In the Shakespearean play Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare proposes a major theme to whether it was fate or flaw that killed Romeo and his lover Juliet. Fate is defined as the development of events beyond a person's control while flaw is defined as a fault or weakness in a person's character. The answer to whether fate or flaw killed the two lovers is quite simple. Fate is what killed Romeo and Juliet. Flaws are something that are in you and you develop. Just as the flaw that Romeo would act out on impulse than rather thinking it out. If he was to actually sit back and think about what he was going to do next, a lot in the play could have been different. But personality is something you make; you develop. But fate, is something that is already …show more content…
Unfortunately for Romeo, Rosaline did not return the feelings. Heartbroken, Romeo is swayed by Benvolio to attend the Capulet Ball to find another girl who catches his eyes in order to get over Rosaline. Before Romeo heads over to the Capulet ball, where he falls in love with Juliet, as an instance of foreshadowing, it is told that he has a feeling of something "hanging in the stars" will be set in motion that night. “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 despised life closed in my breast, By some vile forfeit of untimely death.” (Act 1, scene …show more content…
then I defy you stars!” claiming that he will find way to go against the way the stars are trying to tell him how to live which is a separate path from where Juliet’s stars want to take her. Even from the beginning of the play, Romeo refers to the stars that allowed for the two lovers to meet but the stars never promised to keep the love. But the way Romeo goes about in going against the stars is an peculiar way. “I still will stay with thee;And never from this palace of dim night,Depart again: here, here will I remain with worms that are thy chambermaids; O, here will I set up my everlasting rest, And shake the yoke of inauspicious stars from this world-wearied flesh.” As Romeo says this, he is holding a poison that will surely kill him. Trying to defy the stars, Romeo is contemplating his suicide. He thinks Juliet is truly dead so is going to kill himself so they can be together forever in heaven. This way, it will seem as he went against what fate wanted him to do. Turning fate from being written in the stars but in the matters of his hands. But only did he not know it was fated for him to think Juliet was dead and for him kill himself as well because of the letter Friar Lawrence wrote to Romeo explaining it all did not reach him since Friar John became terribly sickened. “ Friar Laurence: Who bare my letter, then, to Romeo? Friar John: I could not send
“It lies not in our power to love, or hate, for will in us is over-rul'd by fate.” In William Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet, it is clear that the leading theme is fate, as it is mentioned several times. Shakespeare allows the audience to see everything that happens “behind closed doors.” While some characters’ actions did affect the outcome of the play, fate is the ruling force.
Inevitable Death in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet In Romeo and Juliet it is clear that fate plays a large part. There are many references in the play that refer to bad luck or misfortune, but it is argued that the deaths of Romeo and Juliet are equally the fault of human error. The characters each have weaknesses that could be to blame like anger, ambition or ill judgement. Also some characters had premonitions or bad feelings that something bad would happen but they never did anything to stop this.
The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare is a love story that has been read for hundreds of years and is still studied today. The story is about a young boy and a young girl who are in love with each other but both of their lives end in tragedy. Many of the play’s character’s actions affect the outcome of the play, but no character can be put to blame of the outcome. The one thing that these events can be credited to is fate. Fate did many things in the play, such as caused Romeo and Juliet to meet and it caused Romeo to believe Juliet was dead.
Which once again brings out the themes of love and fate. Romeo is blaming this tragic turn of events on fate. “ I defy you stars” signals foreshadowing (“take their life”). The phrase “take their life” has a double implication.
Fate can be defined as being “a power that determines and controls everything that is or happens,” (Newfeldt (Ed.) p.431) while destiny can be described as “what is predetermined to happen in spite of all efforts to change or prevent it.” (Newfeldt (Ed.) p.321) Therefore, fate is the entity that decides all that will occur, and destiny is the decision made by fate. Tragedy can be defined as the dramatic representation of serious and important actions that turn out disastrously for the main character. This indicates that the tragedies in Romeo and Juliet were the deaths of Romeo and Juliet, and to say fate and destiny were not responsible for these tragedies, is to say the characters of the play, rather than some intangible force, were aware and in control of the actions that caused Romeo’s and Juliet’s
So it is likely that Shakespeare meant for fate to be the cause of Romeo and Juliet's death. I think that the family feud is the main cause for the death of Romeo and Juliet. If the families were not so hateful towards each other Romeo and Juliet would not have kept there love for each other a secret, and they would have no need for committing suicide. This also backs up the point that fate could be to blame for their deaths.
