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What is role of fate in romeo and juliet
Romeo and juliet themes
Themes of Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare
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A theme is a central idea that appears throughout a play, the themes also tie events of a play together and give the work meaning and purpose. To explore a play’s central theme, think about the message that the playwright wants to express. What is the significance of the play? Does it explore a moral issue? Can most people identify with it?
In Romeo and Juliet fate is evidently a major theme occurring in the play.
For instance, people believed the future was written in the stars. In its first address to the audience, the Chorus states that Romeo and Juliet are “star-crossed lovers”, that is to say that fate (meaning a power often vested in the movements of the stars) controls them. This sense of fate permeates the play, and not just for
Which once again brings out the themes of love and fate. Romeo is blaming this tragic turn of events on fate.
“ I defy you stars” signals foreshadowing (“take their life”).
The phrase “take their life” has a double implication. In this context it means “ending their lives” it hints at taking one’s life as in committing suicide. The audience learns that Romeo and Juliet are destined to die.
Another example of fate and foreshadowing is when Juliet is asserting her free will to marry Romeo. She is saying that she will die unmarried if he is unavailable. Her words foreshadow her death at the end of the play. “Go ask his name: if he be married./My grave is like to be my wedding bed”
In the prologue, Shakespeare uses phrases such as “death-marked love” and “star-cross’d lovers” to show that fortune and fate are responsible for the tragedy. Shakespeare also describes Romeo and Juliet’s defiance of their parents as “misadventured piteous overthrows.” This description suggests that the lovers’ efforts to be together will be hopeless against what fate has in store for
Romeo and Juliet, written by William Shakespeare, is a story of two young lovers. These two hearts, Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet belong to feuding families. The family feud causes them to keep their love a secret and therefore only Romeo, Juliet, Benvolio, the Nurse and Friar Lawrence know of their love. Romeo and Juliet are able to look past the feud and let themselves fall in mad love with the other. They let themselves do almost anything for the other and at times it seems like too much to do, even for the one they love. Although fate and character traits play a key role in the play, ultimately Rome and Juliet’s personal choices lead to their downfall.Fate originates all of the conflicts in Romeo and Juliet, from when they met until they die.
The reader realizes this when the prologue states, “Two households, both alike in dignity/ In fair Verona, where we lay our scene, / From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,/ Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean./ From forth the fatal loins of these two foes/ A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life” (I 1-6). This translates to say two families have been rivals for many years. Romeo and Juliet are two from separate rivaling families that fall in love. The reader can acknowledge that these two individuals meet one another due to fate. However, they know that because of their parents’ hatred of each other, they can never be together. “My only love sprung from my only hate!/ Too early seen unknown, and known too late!/ Prodigious birth of love it is to me,/ That I must love a loathed enemy” (I v138-140). A decision is made that the only way to be happy is to take their lives. As soon as the play begins, the audience can foresee a tragic ending because of the language used.
In Romeo and Juliet a significantly horrendous ending takes place, but with Shakespeare's use of foreshadowing he is able to keep the reader from being overly traumatized. For example, when Juliet and Romeo are discussing plans Juliet says, "O God, I have an ill-divining soul! / Methinks I see thee, now thou art so low, / As one dead in the bottom of the tomb"(lll,v,14-56). Juliet has mixed feelings about the arrangement devised by the Friar so that the two of them can be together. Juliet thinks disaster will come of previous tactics developed to allow Romeo and her to be together. In addition, when Romeo is speaking of his love for Juliet he says, "And but thou love me, let them find me here. / My life were better ended by there hate / Then death prorogued, wanting of thy love"(ll,ii,75-77). Romeo's immense love for Juliet will eventually lead to the fall of himself. Death lingers throughout the play between Romeo and his love, Juliet. In conclusion, when Juliet is thinking about Romeo she says, "Give me Romeo; and when he shall die / Take him and cut him out in little stars, / And he will make the face of heaven so fine / That all the world will be in love with night," (lll,ii,21-25). This suggests that in the play Romeo will end up dying and Juliet will be there to see it. Juliet prophesizes over many topics in the play and in the end they become true. Foreshadowing is used in this play to help the audience trounce the dreadful outcome.
Fate is the controlling force of the events that lead up to, and cause, the deaths of Rome and Juliet. It is no coincidence that Romeo meets the Capulet servant and is invited to the party. Fate brought him to the house of the Capel?s where he was destined to meet his future wife, Juliet. At the risk of being killed, the two lovers married their supposed loathéd enemy and consummated the marriage without even the slightest hint of detection from anyone who did not know of the wedding. Unfortunately, their sweet success would be short lived and their lives would be a downward spiral staring with Romeo?s banishment and ending with their deaths. Taking into consideration that Romeo and Juliet are predetermined to meet, love and die together, fate is clearly the dominant force of the play.
The first five lines of the prologue aren’t about love, but they are about hatred. As the prologue is in the form of a chorus and choruses generally repeat throughout the play, it signifies that hate will be an eminent theme during Romeo and Juliet. There are many death and war references in the prologue which could suggest that Shakespeare is trying to introduce an important theme in the play, which is hate. Romeo and Juliet are described as “star crossed lovers” and as having “death-marked love.” The image of a cross is negative and reminds us of death, as according to the Christian religion Jesus dies on a cross, also the phrase “death marked” also refers to death, these images can be linked with hate, this stresses that love and hate are undividable throughout Romeo and Juliet.
