Fate In Shakespeare's The Tragedy Of Romeo And Juliet

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

As the fight is getting more and more intense, Romeo, Mercutio’s best friend, intervenes in the fight. He steps in between both Tybalt and Mercutio, and while he is in the way, Mercutio gets stabbed by Tybalt. The moment Mercutio gets stabbed, he becomes furious with Romeo for getting in his way of the fight. Even though Romeo was trying to help Mercutio stay out of trouble, he was the only reason that Mercutio got stabbed. His last few words to his beloved best friend, Romeo, was, “A plague o’ both of your households!” (Act III, Sc. 1). This shows foreshadowing of the two lover’s fatal end because he cursed the two household to have a horrible life. Also, a “plague” of sadness will indeed strike the two households when Romeo and Juliet take their

The first two acts of Romeo and Juliet are comedic in nature: sexual humor, lovers kept apart by a feud, and much wordplay. This period ends, however, with Mercutio’s death, the first death of the play. This is especially important not just because it tells of events to come, but also because Mercutio is from neither the Capulet nor Montague households, but from the house of the Prince. Therefore, his death is not just the first death of the play, but an innocent death, only connected to the feud because of his friendships with Romeo and Benvolio. Following the deaths of Mercutio and Tybalt, the enmity and tension of the two houses climaxes. With Mercutio’s innocent death, the tragic part of the play begins: brash, ill-advised actions on the parts of the protagonists eventually lead to their downfall. Both due to acting as a turning point, and an influence on Romeo, Mercutio leaves a lasting mark on the play, changing its course and leading to its eventual

Throughout the play, decisions dealing with fate are present, however, the most influential decisions to the plotline, and the ones that later set the foundation for the rest of the play are all dealt with using free-will. One such important decision that was dealt with through free-will was Romeo’s encounter with Juliet. As they meet each other and kiss, he tells Juliet, “Give me my sin again” (I.V.109). Here, Romeo is clearly making the decision to continue his relationship with Juliet. This would set the foundation for the whole play, and without his decision to continue the relationship based on free-will, the plot of the play may have been completely different. Free-will, also had other important effects on the plotline. It

Juliet is also sent a vision by fate, causing her to drink Friar Laurence’s potion during a moment of doubt. Juliet is almost about to talk herself out of swallowing the potion when she says, “O, look! Methinks I see my cousin’s ghost, seeking out Romeo…stay, Tybalt, stay! Romeo, I come! This do I drink to thee,” (Iv. iii. 55-58) and takes the drink. Fate’s plan could have been ruined if Juliet did not take the poison, so a vision is sent to her, insuring that the plan stays on track. Farther along in the play, Fate sends yet another dream to Romeo. However, this dream is of good tidings. The dream shows a dead Romeo, but then Juliet, “breathed such life with kisses in my lips that I revived and was an emperor.” (V. i. 8-9) Fate sends this dream to leave Romeo in an upbeat mood, before he is told the news of Juliet’s death. This causes Romeo to be put through an emotional roller coaster. At one moment he is extremely happy, loving being in love, and then the next he is distraught, desperate, and ready to commit suicide. The series of good news and then bad news puts Romeo in a befuddled state of mind in which he is not thinking clearly. Otherwise, Romeo would almost certainly check in with Friar Laurence prior to committing suicide. Fate masterfully manipulated these events and sent the dreams and visions at all the appropriate times to cause the deaths of Romeo and Juliet.

The characters themselves believe that there lives are controlled by fate and luck it was Romeo blames his misfortune down to the stars he was portrayed as a believer in fate rather than free will he had a feeling from the very beginning of the play that he and Juliet would never really end up together and that fate would get I the

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.

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.

On the contrary, fate also shreds Romeo and Juliet’s love with death and melancholy. The two have just been married, and they are at the apex of their love. Before they could even have a proper honeymoon, Tybalt comes with bad intentions. He feels that Romeo has insulted the Capulets by coming to their party. Tybalt ends up killing Mercutio, one of Romeo’s dearest friends, in a fit of rage. Romeo is thirsty for revenge and cannot sit back after his friend has just been killed so he hunts down Tybalt and murders him without thinking of the consequences. He instantly realizes the major flaw in what he has just done when he cries, “O I am fortune’s fool!” (125) Tybalt’s violent nature, which eventually causes his death, is simply a part of fate taking its course. Another instance where fate contributes to ending Romeo’s love with Juliet is when Romeo screams, “Then I deny you stars!” (213) He believes that Juliet is dead and wants to reject his fate by killing himself to be with her in death, but she is not dead. It is incredibly tragic for Juliet when she wakes up from her long sleep to

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.

     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

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

It all started with Romeo falling in love with Juliet at a party he never should have attended in an attempt to see another girl. Romeo pursues Juliet driven by love to propose marriage. The best example of fate in the drama occurs at the end when Romeo misses Balthasar. Balthasar carries news of Friar Laurence’s plan and Juliet’s feigned death. Romeo misses the news, only to arrive and kill himself in a cruel twist of fate because he thinks she is dead only seconds before she wakes up to Romeo dead and kills herself because he is now

Romeo and fate first meet when, Romeo ends up at the party he did not wanting to go to, when Capulet does not kick Romeo out, and when Romeo asks god to take over his future. When Mercutio and Benvolio want Romeo to go to Lord Capulet's party Romeo says no, but because of fate and friendship, Romeo eventually ends up at the Capulet party (I, II, 50-51). Romeo also see fate when Capulet does not

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.