Free Will In Romeo And Juliet

In the tale of Romeo and Juliet written by William Shakespeare, two star crossed lovers take a leap into love, leading to them resting by each other's’ sides in a forever sleep. The story takes place in the town of Verona, which two rival families share. Occasionally, a brawl breaks out in the town between the families, Montagues and Capulets, which end up with a severe punishment from the prince, Prince Escalus. The story takes the reader on an adventure through the lives of Montague Romeo and Capulet Juliet as they struggle to find time to love each other. However, their love leads to their deaths, which are especially brought by fate. Through foreshadowing, Shakespeare paints a picture of two star crossed lovers falling by fate because of

There are many core examples where Murphy’s Law is put into place. When Friar John is sent by Friar Lawrence to deliver the note, which says that Juliet is not actually dead and explains the plan, to Romeo, it never gets delivered because Friar John stops to take care of another situation. Friar Lawrence exclaims, “Unhappy fortune! By my brotherhood, the letter was not nice but full of charge, of dear import, and the neglecting it may do much danger.”(Shakespeare 5.2.17) Friar Lawrence explains to Friar John that by not delivering the letter, he has put Romeo in grave danger because the letter was not a nice greeting, but it was full of important information that related to Juliet’s staged death. The worst thing that could have happened to mess up the whole plan was Romeo not knowing about it, which is what happened due to Murphy’s Law. When Romeo gets banished by Prince Escalus once he has murdered Tybalt, there is no easy way to see Juliet anymore. Romeo is delivered this news by Friar Lawrence who bemoans, “A gentler judgement vanished from his lips: not body’s death, but body’s banishment.”(Shakespeare 3.3.11) Right before the fight with Tybalt that caused this punishment, Romeo married Juliet in Friar Lawrence’s cell. The worst case scenario is that the newlyweds will not be able to spend time with each other. Once Romeo finished getting married, he rode to Benvolio to tell

There are many instances in the book where Romeo or Juliet say something that later happens. When Romeo spends his last night with Juliet, she questions, “Oh, think’st thou we shall ever meet again?”(Shakespeare 3.5.51) They never actually meet again because Juliet takes the vial that night that puts her into a fake death and Romeo does not know of that plan. That leads him to buy his own poison to die next to Juliet’s body, where once he dies, Juliet awakens and kills herself this time because Romeo is dead. Romeo expresses how upset he is to Balthasar because he finds out that Juliet is “dead.” Romeo screams to the sky, “Is it e’en so? Then I defy you, stars!”(Shakespeare 5.1.25) He thought Juliet was going to be with him forever, but now he is blaming fate for bringing her death so early. In this part, Romeo is talking directly to Fate, complaining that it is Fate’s fault that everything took its course in this unfortunate