Is it free will or fate that is to blame for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet?
In Shakespeare’s famous 1597 play Romeo and Juliet, the two-star crossed lovers die tragically. Famous for the simplicity of its characters and the language, the play analyses the ramifications that are set upon the two main protagonists. This is correspondingly due to the ongoing conflict between both families, the Montagues and the Capulets. The deaths of the two characters circulate around the concept on whether it was free will or fate. However, the resultant consequences of events for the characters in this tragedy was highly affected by the hands of fate, and not by freewill. It is evident that fate is to blame for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet due to the
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position of both families, the unintentional meeting of both characters, and love at first sight. To begin with, the play indefinitely displays that fate was responsible for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet due to their unintentional meeting.
In act 1, Romeo’s decision to attend the Capulet ball unintentionally made him fall in love at first sight with Juliet. When Romeo first spoke to Juliet, their words had powerful contentment; they had strong love for each other that they could be together forever. Juliet questioned whether Romeo is married or not and states that if he is married to “Go ask his name: if he be married. My grave is like to be my wedding bed” (I.vi.130) Before Juliet even knows Romeo’s name, she is already obsessed and fears that he may’ve been married to someone else. Juliet uses strong expressions to contrast her wedding as death, which eventually occurs later in the play. This also reflects that fate has also controlled where Juliet is going to ‘stay’ until the end of her life. Premonitions were given to Juliet showing the audience how the lovers destinies are preordained from the moment they met displaying that fate was responsible for their …show more content…
deaths. Furthermore, the deaths of Romeo and Juliet was also due to both of their families feuding. Romeo and Juliet were an impeccable couple and the chances of each one of the lovers being a Montague and a Capulet were extremely low. They both showed grief when they soon found out that they were from opposite families. Stated by both the lovers, “O dear account! my life is my foe’s debt” and “My only love sprung from my only hate” (II.vi.135) which explains their ill fate of being a Capulet and a Montague. Juliet says ‘Wherefore art thou Romeo? Thou art thyself, though not a Montague’ (II.ii.35.) Juliet keeps repeating the same theme, ‘why cannot Romeo be another person’ The expressions from Romeo and Juliet clearly and evidently shows that they are not meant to be together, but it is destiny that brought them together to fall in love and eventually die by the hands of fate. Another fate driven event that caused the deaths of Romeo and Juliet, would be the failure to deliver Friar Lawrence’s letter to Romeo.
If only Romeo had known the true state of Juliet, he would not have killed himself. Fate has misguided the letter and Romeo had no way of knowing that Juliet was in fact, alive. Instead of knowing about what the Friar’s plan, Romeo is informed by Balthazar about Juliet’s ‘death’. By fate, Balthazar comes to Romeo and tells him what he believes to be true, but the piece of information he tells Romeo is a cause of fate. Unable to control his feelings, Romeo is full of anger and his only intentions is death. Fate has sent Romeo to Mantua where he finds the man who will unknowingly help Romeo kill himself, and indirectly kill Juliet in the process. Friar Lawrence's plan is also ruined because Friar John is unable to deliver the message to Romeo: "I could not send it (here it is again) / Nor get a messenger to bring it thee, / So fearful were they of infection."
(VI.ii.10) In conclusion, the above reasons evidently conclude that it is only fate to blame for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. Taking into consideration about their unintentional meeting, the families conflict, and the failure of Friar Lawrence’s letter, fate is the dominant force for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet.
As these words echoed through the hall of the Globe theatre little did William Shakespeare know that this tragedy, Romeo and Juliet, would be examined and admired by playwrights for decades to come. So does fate play a major part in this tragedy? Or does their blood stain the garments of civil hands? Could it have been the loyal Mercutio, who swore on both their houses?? Tybalt the hated enemy? or was it Friar Lawrence who tried to end the fighting between households. Or does the blame go on the ancestors who began it. Many would agree that the death of these lovers cannot be blamed on anyone but themselves. This question cannot be answered without looking deeply into each characters involvement in the tragedy.
The timing in the play is impeccable, and this is what makes the play seem like fate has such a large influence. Throughout the play, Romeo and Juliet are desperately seeking a way to be together and never want to leave each other. “Goodnight, Goodnight! Parting is such sweet sorrow/ That I shall say goodnight till it be morrow” (II ii 188-190). Romeo and Juliet...
In the play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, all the choices made by the star crossed lovers have consequences. The two lovers blame fate for their misfortune. They refuse to believe that fate does not determine the end result, only that they can do that. At the beginning of the play, Romeo is presented with a plethora of choices. The audience is introduced to Romeo as he sulks over his lover Rosaline.
In efforts to overcome such hindrances to their love, Juliet feigns her death as planned. However, as a result of miscommunication, Romeo takes the news seriously, and thus, being propelled by zealous devotion, both use death as the key to unity. A variety of themes are implicated throughout the play. Fate, in particular, is well demonstrated. By using the motif of stars and characters such as Friar Lawrence, Juliet, and Romeo, Shakespeare truly and masterfully conveys that fate is the inevitable, unalterable and omnipotent force that controls all actions unto their consequences.
