Free Will In Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet

As the former wrestler and business executive, Paul Levesque once said, “Your destiny is what you make. It’s the choices that you make. And for every choice, there’s a consequence.” Levesque’s words emphasize how it's our decisions that determine our fate; we create our own future by our own freewill. We can change our future by the choices we make every single day, and forge our own destiny. In William Shakespeare’s play, Romeo and Juliet, the star crossed lovers’ rash and hasty decision making emphasizes that every decision we make has a consequence; we cannot be immature and reckless with our choices. Romeo and Juliet’s all consuming love for one another and rushed relationship cloud their reasoning and keep them from thinking clearly,

After Romeo fights and kills Tybalt, Romeo says, “O, I am Fortune’s fool!” (125). Although Romeo is the one who murders Tybalt with his own hands, he still blames his own vengeful action on fortune and fate. The way Romeo blames destiny for the death of Juliet’s cousin illuminates his immaturity and irresponsibility; he does not acknowledge his impulsive and thoughtless actions. Similarly, as Juliet awakens from her long slumber, she finds Romeo dead and the Friar says, “A greater power than we can contradict Hath thwarted our intents,” (231). Immediately after Romeo passes, the only rational adult, Friar Lawrence blames Juliet’s loves’ death on a “greater power” rather than admit his own faults. Even though the Friar is supposedly a trustworthy and levelheaded man of the clergy, he chooses to marry Romeo and Juliet without their parents’ consent, create a foolish scheme that ends up leading to a disaster, and still denies taking any part in this tragedy. Overall, the characters of this story accuse destiny and fate as the culprit of the star-crossed lovers’ death instead of taking accountability for their own actions and hasty