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 essence of being human is that one does not seek perfection," states the British author, George Orwell. Every individual grows to understand that perfection is unachievable, therefore, human beings embody dramatic flaws. Many people tend to be unkempt or have poor manners, while others have behavioral difficulties such as quick temperament, dishonesty, or intentional rudeness. These perplexities can bring about hardships throughout an individual's life. William Shakespeare demonstrates some of these hardships in his puissant drama about The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, that portrays a protagonist, Romeo, who acquires the unfortunate flaw of rashness which later develops into the major downfall of his death.
As a child did you ever dream of having a relationship like Romeo and Juliet? Believed to be one of the most romantic loved stories ever wrote, the question still arises as to whether it was really fate that killed them at the end, or their continuous bad choices throughout the play that ultimately ended in death? In Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, throughout the story they both made many detrimental decisions that have always been long debated as whether it was fate or just bad choices. Believing in fate has been deliberated for many years and to whether or not fate played a role in what ultimately happens to Romeo and Juliet or could their poor choices have contributed more than fate alone.
Through the flaws in the characterization of his characters, Shakespeare allows their weakness to manipulate and cloud their judgment. This fundamentally leads to the outcome of Romeo and Juliet, with each weakness presenting a conflict that alters the characters fate. Being especially true with the star-crossed lovers, William Shakespeare leads their perfect love into tragedy with these conflicts. In Romeo and Juliet, Juliet, Friar Lawrence, and Tybalt all contribute to conflicts that enhance the plot. From destructive flaws in their characterizations, Juliet, Friar Lawrence, and Tybalt are all consequently controlled by their weakness, therefore affecting the outcome of the play.
Romeo says that he is now going to defy fate and he is going to commit suicide. He has said many times that he cannot go on without Juliet. Now that the time has come and she has died, so he believes, he has made plans to leave tonight and to see Juliet one last time and then kill himself. Romeo says, “Is it e’en so? Then I defy you stars!, Thou know’st my lodging: get me ink and paper, And hire post-horses; I will hence tonight” This just proves that love is a very powerful emotion that drives people to take actions that we would not normally do.
After being rejected by Rosaline, a member of the Capulet family, Romeo rests his gaze on Juliet, her cousin. His methods to win Juliet’s heart consisted of sneaking into the Capulet’s party, however he receives a vision that “some consequence [was] yet hanging in the stars, shall bitterly begin [with] this fearful date” (I,v). The consequence was slowly becoming more realistic from that day, the day that the two ‘star-crossed’ lovers met. Romeo made the decision of attending the event despite his predicted vision of demise, risking his own safety for the sake of being in love. From that specific day, Romeo had been a changed man. His mindset had been corrupted to the point at which he could not see clearly, being blinded by love. This ultimately resulted in Romeo to make additional poor decisions in the future. The love that he felt for Juliet was so immense that he questioned any prior ‘love’ he felt, "did [his] heart love till now (meeting Juliet)? Forswear it sight, for [he] ne 'er saw true beauty till this night". Romeo’s perception of ‘true love’ differs from the accustomed apprehension. He is a petrarchan lover, essentially meaning that he is in love with the idea of being in
Romeo's immense love for Juliet will eventually lead to the fall of himself. Death lingers throughout the play between Romeo and his love, Juliet. In conclusion, when Juliet is thinking about Romeo she says, "Give me Romeo; and when he shall die / Take him and cut him out in little stars, / And he will make the face of heaven so fine / That all the world will be in love with night," (lll,ii,21-25). This suggests that in the play Romeo will end up dying and Juliet will be there to see it. Juliet prophesizes over many topics in the play and in the end they become true.
In regards to Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare chose fate to be a strong underlying theme which constructs the basis of the story line. Fate has the ability to control the characters’ lives and one minor change in the way it had acted would have changed the entire outcome. Through Romeo and Juliet’s spontaneous encounter, fate was largely responsible for love at first sight alongside controlling the misfortunate events that occur as a result of their love. Apart from love and misfortune, Shakespeare suggests that Romeo and Juliet were destined to die the way they did, despite the fact that it was their choice to end their lives. The outcome of the play was a direct result of fate, which to a notable extent was responsible for the many events which were destined to occur.
Some people may not believe that destiny is something that truthfully exists in the world. These people doubt that there is anything that is actually meant to be, or supposed to happen, thinking that there is always a way around troubling predicaments, knowing that it is not necessary to turn out just one certain way. They trust that whatever occurs in their lives comes as a result of the decisions that they make with their own free will. Others believe that whatever happens during the course of their lives is inevitable and every event is laid out before them like a road map to life, in other words, fate. William Shakespeare's play, Romeo and Juliet has fate as an exceptionally crucial element which makes fate as important as any character in the production. The events leading up to and during the party were definitely caused by fate. The moment that Romeo and Juliet meet is the exact incident that leads to their death, however unaware these "star-crossed lovers" are to that fact. Thus, fate is undoubtedly the most responsible influence for the couple's tragedy.