When the play begins, Romeo chooses to crash the ball. Even before the Capulet ball, Romeo predicts his “untimely death"(1.4,117). Fate did not make him go to the Capulet ball, he decided to go on his own, even though his “mind misgives some consequences”(1.4, 114). Another example of how free will comes to play is when Romeo finds out later on that Juliet his true love is his enemy. A "fear"(1.5.120), is placed in him. Nonetheless, he still continues to pursue the relationship even though he knows it will only end in trouble.
Romeo and Juliet is a play by William Shakespeare that tells the tale of two young lovers who come from opposing families. At first they don’t even know that the other exists; However, that all changes one night at a party that Juliet’s father, Lord Capulet, throws. Romeo and Juliet fall madly in love and rush to get married. Sadly, these two don’t get a happy ending, and one question remains: who or what is to blame for the lovers’ tragic end? Is it fate or human choice?
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)
Romeo and Juliet made many choices out of their own free will, including an irreversible decision that ended in despair for all characters. “All are punished!”(5.3.305). In the play “Romeo and Juliet” by William Shakespeare, the actions of Romeo, the actions of Juliet, and the actions of others prove that free will is more paramount than fate in the plot of the play.
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?
Friar Lawrence is the primary instigator for the death of Romeo and Juliet’s death. He is regarded as the guiding light for salvation in the town of Verona as he supposed to act as the moral compass for the Veronese; however, he does not carry out his moral responsibility to help the disillusioned Romeo. When Romeo approached him with the intent to marry Juliet, Friar Lawrence replies, “I’ll thy assistant be” (2.3.90) in attempt to “turn [Romeo’s] households’ rancor to pure love” (2.3.93). Regardless of the fact that Friar Lawrence is fully aware of Romeo’s superficial love for Juliet as Romeo clings to any beautiful woman he sees, he still sees this as an opportunity to reconcile the burning hatred between the Capulets and Montague, disregarding the fact that their dangerous infatuation might bring misfortune and misery for the two misguided youth. He continually acts on idea of the greater good, neglecting the safety of the two star-crossed lovers. When Juliet is forced to marry the county, Juliet “long[s] to die” (4.1.68), and as a result, Friar Lawrence gives Juliet a sleeping potion where “[her] pulse… surcease” (4.1.99) to make her seemingly dead to reunite her with Romeo. To avoid bigamy, Friar Lawrence acts impulsively rather than rationally as he concocts a dangerous plan, giving a deadly potion in the hands of an innocent girl without consid...
Fate is most responsible for Romeo and Juliet’s death because of the way plans folded out. As Friar Lawrence is marrying Romeo and Juliet he states “ In one respect I’ll thy assistant be, for this alliance may so happy prove To turn your households rancor to Pure Love.”(2.3.90-93), Friar Lawrence is saying that he believes marrying Romeo and Juliet will turn their families hatred for each other into love for each other, this ends up not being true because Juliet’s parents wanted her to marry Paris but they had no knowledge of her marriage to Romeo. When Friar hears that Juliet’s parents want her to marry Paris, Friar comes up with a plan to make juliet seem dead, then she will go to her
In Shakespeare’s Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, the lovers meet their doom, in scene iii of Act V. With their fatal flaw of impulsivity, Romeo and Juliet are ultimately to blame for their death. Contrarily, if it was not for the unintentional influence of the pugnacious Tybalt, the star-crossed lovers may have remained together, perpetually. To the audience, the deaths of Romeo and Juliet are already understood, for it is a Shakespearean tragedy. However, the causes, predominantly Romeo’s and Juliet’s fatal flaws of impulsivity and rashness, are as simple as Shakespearean writing. Though Romeo and Juliet are wholly to blame for their tragic suicides, in Act V scene iii, Tybalt is, in turn, responsible, as his combative spirit forced Romeo to murder him and Juliet to marry Paris.
The play Romeo and Juliet was about two family foes falling in love. Their forbidden love came to a crashing halt when they ended up killing themselves. They first met at a Capulet feast were the fell in love. They met after the feast and decided to get married. Tybalt wants to fight Romeo because he was at the feast; Tybalt killed Mercutio, which lead to Romeo killing Tybalt.
The lovers of Shakespeare’s famous tragedy Romeo and Juliet are perhaps the most famous pair of lovers in history. Their story has been told and remade in countless ways, with a variety of endings. The original piece however ends with tragedy in Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet. Throughout Shakespeare’s tragedy Romeo and Juliet, fate is the driving force in that the star-cross lovers are destined to have a tragic end. Throughout the play, Shakespeare uses literary elements to reveal that our actions are not what controls our life, but it is fate that determines what will happen to us.
To begin with, the theme of fate over freewill is brought up recurrently in the catastrophic play, Romeo and Juliet. Before the beginning of the play, Shakespeare introduces the idea of fate within the prologue. “A pair of star-cross’d lovers take their life [sic]” (Shakespeare, Act 1 Prologue L.6). The term “star crossed lovers” is used to...