Fate In William Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet

Fate In William Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet

In the Shakespearean play Romeo and Juliet; besides love and revenge,

fate is one of the main themes in the play. The whole play revolves

around the concept of fate, and Shakespeare makes his audience quite

aware of this on the prologue at the start of the play.

Fate is an uncontrollable power or thought that is said to make things

happen, fate is destiny. It is predestination where everything in and

around your life is set out for you. Some people believe in fate, that

there is a higher power that, that someone controls everything we do,

that we have no free will. People who believe in fate believe that

their life is pre-destined and set in the stars even before you are

born. However other people do not believe in fate and say that

everything you do is your own choice, and if you try hard enough you

can make your own future.

In this play Shakespeare plays God, he controls everything does in the

play. From what people do and say, to where they go and even how and

when they die. By playing the role of God he is omniscient, he makes

the audience aware of this. By doing this he creates dramatic irony,

where the audience knows what is going to happen before the characters

do. Shakespeare does this so the audience know just enough, not all

the details, otherwise there would be no need to watch the play.

The prologue practically sums up the story in a few lines. One of the

most important lines in the prologue is “A pair of star cross’d

lovers.” This means that fate is written in the stars, that two people

will fall in love. Also adding “Take their life.” Onto the end means

that the stars are crossed against them and that their life/lives will

end in a fatality. The line “Death mark’d love” also tells us that

their love is already marked by death.

In act 1, scene 2 fate first enters the play.