrates events where Romeo and Juliet have no prior knowledge off. He introduces the two young lovers as ‘star-crossed’, which means their relationship is destined to end in tragedy and this is supported by events that occur in the play. Specific events
When telling the tragic, but beloved story of Romeo and Juliet from one of William Shakespeare’s many plays there are several characters in the story that could possibly be held responsible for the star-crossed lovers deaths. Three of those many characters should stand out more than others to blame for the beloved main characters deaths. These three characters are the Feud, Lady Capulet, and Fate. The Feud is one choice to blame because it it the cause of many other conflicts that take place in the story. While Lady Capulet does not cause as many conflicts as the Feud she does present one main problem to Juliet by pressuring her to get married to Paris as soon as possible. Lastly Fate is used many times in the play to explain why Romeo and
Fate is defined as, ‘the development of events outside a person’s control, regarded as predetermined by a supernatural power’. In the time in which ‘Romeo and Juliet’ was written, many people were strong believers of fate and it was a common belief in society. William Shakespeare was a famous poet who is recognised for his powerful writing and contribution to the English language. One of William Shakespeare’s highly recognised plays is ‘Romeo and Juliet’ written in the late 1500’s. It is a play about two star-crossed lovers alongside fate who by their death end the feud between the Montagues and the Capulets. In ‘Romeo and Juliet’, Friar Laurence is not to blame for the tragic events which occurs in the play due to the fact that other
In the story Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, the “star-crossed” lovers took their life in an unfortunate series of events. Romeo, Juliet, and Friar Lawrence were all involved with the death of Romeo and Juliet. Romeo was impetuous and did not try to find the cause of Juliet’s “death”. Friar Lawrence was also unknowing of the future, but still gave an extremely important message, one that would define life and death, into the someone else’s hands. Certain actions, such as finding out about the Capulet party was fate. Although many events were caused by the lovers’ immaturity and impulsiveness, fate was the major cause for their deaths.
In the very first act of Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare clearly states that the play is controlled by fate. In the prologue, it states that "a pair of star-cross 'd lovers take their life" (I. Prologue. 5-6). Shakespeare refers to them as star-crossed lovers because they are doomed due to the position of the planets when they were born. In other words, he is saying that these two lovers will die because of fate and will have no way of preventing it. Later in that act, shortly after meeting Juliet, Romeo says,
First off, Romeo decides to go the Capulet party and it is fate that they both collide during the dance. Romeo acts quickly to say yes to go to the party, with a little bit of convincing from Mercutio. This all leads up to Romeo meeting Juliet and causing them to build their forbidden love. Secondly, it is fate that the Capulet servant can’t read the guest list which gets Romeo into the party in the first place. The servant had said; “[…] and can never find what names the writing person hath her writ. I must to the learned” (2.3, 495). It is fate that the servant can’t read, causing Romeo to go to the party, which doesn’t end well since it is the opposing family’s party. Lastly, the most important fated event is the two family’s great hatred against one another. “From forth the fatal loins of these two foes a pair of star-crossed lovers take their life” (prologue, 485). It seems like it is fated that both lovers are from feuding families; the Capulets and The Montague families. The lovers act to fast when they first meet and they both end up falling in love, causing a great catastrophe. Fated events in “Romeo and Juliet” cause both to act quick, then later
‘Greek tragedies often presented a tragic hero… who was essentially good but vulnerable to a ‘fatal flaw’… that would result in their downfall…The downfall was inevitable…-and so-the tragic hero could not avoid what was destined.’ (Ryan, 2004) Shakespeare was the pioneer of tragedy and wrote 39 plays all fitting into categories of tragedy, comedy and history, Romeo and Juliet is one of his most well-known. Romeo and Juliet captures two families, Montague and Capulet in the midst of their ancient grudge when the only daughter of the Capulet’s, Juliet falls in love with the youngest son of the Montague’s, Romeo. Romeo and Juliet secretly marry but in the end kill themselves as they cannot live without one another. The mobilization of fate, great