Fate or Coincidence in William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet

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Fate or Coincidence in William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet

Shakespeare’s plays have sparked many debates. I am going to discuss

the question “Is the tragedy of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet

a matter of fate or coincidence?”

Romeo and Juliet is a tragic love story of two families who have

always quarrelled. Through a series of events, leading up to the hero

and the heroine committing suicide in love, the quarrel is ended.

However, it is important to consider the historical influence on the

play. The people of all Elizabethan classes were very superstitious.

They believed that it was not them who controlled their own actions.

They believed that the stars controlled fate. Fate was very commonly

believed in as the supposed force, principle or power, to predetermine

all events. So, events in future were going to happen, and no stopping

it.

Right from the start of the play, in the Prologue, Romeo and Juliet

are portrayed as “star-crossed” and their love is “death-marked”. This

tells the audience that during the course of the play, all will not

run smoothly, and for Romeo and Juliet, the outcome of their love will

be tragic.

Act 1 Scene 2 contains the first example of Fate. Romeo reads a list

of invites to a party of the Capulets. It just so happens that the

servant had news of the party. This is actually quite an important

part in the play. It leads to Romeo meeting Juliet.

Toward the end of Act 1 Scene 4, an example of fate and destiny is

mentioned by Romeo: “I fear, too early: for my mind misgives

Some consequence, yet hanging in the stars,”

This is showing that Romeo believes a turn of events is going to turn

to his tragic death. A point of key diction in this is “fear”. He

fears something. “Mind misgives” is another piece of key diction,

saying he is unsure of something. Bearing in mind that the stars

supposedly control fate of people, he says, “hanging in the stars”.

The stars have something planned.

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