“What's meant to be will always find a way,” claimed Trisha Yearwood on the theme of fate. “Romeo and Juliet” was undoubtedly one of the most well-known romantic tragedies written by William Shakespeare. It centred around two lovers from feuding families, who take their own lives. Their deaths ironically created an atmosphere where their love could freely flourish for it reconciled the two families. We were introduced to the play by a prologue that concretely mentions Fate’s influence on the course of the story. Attempting to antagonize destiny had proven to have been pointless throughout the tragedy. The greatest land mine prepared by Fate on Romeo and Juliet was the sudden plague in Mantua which triggered the finishing bombs to relentlessly explode, leaving not a single drop of hope in their lives. The cruise of Romeo and Juliet’s lives had never been theirs to decide from the beginning. They were merely little sailboats blown across the waters by a completely overwhelming force—Fate.
The Shakespearean sonnet established by the Chorus in the prologue precisely implied the extensive role Fate is playing on “Romeo and Juliet”. From the very start, the playwright informed us of Fate’s existence. It made the audience consider the extent Fate is going to meddle with the flow of the story. It caused the audience to wish that the words in the prologue would be twisted to form a much joyous end. However, in the end, the “pair of star-cross’d lovers” slid down their heartless doom. Everything stated in the Chorus, stayed true throughout the play. The deaths of Romeo and Juliet did “bury their parents’ strife”. It had all went thoroughly according to Fate’s desire. In “Romeo and Juliet”, William Shakespeare delivered the audience the id...
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...o and Juliet were nothing but little marionettes and tools controlled by the skilled hands of Fate. He had cunningly pulled their strings in rhythm with the fixed song composed in the stars. Though the marionettes were conscious of the puppeteer’s existence and made multiple attempts to break away from the wires which bind them to such a cruel end, their worthless endeavours were plainly laughed at by Fate. At the final twist and pull at the controls, it was known that Romeo and Juliet have been driven towards the corner of the stage and their inevitable double suicide has been ignited. If Fate had not been involved, no reconciliation between the families would have happened. Sooner or later, someone or something much powerful must intervene to prevent a much greater sacrifice as a result of Free Will.
Works Cited
http://shakespeare.mit.edu/romeo_juliet/full.html
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.
As these words echoed through the hall of the Globe theatre little did William Shakespeare know that this tragedy, Romeo and Juliet, would be examined and admired by playwrights for decades to come. So does fate play a major part in this tragedy? Or does their blood stain the garments of civil hands? Could it have been the loyal Mercutio, who swore on both their houses?? Tybalt the hated enemy? or was it Friar Lawrence who tried to end the fighting between households. Or does the blame go on the ancestors who began it. Many would agree that the death of these lovers cannot be blamed on anyone but themselves. This question cannot be answered without looking deeply into each characters involvement in the tragedy.
“It lies not in our power to love, or hate, for will in us is over-rul'd by fate.” In William Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet, it is clear that the leading theme is fate, as it is mentioned several times. Shakespeare allows the audience to see everything that happens “behind closed doors.” While some characters’ actions did affect the outcome of the play, fate is the ruling force.
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.
There are many forces in the tragic play of Romeo and Juliet that are keeping the two young, passionate lovers apart, all emanating from one main reason. In this essay I will discuss these as well as how love, in the end, may have been the cause that led to the tragic deaths of Romeo and Juliet. Their strong attraction to each other, which some call fate, determines where their forbidden love will take them.
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.
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.
Imagine living a tragic existence, not even two entire decades long. Imagine being controlled by an invisible, yet limitless puppet string conducted by “the stars”. When fate is your enemy and time reveals each unraveling tragedy to your dismay, you understand how it feels to be the protagonist’s of Shakespeare’s most famous love story, The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. Tradition, heredity, and ancestry symbolize the celestial psychology that is the stars. Controlling every miniscule detail of the play from human behavior to action sequences, to the ultimate climax of the tale. The power that fate has is surprisingly destructible yet inevitable to audiences as they come to realize the given characteristics that cannot be changed, even to avoid death. The moment Romeo and Juliet initially saw one another, they were sure their love was meant to be. This feeling was brought on because their love was the solution of the stars, or forefathers, to cure the rivaling families’ animosity. Fate contributes to the development of The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet by relating to astrological terms, human behavior, and fate as an agent of destruction.
Two lovers lay dead on the ground. One with a wisp of poison on his breath, and the other with a dagger inside her. In the prologue, Shakespeare reveals to us that two star-crossed lovers die because of their families’ ongoing feud. When the two families discover what has happened and how they caused it, the families agree to end the feud and no longer quarrel. Was Romeo’s and Juliet’s death at the hand of the family in the form of fate, or did their choices cause this tragedy? In the play, Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare, free will is more dominant than fate in the outcome of the play and is shown by Juliet’s actions, Romeo’s actions, and the actions of others.
Reckless actions lead to untimely deaths. In Shakespeare’s tragedy “Romeo and Juliet”, both protagonists fight for their hopeless love. Bloodshed and chaos appear inevitable in fair Verona; Romeo and Juliet come from enemy households, the Montegues and the Capulets, who have sworn to defeat one another. The young and handsome Romeo weeps over his unrequited love for Rosaline, until he lays his eyes on Juliet. Strong and independent, Juliet seeks to escape her family’s will to marry her off to Paris, a kinsman of the Prince. Fate ties these adolescents’ lives together binding them to witness the ill-fortunes of Romeo and Juliet’s love. Romeo and Juliet prove themselves woefully impulsive through their words and actions, which ultimately lead them along a series of unfortunate mishaps.
Fate in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet Before starting to decide to what extent fate was responsible for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet, I should first decide what is fate? According to the dictionary, fate is the 'inevitable destiny or necessity destined term of life; doom.' This basically means, that fate can be described as a pre-planned sequence of events influencing ones life. In Romeo and Juliet, it is obviously true to say that fate was a contributor to the deaths of the young couple, but could it have been the sole contributor?
Throughout the course of Romeo and Juliet’s relationship, they are constantly faced with trials and tribulations. Every time they overcome an obstacle, they are met with another issue, one after the other. Because they are so overcome with the kind of desperation and impulsivity that love produces, they are willing to risk disownment by their polarized families, disobey the wishes of their parents, and even put their lives on the line for one another. All of these risky and dangerous situations that Romeo and Juliet decide to place themselves in are taken without the concrete knowledge that the outcomes of their actions will successfully aid them in their goal of being together in the end. To showcase this underlying theme of love as a dangerous
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
The lovers of Shakespeare’s famous tragedy Romeo and Juliet are perhaps the most famous pair of lovers in history. Their story has been told and remade in countless ways, with a variety of endings. The original piece however ends with tragedy in Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet. Throughout Shakespeare’s tragedy Romeo and Juliet, fate is the driving force in that the star-cross lovers are destined to have a tragic end. Throughout the play, Shakespeare uses literary elements to reveal that our actions are not what controls our life, but it is fate that determines what will happen to us.
Romeo and Juliet is regarded as one of William Shakespeare’s most tragic love stories, which has its influence on many aspects of the entertainment industry. In the context of this play, there are uncertainties surrounding whether the fatalities occur as a result of free will or under the uncontrollable force of fate. Through Romeo and Juliet’s premeditated encounter, Shakespeare indicates that fate is primarily responsible for love at first sight. Simultaneously, Romeo and Juliet are also portrayed as victims of their own destiny which induces their misfortunes and deaths. Apart from being one of the major themes, fate is also a main contributor to the outcome of the play.