Romeo And Juliet Fate And Fortune Analysis

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Was the Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet Due to Fate and Fortune?

The tragedy/romantic story of Romeo and Juliet revolves heavily on the idea of fate and fortune. In Act 3, Scene 1, Page 7 Romeo says his famous quote “Oh, I am fortune’s fool!” when regarding acknowledgement of his banishment, but was it really the fault of fortune or was it the fault of Romeo and Juliet? I believe that this was not the liability destiny but instead the decisions of characters in the story because of 3 main reasons. Romeo and Juliet have both definitely made terrible decisions revolving their love, other characters also made decisions that heavily affect the story and outcome, finally the culture and history behind the scenes of Romeo and Juliet have a lot to do …show more content…

Maybe if the Capulets and Montagues forgave each other or were never in a feud the love story of Romeo and Juliet could’ve ended happily. Even if they forgave each other the obstacle of culture would stand in their way. Culture at the time was very different from now. Today we can choose our spouses, renounce our family names and such but back when Romeo and Juliet took place none of these were possible things. Like with Juliet’s parents they decide who you marry and if you don’t agree you would be disowned and thrown out likewise with renouncing your family name. The ways of life were different now and then and the effects of culture on the story of Romeo and Juliet were huge as society was based upon …show more content…

Other characters such as Juliet’s parents, the Prince, Mercutio, Tybalt and Friar Laurence have all played a big role in how the story ends. First Juliet’s parents had promised Count Paris that Juliet would marry him when Juliet had zero intentions of doing so. This caused stress and dismay with Juliet to where she would have to fake her own death to avoid being married to Paris (note this also plays a big role in the death of both lovers). The Prince likewise affects the story by banishing Romeo from Verona and more importantly away from Juliet and knowledge of Juliet and Laurence’s plans to fake Juliet’s death. Mercutio foreshadows the story great by saying “A plague o’both your houses! I am sped.” and curses a plague to the city of Verona this causes a important message about the plans of Friar Laurence for Romeo to be not delivered properly. Tybalt then creates further tension with Romeo and Juliet’s love life because Tybalt (the cousin of Juliet and a member of the Capulets) would never let Romeo marry Juliet since he hates Montagues and Romeo. Even though this seems like an unfortunate series of events none of the decisions are made by fate or fortune. Juliet’s parents want her to marry Paris because he’s rich, related to the prince, is handsome and truly loves her. The Prince does his duty for law in the city of Verona by banishing Romeo. Mercutio curses

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