Fate In Shakespeare's The Tragedy Of Romeo And Juliet

In the book Romeo & Juliet by William Shakespeare, fate plays a large role in moving the plot along. It does this by bringing people together. Fate also plays a role in a couple people’s deaths, including the main characters, Romeo and Juliet.

     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.

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

People might say that it is destiny because Shakespeare mentions the stars and fate many times in his writing. After Tybalt and Mercutio clash, and Mercutio is dead Romeo exclaims, “O, I am fortune’s fool!”(Shakespeare 429). Romeo is saying that he played right into destinies hand. However, others believe it to be horrible decisions that led to their deaths. Romeo interferes when Mercutio and Tybalt are fighting and that choice is what causes the death of Romeo’s dear friend

Fate has always been of interest to society, and even today, people continue to question whether someone’s life is destined for a certain fate, or if it is shaped by their own free-will. Such thoughts come into play throughout various acts and scenes of Shakespeare 's Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare’s play often strongly suggests that Romeo and Juliet’s relationship is built upon fate and free-will. There are many critics who argue fate is what makes up this play in its entirety due to the various fate related ideas evoked throughout it. Although fate does indeed play some roles in the shaping of Romeo and Juliet’s relationship, overall, it is free-will that plays a much greater role throughout their tragedy and is ultimately at work in this play.

Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy full of drama and intrigue. Sometimes these dramatic moments can take a toll on the characters. In Romeo and Juliet, after Romeo had just killed Juliet's cousin, Tybalt, he finds himself in a very complicated situation. Romeo knows nothing good can come out of killing his wife’s cousin and turns to blame fate. He exclaims “Oh, I am fortune’s fool!” (Romeo, Act III, Scene I). Romeo is releasing the extent of what has just happened and chooses to say he had bad luck, or fate. This proves that fate is a very real thing that many characters are affected by

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.

A timeless topic--fate and free will--still captivates society today. Fortune cookies, physics, and horoscopes all contribute to the obsession people have with this controversial debate over who manipulates life; fate or free will. No one is sure who really pulls the strings, but everyone has an opinion on the matter. Many famous plays center on this topic, and one such play that features characters’ views on fate and free will is Romeo and Juliet. This legendary play, written by William Shakespeare, has been beloved by people for centuries, as they contemplate who is the guiding force in life? The play discusses just this, while depicting the lives of Romeo and Juliet: two desperate teenagers each trapped in their own worlds, seeking love

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.

“A plague a’ both your houses!” (Shakespeare III, i. 102) Mercutio, on the brink of death at the hands of Tybalt, shouted this line to Romeo and Benvolio as he lay in his friends’ arms. His death acts as a turning point in the play, contrasting the previous humour of the first two acts with the tragedy of the last three. His death influences Romeo, causing him to kill Tybalt in revenge, sending Romeo down a winding path that led to his eventual downfall. Mercutio’s influence is seen often through the play, time and time again leading Romeo to make decisions that may not always be in his best interest. Mercutio acts as Romeo’s foil, using his quick wit and sexual interpretations of love to add humour to the play, but his actions that contribute to Romeo’s downfall are where his multi-faceted role is shown. Mercutio’s role in the play is very important to

Fate is inevitable and unavoidable because it’s meant to happen, its destiny and can not be controlled and has either a negative or positive outcome. In Romeo and Juliet, there is a family feud between the Montagues and the Capulets and this impacts the young lovers because they're not supposed to be together due to the rancor between both families. Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet play shows how fate helps to bring about the unavoidable outcome of the young lovers’ deaths because the stars showed their fate, they fell in love by fate, and because their death was fate.

To summarize the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, Romeo meets Juliet at the Capulet’s party, decides to marry her, and goes to Friar Laurence for help. Shortly after their marriage, Romeo gets in a fight and kills Juliet’s cousin, Tybalt, resulting in Romeo’s exile. After Tybalt’s death, Juliet’s parents arrange her marriage with Count Paris. Juliet initially refuse but after going to the friar for help and creating a plan to fake her death, she agrees to get married. Her decision makes her father very happy and he changes the wedding date, ruining Juliet’s plan. To improvise, Juliet takes the poison a day earlier than she had planned. Taking the poison early eliminates the time needed to inform Romeo of the plan. This means that when Romeo hears of Juliet’s death, he believes she is actually dead and decides to kill himself at her tomb. Shortly after Romeo’s suicide, Juliet wakes up. The play ends with Juliet killing herself with a dagger after seeing Romeo’s corpse and the two families discovering their remains. Whether the outcome of Shakespeare’s play was a result of fate or free will is much debated but, imagine the ending of the play if Romeo, Juliet or Friar Laurence made a different decision and it is likely the result would not be a tragedy. This is why even though fate brought the protagonists together, the outcome of the play was a result of free will.

In William Shakespeare’s play, “The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet”, fate plays one of the largest roles in the plot. In order to understand how fate plays a role it is important to examine how the story begins, when Romeo meets Juliet, and when Romeo fights Tybalt after Tybalt kills Mercutio.

All events in ‘Romeo and Juliet’ were destined to lead to their death. This concept is called fate - the development of events, outside any person’s control, predetermined by a higher power. Over the course of the play Shakespeare used astrological and cosmological theories to validate the universal tie that the lovers posses. He asserts their destiny by using the characters to unknowingly foretell the future. Throughout ‘Romeo and Juliet’ the timing of the play is being led by a higher power. All this evidence supports the role that fate plays in the demise of Romeo and Juliet.

Fate is the main reason why Romeo and Juliet ended up as a tragedy and not with a happy ending. In the modern world, most people choose to believe that they have a sense of responsibility and can control their own lives but, during the Elizabethan era some people had believed in fate and led their lives the way the stars told their future. Before the play in the prologue you were told what would happen very briefly. “ From forth the fatal loins of these two foes a pair of ‘star-crossed’ lovers take their lives.” Meaning that Romeo and Juliet met because of fate & the stars aligned them to be together, it also states that both Romeo and Juliet are destined by the start to disaster. When Mercutio shouts “a plague on both your houses!” in Act 3, Scene 1, we are reminded of the protagonist’s fate. This bloody scene in which characters are killed gives us a glimpse of what fate has in store, marking the beginning of Romeo and Juliet’s tragic downfall. Even Romeo and Friar Lawrence blame fate when romeo says “ I defy you stars!” And Friar Lawrence says “ Unhappy