Fate In Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet

612 Words2 Pages

In Romeo and Juliet, the theme of fate is subtle, but crucial to the plot of the play. Many characters make reference to it. The play was set in the Elizabethan era where belief in fate was common and Romeo was a prime example. A grief struck Romeo declared, “It is even so? Then I defy you, stars,” (5.1.24), when he believed his beloved Juliet to be dead and with these words he defies this awful fate. Fate being written in the stars is implying that the universe is the soul decision maker for life’s events. A person's future was not based on their efforts or actions, only fate would determine the course of their life. When Juliet speaks of her love for Romeo that will outlast his life, she wishes, “Give me my Romeo; and, when he shall die, take him and cut him out in little stars, and he will …show more content…

21-23). For Juliet, there would be no better way to honour her dead Romeo’s memory to have him live on as a star. Both their love and their death are ultimately written in the stars.

The concept of fate is frequently brought up in the play Romeo and Juliet. How they met, their families rivalry, and even the tragic inevitability of their death was all in the hands of fate. In the prologue, the reader learns that Romeo and Juliet were destined to be star crossed lovers, meaning that their love was doomed from the minute it began. As previously mentioned, the two were meant to fall and to fail, their story ending with the destruction of their lives, “...A pair of star-cross’d

Open Document