The human condition follows the path of fate. Everyone makes choices out of their own free will which affects their life at that time, but will ultimately lead to their pre- determined fate. People inflict their own wounds during their life by the choices that they make. This applies in Romeo and Juliet and plays a major role in Romeo and Juliet’s lives. "A pair of star-crossed lovers" (I, i, 6)
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)
Juliet is to drink a potion to make her appear dead, and later wake to be free of the shame of marrying Paris. Here, Friar Lawrence is assuring Juliet that he will send a letter to Romeo, explaining their plan. Romeo doesn’t receive that letter, and he does not know what is to happen. Free will comes with great consequences. Friar Lawrence and Juliet inflicted their own wounds by not telling Romeo of their plan. If they had taken the time to make sure that Romeo got the information, their plan might have succeeded, and Romeo and Juliet would be free to marry each other. A greater power than we can contradict hath thwarted our intents. (V, iii, 154-155)
After Romeo kills Paris, and then himself, Juliet wakes as Friar Lawrence rushes over to her. Friar Lawrence is saying that a higher power, in this case, fate, has ruined their plan. We know that Friar Lawrence is talking about fate when he says that they cannot contradict this power. You cannot contradict fate, it always has it’s way in the end, whether we know it or not.
"O, I am fortune’s fool! (III, i, 135)".
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 Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, two star-crossed lovers betrayed their own family in order to be with each other. Given that both Romeo and Juliet are both young, they made endless sacrifices and decisions just for them to be together without considering the consequences. All of their sacrifices resulted in vain as their tragic conclusion was their own death. Although fate played a significant role in the star-crossed lovers' downfall, Romeo and Juliet paid the consequences of their dreadful decisions due to their reckless rebellion which eventually led to their catastrophic ending. In the first few events that happened in the play, the readers have already seen some poor choices Romeo and Juliet made that eventually led to their death.
First of all, Friar Lawrence agrees to marry Romeo and Juliet, but he does it in secret which he knows isn’t allowed. The Friar is only agreeing to marry them because he wants to unite the two houses and end their feud. Friar Lawrence says: “In one respect I'll thy assistant be / For this alliance may so happy prove / To turn your households' rancor to pure love” (Shakespeare 2.3.96-99). If the Friar hadn’t agreed to marry the lovers than it wouldn’t have been a problem for Juliet to marry Paris so she wouldn’t have had to take the potion which made Romeo think she was dead. Secondly, Friar Lawrence supplied Juliet with a potion that would make her look as though she’s dead to get her out of marrying Paris because he mistakenly married her and Romeo. Friar Lawrence tells Juliet that he will give her a remedy for her issue by saying, “A thing like death to chide away this shame / That copest with death himself to scape from it: / And, if thou darest, I'll give thee remedy” (4.1.74-76). Without this irresponsible
In contrast to common characteristics of a cleric, conformist and conservative, Friar Lawrence advocates freedom over following rules in society and always try to solve issues using the most risky methods. This is illustrated when he plans out Juliet’s death, “then as the manner of manner of our country is, in thy best robes, uncover’d on the bier, thou shalt be borne to that same ancient vault where all the Capulet lie.” (IV.ii.109-113). He indirectly plays an influence to the tragic ending even though his primal motive intends to unite the lovers and offer citizens a peaceful town. As opposed to playing their ordinary roles in society, Friar Lawrence devises plans and encourages Romeo and Juliet to pursue forbidden love under a risky circumstance in order to turn his notions into reality. Friar Lawrence’s dialogue informs Juliet of the plan illustrates his part in causing the tragedy, “Thou hast the strength of will to slay thyself, then it is likely thou wilt under a thing like death to chide away this shame,” (IV.i.72-74). From secretly marrying the them to sending Romeo to take Juliet’s virginity, he is informed about Romeo’s approaching banishment and the notorious reputation which will follow Juliet permanently. However,he continues to cover the mistake by creating the facade of Juliet’s death. This is illustrated in “All this is I know, and to the marriage he nurse is privy,” (V.iii.265-266). Friar Lawrence challenges conformism to pursue liberty, serves to liberate the forbidden love of two youngsters from opposing families but only earns a tragic fruition for his
Romeo and Juliet is widely known to be a tragedy, but what caused the atrocity for which it is so renowned? Some may argue fate was to blame for Romeo’s and Juliet’s deaths, that the situations these young lovers faced were depicted as being out of their control. Could Romeo have refused to attend the Capulet masque? Was Romeo destined to duel the raging Tybalt? Did Romeo and Juliet truly have to kill themselves? If one considers the specific circumstances and causes of these situations, the fact that all scenarios are the result of choice rather than chance, and the notion that the characters were never left without options, only one conclusion can be determined. It was unarguably the decisions made by characters, not those made by fate, that were responsible for the tragedy in Romeo and Juliet.
Most people believe that their life is suppose to end a certain way. In the play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, the main characters end up killing themselves because of forbidden love. And the history of their family's fighting preventing them from being together. Resulting in personal choice having a greater impact on the characters in the play rather than fath.