In efforts to overcome such hindrances to their love, Juliet feigns her death as planned. However, as a result of miscommunication, Romeo takes the news seriously, and thus, being propelled by zealous devotion, both use death as the key to unity. A variety of themes are implicated throughout the play. Fate, in particular, is well demonstrated. By using the motif of stars and characters such as Friar Lawrence, Juliet, and Romeo, Shakespeare truly and masterfully conveys that fate is the inevitable, unalterable and omnipotent force that controls all actions unto their consequences.
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?'
The idea of fate and destiny has caught the attention of many writers, one of them being William Shakespeare. In The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare uses foreshadowing to show the power of destiny between Romeo and Juliet, the star-crossed lovers. Learning that Romeo and Juliet’s fate is in the stars introduces a major theme to the reader; the power of destiny. Throughout the play, there are intense senses and lines that foreshadow the fate of Romeo, Juliet, the Capulet’s, and the Montague’s.
Once again during the Capulet’s ball after Romeo kissed Juliet, Juliet went to the Nurse and asked for which house Romeo belonged to. “My grave is like to be my wedding bed” (1.5.149). Juliet says this right after she learns that Romeo belong to her opposing house, the Montagues. The premonition of fate again creates a negative tendency of thinking in Juliet’s mind. To her, much like Romeo, all is already decided and there is no hope in her love not resulting in her death. This also adds to the role of fate acting as a ceiling and the audience getting a reminder that they could die at any moment. At the very end of the play when fate has begun to run its course and Romeo has killed himself, Juliet and Friar stand inside the Capulet Tomb where that unfortunate event took place. The Friar began to explain, “A greater power than we can contradict hath thwarted our intents” (5.3.158-159). At this point, fate is introduced as its own character in a way. The Friar is not seeing fate as just a concept that it exists but rather a “greater power.” In this sense, he believes that fate just screwed them over and the whole situation was out of his hands because all of this was predestined. Fate as a catalyst alters the thinking of the characters and makes them act
In the play we read of many warnings which, had they been heeded, would have saved the lives of Romeo and Juliet. Warnings such as the Prologue and Romeo’s first dream, “From forth the fatal loins of these foes a pair of star-crossed lovers take their life… doth with their death bury their parent’s strife.” [Prologue. 5-8] Within the very first lines in the story, the Prologue, we learn of two “star-crossed” lovers who are fated to be with each other; however, these two lovers face a vast obstacle: their parents are long-time enemies. These two fated lovers must go against many odds to be together. Within the Prologue it states that, “through their death would bury their parent’s strife”; the only way they can be together, and for their parents to stop fighting, is if they both die. Foreshadowing back to the Prologue we read of Romeo explaining his dream to Mercutio, his closest friend. Romeo and Mercutio were on their way to the Capulet costume party. On the way, Romeo tells Mercutio of his dream that previous night. He had dreamt that something that was meant to happen that night, would lead him to his grave, “Some consequence yet hanging in the stars shall bitterly begin his fearful date with this night’s revels, and e...
Throughout the play, it is clearly shown that fate has a huge role in the “star-crossed lovers” dire downfall. This is written in the prologue to foreshadow the ending. The prologue provides the audience with Romeos thought provoking promotion further warming the reader of the omnipresent force of fate which is looking over him, “Some consequence, yet hanging in the stars.” Here Shakespeare use literary techniques such as a metaphor to demonstrates that there is a deathly consequence written in fate for Romeo. Overall this provides the reader with the knowledge of what Romeo is thinking and foreshadows the end of the story. Shakespeare uses clever diction to imply that Juliet’s death is inevitable, "If all else fail, myself have power to die.” This clearly illustrates that fate is involved in the upcoming disaster. Not only have the lovers realized that there is a greater fore involved, but Friar Lawrence has too realized, “a greater power than we can contradict, hath thwarted our intents.” This shows that fate is a subjugate factor in the lover’s untimely
Another main explored theme in Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet was Fate, Chance and Freewill all vital factors in the eventual death of Romeo and Juliet. Already in the Prologue ‘A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life’ Act 1 Scene 1 Line 6, Shakespeare has established the inevitability of fate by using metadrama to communicate to the audience the ending and showing the audience that the events that occur in the play all led to the eventual downfall of the tragic hero who thinks he is defying fate but in reality he is simply following its course. This quote ‘O, I am fortune's fool.’ Act 3 Scene 3, line 127 explicitly showcases this theme by discreetly referencing the prologue. Romeo is finally aware that all of the actions
The theme of Romeo and Juliet is about a love destined to end in tragedy.
In the prologue, the audience is informed that Romeo and Juliet are destined to fail and not be able to be together when Shakespeare states, “...Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean... A pair of star crossed lovers take their life... The fearful passage of their death-marked love…” (Prologue.4-9). Star-crossed lovers cannot be together because everything is working against their love. This helps the audience understand the dramatic irony in the overall play that Shakespeare is trying to demonstrate about their true fate, and how the entire cast is seemingly oblivious to this outcome of their love.
To begin with, the theme of fate over freewill is brought up recurrently in the catastrophic play, Romeo and Juliet. Before the beginning of the play, Shakespeare introduces the idea of fate within the prologue. “A pair of star-cross’d lovers take their life [sic]” (Shakespeare, Act 1 Prologue L.6). The term “star crossed lovers” is used to...