Fate in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet
The play, Romeo and Juliet, involves plenty of bad luck and misfortune
that ultimately
leads to the deaths of these star crossed lovers. Romeo and Juliet are
referred to as, "star
crossed lovers" because they were destined to fall in love and die a
tragic death. The stars
have decided that they would fall in love and die, with everyone else
the stars have
decided their future. The audience were given hints that Romeo and
Juliet were going to
die when the prologue stated, "Death-mark'd love." This gives a
warning of what to
expect. There are several incidences that symbolise misfortune and bad
luck. An obvious
indication to the audience that something tragic will occur, is when
Romeo had bad
dreams and premonitions often involving death. In the play, the
prologue refers to an
ancient grudge between the Capulets and Montagues, which attracts our
attention to
human error. This is because grudges can cause lethal rage and bring
out the worst in
someone, which are few of the characteristics that we regret having.
If the parents' rage
was not so powerful and rebellious, this tragedy may not have occurred
because the
parents would have accepted Romeo and Juliet to be married. There is a
lot of conflict in
the play between the characters. The characters personalities had a
variety of weaknesses;
we have seen anger, pride, arrogance, hastiness, deceit and ill
judgement. An example of
deceit is when Juliet insured her father, Lord Capulet that she would
marry Paris and beg
for forgiveness, "Pardon, I beseech you! Hencef...
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...ed our interests….. the work
of heaven.." He
believes that a much stronger power (heaven) will not let the couple
live together. The
prince, too, reprimands both the Montagues and the Capulets, "See what
a scrounge is
laid upon thy hate that heaven finds means to kill your joys with
love!" From these
quotes we can clearly see that fate appears to be punishing both
families for their
weaknesses.
To conclude, I feel that fate played a large part in the play due to
several incidences that
symbolise misfortune, the personality traits of the characters equally
contributed to the
tragedy. The character weaknesses eventually resulted in six deaths
signifying the
weaknesses of the characters including Romeo, Tybalt, the Nurse, Friar
Lawrence, the
prince, Juliet and the parents.
Romeo and Juliet, written by William Shakespeare, is a story of two young lovers. These two hearts, Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet belong to feuding families. The family feud causes them to keep their love a secret and therefore only Romeo, Juliet, Benvolio, the Nurse and Friar Lawrence know of their love. Romeo and Juliet are able to look past the feud and let themselves fall in mad love with the other. They let themselves do almost anything for the other and at times it seems like too much to do, even for the one they love. Although fate and character traits play a key role in the play, ultimately Rome and Juliet’s personal choices lead to their downfall.Fate originates all of the conflicts in Romeo and Juliet, from when they met until they die.
think this is the case as, in spite of his arrogance, he does care for
In the very opening of the play the chorus is singing about Romeo and Juliet, and predicts their life together as having a star-crossed conclusion. By already knowing from the beginning that their life has an ill-fated conclusion, we can see how their choices brought them to their death. Romeo and Juliet could see that their life together was not going the way they wanted, because Romeo and Juliet wanted to marry each other but there were many barriers between them. Both Romeo and Juliet had many failed attempts in their efforts to trick fate out of what was ultimately going to happen to them both. Hold! Get you gone, be strong and prosperous in this resolve. I’ll send a friar with speed to Mantua, with my letters to thy lord. (IV, i, 122-124)
Imagine living a tragic existence, not even two entire decades long. Imagine being controlled by an invisible, yet limitless puppet string conducted by “the stars”. When fate is your enemy and time reveals each unraveling tragedy to your dismay, you understand how it feels to be the protagonist’s of Shakespeare’s most famous love story, The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. Tradition, heredity, and ancestry symbolize the celestial psychology that is the stars. Controlling every miniscule detail of the play from human behavior to action sequences, to the ultimate climax of the tale. The power that fate has is surprisingly destructible yet inevitable to audiences as they come to realize the given characteristics that cannot be changed, even to avoid death. The moment Romeo and Juliet initially saw one another, they were sure their love was meant to be. This feeling was brought on because their love was the solution of the stars, or forefathers, to cure the rivaling families’ animosity. Fate contributes to the development of The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet by relating to astrological terms, human behavior, and fate as an agent of destruction.