He also tells Juliet that "Shall Romeo by my letters know our drift, and hither shall hem come; and he and I shall watch thy waking, and that very night shall Romeo bear thee to Mantua" (Act 4, Scene 1.) Unforeseen to neither the Friar nor Juliet that an error such as the one of Friar John’s would prove to be deadly. Poor Romeo was not able to receive the letter. Friar Lawrence plays a significant role in the plan for Juliet to "sleep."Friar Lawrence plays an important rule in the actual deaths of Romeo, Juliet, And Paris. Friar Lawrence is unable to reach Romeo with the news of Juliet’s "death." Romeo, thinking Juliet is dead rushes to Verona, but not before buying some fast poison.
From the beginning of the play it is clear that Romeo and Juliet are doomed to die, They are considered victims of circumstance but the question is did they have responsibility for their fate? Could things have been different? Was it a bad series of events, was it a coincidence that fate was against them, were outside forces against them, It is not just a coincidence the language used in the prologue 'star-crossed lovers' and 'death-marked love' shows that it was all meant to happen from the beginning of the play, the words 'star-crossed' refers to an astrological outlook on destiny that was widely accepted in the period the play was written in, reference to this so early in the play creates a sense of anticipation for the audience and from the start they know what is going to be the outcome of the play but the question left on their minds is 'Why?' and 'How?'
Failing to uphold his end of the plan, causing the plan to fail and resulting with both Romeo and Juliet dying. Friar Laurence admits to being responsible for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. Friar Lawrence made a huge mistake that he could have avoided himself, if only he had thought out his plan better. He trusted Juliet an unstable fourteen-year-old with a potion to make her appear dead just so she would not have to marry Paris. Resulting in the death of herself, Friar Lawrence had even said, "If…thou hast the strength of will to slay thyself…take thou this vial…no warmth, no breath shall testify the livest." He should have been more careful, Friar Laurence's idea for Juliet was very risky and because of his own ignorance has ended up in tragedy. He also admits that he left the tomb and left Juliet there. The Friar knew that Juliet had previously threatened to kill herself, yet he still abandoned her with Romeo's knife. If the Friar truly cared about her safety, he would have forced her to come with him or stayed to prevent her from making any irresponsible
The choices Romeo and Juliet make are poor, and eventually resulted in their death. Getting married, killing Tybalt, and thinking with hastyness were all poor choices that lead to both of their deaths. Once in a while making bad choices doesn’t affect someone as much, but making then many times regularly does affect one’s life. This teaches people that we must think our actions through before committing them.
Despite his conscience, Friar Lawrence reveals a potion that will put Juliet to a false death, in the “Potion Plan” scene. His motivation was caused by the weeping and tears of Juliet who was in the hands of a twisted marriage against her will. She had already been married to her love, but now that promise was in danger of being broken. From the few lines that the friar speaks, the audience realizes that this friar is certainly not the stereotype friar that goes around trying to live an impossible life of perfection.
The attempt that Friar Lawrence had made to fix up his wrong doings was a mistake and took a huge role in leading up to the two deaths. He had a second chance to come clean and tell the families the truth, but he chose to ignore that opportunity and came up with a plan that resulted in the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. After Romeo had been banished, the plan that the Friar conjured up was for Juliet to take a potion which would make her appear dead.
While trying to help Juliet, the Friar gives Juliet a sleeping potion and says, “Let not the nurse lie with thee in thy chamber./ Take thou this vial, being in bed,/ And this distilling liquor drink thou off;” (IV.i.92-94). Friar Lawrence gives Juliet the sleeping potion in hopes it looks as though she is dead to get out of the upcoming marriage with County Paris. He tells Juliet to take the potion while in her room with no one watching and it will slow down her heart rate for forty-two hours. Days following, Juliet will awaken and Romeo will be there to come take her to run away. The Friar hopes for the best in the situation, but does not consider the drawbacks that could and will suddenly occur in his plan. He continuously tells Juliet what she wants to hear in this situation because she sees him as a fatherly figure and he sees her as his daughter. Before Juliet leaves the Friar, he tells her, “ ‘Thou hast the strength of will to sly thyself,/ Then is it likely thou wilt undertake/ A thing like death to chide away this shame,’ ” (Mackenzie 1). The Friar says that Juliet’s only option to get out of marrying the County Paris is to kill herself. His encouragement invokes the idea to Juliet to drink the potion. Trusting Juliet with a sleeping potion and the idea of killing herself showcases his rashness
With all the conflict arising between Juliet’s family, Friar Lawrence creates a plan that unfortunately does not succeed. His plan for Juliet is to tell her father she will marry Paris, then go to bed with no one, not even the nurse. After, she will drink a potion to make her seem dead for forty two hours and then have a messenger tell Romeo about it. He will have her put in a vault to wait for Friar to bring her out so she and Romeo can elope. The plan was perfect until tragedy occurs, Benvolio sees Juliet dead and immediately tells Romeo about it.
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.