Romeo and Juliet's Responsibility for Their Own Fate

Romeo and Juliet's Responsibility for Their Own Fate

In Elizabethan times when the play Romeo and Juliet was written people

believed as much in the stars and planets as they did their God. They

believed that stars and the way they were positioned meant different

things. For example if they saw Halley’s Comet it would mean disaster

but if they saw a shooting star it would have been considered very

good luck. In the play Romeo and Juliet Shakespeare refers to fate

from the start. “A pair of star crossed lovers”. This term shows that

this pair of lovers are meant to be together and it is written in the

stars so it must happen.

Not all of their fatal outcome was due to the position of the stars.

Some of it was due to them. Shakespeare has given the characters flaws

because he wanted them to seem real, imperfect so the audience can

relate to them. Romeo is partly to blame because he is fickle. One

minute he is madly in love with Rosaline and lovesick, but as soon as

he meets Juliet he decides to forget about Rosaline and love Juliet.

“Did my heart love till now.” If Romeo hadn’t been so fickle and had

kept his love for Rosaline, Juliet and himself would still be alive.

From the moment Romeo finds out that Juliet is a Capulet he knows it

is the wrong option. “Is she a Capulet? O dear account! My life is my

foes debt.” This shows that Romeo wasn’t thinking before he acted. He

knew he was wrong but still chose to love Juliet even though they are

sworn enemies.

Juliet is as much to blame for their fate as Romeo. She knows that the

relationship will end up in disaster. “That I must love a loathed

enemy.” Juliet still chooses to have a ...

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...es that she has no control over her

actions, “Alak, alak that heaven should practice stratagems on such a

soft subject as myself.” This gives the audience the impression of a

brutal child torturing an innocent toy that is defenceless.

In conclusion I think that fate was responsible for Romeo and Juliet’s

death and there was nothing that anyone could have done to prevent the

deaths of Romeo and Juliet. If the pair had not been so rash and had

thought more about their actions before they rushed into things that

they could have spent more time together. I think that the message was

quite obvious that Shakespeare gives in the play that the pair of

lovers will not ever have a good relationship but would be used more

as peace makers for the city of Verona. So in a way fate had ”dealt

them a tragic blow” for a good reason.