Free Will In Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet

From the very prologue of Romeo and Juliet, we are informed by Shakespeare that these two “star-cross’d lovers” are going to “take their life”. For the rest of the play, we are left to observe how they kill themselves and who or what leads them into doing so. However, placing the blame on one person or event would be impossible, as nobody was directly responsible for their demise. Instead, everything that could possibly have gone wrong did go wrong. Although both Romeo and Juliet end up thinking it was their own decision to kill themselves, there were many other factors that unwittingly forced them into the situation they eventually found themselves.

In William Shakespeare’s tragedy Romeo and Juliet, we meet the characters and how their actions led to a tragedy. Romeo and Juliet met, end up falling in love, and – since both cannot dream of living without the other – take their lives. While the play ends in a tragic death for both characters, it was their own reckless decisions; though others might believe that it was destiny that played a large role in the lovers’ downfall. However, the majority of the text evidence points to them making their own choices leading to their demise.

Rosa Parks overcame adversity in society to become an activist in the civil rights movement. In the famous play Romeo & Juliet, by Shakespeare, two teenagers from rival houses, Capulet and Montague, meet at a masquerade, fall in love, get married, and meet a tragic end. The theme of Romeo & Juliet is free will is fundamentally more in control of determining our destiny than fate is.

The concept of fate has touched many lives throughout the centuries, and over time it, along with its counterpart free will, has [been?] transcended into the form of literature. Its influence is evident in Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, particularly in how Pip, and his object of affection, Estella, are repeatedly subjected to preordained events. Furthermore, free will, or the ability to determine our own destiny, also holds sway over the characters in Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, specifically Romeo and Juliet themselves. Free will has a greater influence on the characters in Romeo and Juliet than fate, while in Great Expectations, it proves to be the opposite, with fate having more heavily impacted Pip, and his associates.

In conclusion Romeo and Juliet had many things against their love in Shakespeare’s tragic play, but the three main characters to blame for what happened to them are the Feud, Lady Capulet, and Fate. All of these characters in some way pressured Romeo and Juliet to make the harsh choice of killing themselves. In the main characters eyes the choices that these three other characters made in the play gave them only one choice or they would have to live the rest of their lives forever unhappy without the comfort of each

As the story of Romeo and Juliet further progresses, Romeo’s true character becomes more and more apparent; he seems to act solely by impulse. Romeo acts moreso with his emotions, and sudden thoughts than his brain which stores reason and logic. This causes for tragedy and unfortunate circumstance by the end of the poem. This shows how impulsive he is in most of his decisions and how he tends to be very dramatic in everything that he does. When Romeo discovers that Juliet is dead, he almost immediately dramatically decides to drink poison, to kill himself. “Here’s to love, O true apothecary, thy drugs are quick - thus with a kiss I die.” Which shows how quickly he makes wrash and dramatic decisions without thinking it through. If Romeo had not been so careless and impulsive in his decision, Juliet would have awoken and they would both still be alive.

In William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, many characters meet their tragic end as a result of a plethora of factors, from old rivalries to new love. It is a tragic story of two lovers, destined to complete each other, but also to end a bitter feud through their deaths (Prologue.3-6). However, if the blame had to be ascribed to one person in particular, that person would be Romeo Montague. Throughout the play, Shakespeare showcases Romeo’s irrationality and poor decision making, leading to the gruesome deaths of his loved ones. Romeo is most to blame for the tragic slew of deaths because he is oblivious, quick to act, and too urgent in his relationship.

Another cause of Romeo’s demise had to be himself. He did not think rationally of outcomes that varied from his death. He thought only of being with Juliet, and, had he not drank the poison, he would have lived to see Juliet once more. “Well, Juliet, I will lie with thee tonight. Let’s see for means. O mischief, thou art swift to enter in the thoughts of desperate men!” (Romeo 5.1.36-38)

Although the play “Romeo and Juliet” is lauded as one which excellently portrays unconquerable love, the most prominent theme of the play is not that of unconquerable love but rather of the death and tragedy that stems out from Romeo and Juliet disobeying fate for their own desires. This theme of relationship between fate and free will is present throughout the play and even emphasized through the use of literary elements. One such example of this theme being emphasized through the use of literary elements is the prologue. The prologue of the play employs the literary elements of alliteration, rhyme and foreshadowing to convey the theme of the relationship between fate and freewill, claiming that attempting to defy fate will leads to misfortune.

There is only one reason for the death of Romeo & Juliet. Some people lean toward free will but it’s really fate. The play written by Shakespeare Romeo and Juliet is about two star crossed lovers who lived in fair Verona and lost their lives due to suicide. The two lovers came from families who are enemies, which was why their marriage had to be secretive.

The deaths of Romeo and Juliet were freewill because of the choices they decided to make along the way.There was many times throughout the story where Romeo and Juliet could have prevented their deaths. For instance, Romeo could have handled Tybalt better, Juliet followed the priest plan, and finally it was Romeos free will to kill himself.

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.

Control is a very controversial topic debated by many people. Some people believe that destiny is molded by the actions and decisions a person takes of their own free will. Others believe the events they experienced, the people they meet and their decisions, as well as the decision made of their own free will, is manipulated by fate. They believe the amazing and horrible experience encountered in their daily lives are the result of how greater power does what he needs to for a greater good. The play, Romeo and Juliet shows that fate has a vast control through the events experienced by the characters, the people in their lives and the rash decisions that they are forced to make.

Do things happen for a reason or do the actions we make influence what happens to us? People choose to blame things that happen to them on something called fate. Google says that fate is the belief of something destined to happen to us. In Shakespeare’s tragedy Romeo and Juliet, the characters believe hat what happens to them is not their fault but that fate had created it for them. Although was what happened to them, fate or could it have been prevented if it was not for their bad decisions.

Both sides equal out each other such as fate deciding to put Romeo, the exact opposite of Juliet, and Juliet, the exact opposite of Romeo, into a deep love then personal choices throughout the story that lead them to kill themselves at the end. An example of fate’s work on the story plot would be Romeo’s quote before going to the ball, which was “I fear, too early, for my mind misgives Some consequence yet hanging in the stars Shall bitterly begin his fearful date With this night's revels, and expire the term Of a despisèd life closed in my breast By some vile forfeit of untimely death.” (1.4.113-118), where he says that he has a feeling something will happen that will change his life at the ball. Of course, he was right because at that ball, he met Juliet, who made him fall desperately in love for. A representation of what persona choices had effect on the plot of The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet would be when Romeo and Juliet both decided to get married about one day after actually meeting each other, without even knowing what they were getting themselves into.