Fate In Romeo And Juliet

William Shakespeare’s play, Romeo and Juliet is set in Verona, Italy where there is a long continuous battle between the Montague and Capulet families. Two “star-crossed lovers”, Romeo and Juliet, have fallen in love with each other, but Romeo is a Montague and Juliet is a Capulet. During this time period, marriage involving a Capulet and a Montague caused street brawls, disagreements, and disruptions within the families which resulted in hardship and deaths. The tragedy of Romeo and Juliet is a result of predetermined destiny to an extent.

All throughout the play, stars symbolize fate. In the prologue the chorus stated, “From forth the fatal loins of these two foes A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life; Whose misadventured piteous

overthrows Doth with their death bury their parents’ strife. The fearful passage of their death-marked love…” The two characters are “star-crossed lovers” because their relationship is going to end terribly since their families don’t get along. Furthermore, the prologue foreshadows that the couple will take their own lives, which means that they will end up dying at the end. In addition, Romeo got banished from Verona when he killed Tybalt. In act III, scene V Juliet cried out, “If thou art fickle, what dost thou with him That is renowned for faith? Be fickle, Fortune, For then I hope thou wilt not keep him long, But send him back.” Romeo and Juliet do not have control since their relationship was determined by God’s will. In addition,.... .
Others may argue that the cause of the tragedy is free will, but evidence continually proves that it is fate. In act IV, scene III, Juliet consents to marrying Paris and chooses to drink a potion to play dead temporarily so she doesn’t actually have to marry him. Some people say that this is free will since she drinks the potion risking that she may not wake up ever again. On the contrary, it is fate because God had Juliet wake up again after drinking the potion. Furthermore,.... Many examples determine that fate plays a role in this story.
Finally, Romeo and Juliet’s tragic ending is caused by predetermined destiny from God. They were called “star-crossed” lovers because their family didn’t support their romantic relationship. Also, they were going to have a bad ending no matter what since their relationship was controlled by God’s plan instead of theirs. The play of Romeo and Juliet will go down in history as a tragic and devastating love story.