In a nutshell, fate is the concept that everything is predetermined, and that human beings have no control over what happens in their future. We as people either deny fate or use it to defend ourselves against life, but in either case, consequences are often unavoidable. Take the case of Romeo, when he kills his cousin-in-law, Tybalt. Romeo, who kills vengefully kills Tybalt for slaying his friend Mercutio, cries out, “Oh I am fortune’s fool!” when he sees Tybalt dead. This line is obviously Romeo blaming fate for the fact that his sword impaled Tybalt. In this case, it is clear that all the fate blaming in the world will not save Romeo from the Prince of Verona’s doom. Romeo is thereafter banished for slaying Tybalt, getting lease from the punishment of death only because Tybalt himself was a murderer. Romeo faces the consequences of his actions and heads off to Verona, where thereafter a couple failed plots and some plague or another lead to him and Juliet dying. Romeo, despite a concrete belief in fate, ends up still dealing with the consequences of kill...
In society, people have varying opinions on fate. Many question whether life’s events are pre-determined by fate or whether people have a destiny to serve a greater purpose. Fate versus free will is an archaic topic among philosophers that is ultimately up for interpretation.The question on whether or not something else is controlling life’s events or if they are simply a coincidence faces us in some point of our lives. In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare plays with the idea of fate and its control on the events in the play. He forces us to realize the destiny between Romeo and Juliet involves the fate between the two opposing households as well. Shakespeare blurs the line between fate and free will in his play Romeo and Juliet to show that the outstanding cause of Romeo and Juliet’s tragedy was not something decided- it was fate. It is evident by the events in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet that fate was the main cause of the tragedy in the play, and that Romeo and Juliet held the destiny to finally end the feud between the Capulets and the Montagues.
One of the key issues of the play was FATE. You could say all of the
Romeo and Juliet is widely known to be a tragedy, but what caused the atrocity for which it is so renowned? Some may argue fate was to blame for Romeo’s and Juliet’s deaths, that the situations these young lovers faced were depicted as being out of their control. Could Romeo have refused to attend the Capulet masque? Was Romeo destined to duel the raging Tybalt? Did Romeo and Juliet truly have to kill themselves? If one considers the specific circumstances and causes of these situations, the fact that all scenarios are the result of choice rather than chance, and the notion that the characters were never left without options, only one conclusion can be determined. It was unarguably the decisions made by characters, not those made by fate, that were responsible for the tragedy in Romeo and Juliet.
From the beginning of "The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet", the reader knew how the story was going to end, hence the title of the story and the explanations in the start. After reading through the story, there were multiple frustrating moments where events could have gone one way but ended up going in another. Every act in the story added onto the total tragic ending. The things that happened could have been because of fate, but everything had to start somewhere. Everything had to start somewhere. Everything that occurred in the story would not have been possible if it was not for the Friar who had agreed to the marriage.
Fate in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet Before starting to decide to what extent fate was responsible for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet, I should first decide what is fate? According to the dictionary, fate is the 'inevitable destiny or necessity destined term of life; doom.' This basically means, that fate can be described as a pre-planned sequence of events influencing ones life. In Romeo and Juliet, it is obviously true to say that fate was a contributor to the deaths of the young couple, but could it have been the sole contributor?
The deaths of Romeo and Juliet are linked to Friar Lawrence’s plan.... ... middle of paper ... ... God joined my heart and Romeo’s, thou our hands. ”(IV.i.53-56)
Being one of the most debated texts in history, Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’, has the power and ability to divide audiences. Throughout the play, it is seen that Shakespeare has left the audience to contemplate the underlying cause of the Romeo and Juliet tragedy. Shakespeare begins by showing the reckless actions and choices of the lovers, illustrating one of the main contributing factors to their deaths. Friar Lawrence plays a large role in the deaths of the lovers as he is the main instigator, greatly contributing to the deaths. Also, demonstrated through the play is that the lover’s destiny is written in the stars. Without
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 and freedom. The two “star-crossed lovers” are from feuding households, and each has their own distinct problems. Romeo jumps from girl to girl, never finding anyone to reciprocate his feelings until he meets Juliet. She is hidden from the world, and with every decision being made for her, she wants to control her own life, which she does with marrying Romeo. Although fate and free will are both undeniably found in the lives of Juliet and Romeo, it is ultimately fate and the way it manipulates the events, time, and the characters that brings about the untimely death of the two iconic teen lovers.
Fate in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Romeo and Juliet takes place in Verona, Northern Italy. The city is divided by civil war between two noble families, the Capulets and the Montagues. The. The feud is an old one, from ancient grudge to new.
In Romeo and Juliet, a play by Shakespeare, the characters are subject to fate and destiny and hence, have no control, whatsoever, over their lives. Shakespeare repeatedly refers to fate, the idea of a predetermined future or a hidden power beyond anyone’s control through various techniques. There is a sense of inexorable doom throughout the whole play which is made evident through the characters’ repetitive acknowledgement of destiny, as well as the constant foreshadowing and coincidences that take place. Romeo and Juliet have their entire lives played out according to fate and destiny which is obvious through the many references to their predestined future.