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Romeo and Juliet and their personal decisions
Fate vs free will debate
Do romeo and juliet make good decisions
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Franklin D Roosevelt, a president so popular he served four terms, once said “Men are not prisoners of fate but rather of their own minds.” By this he meant that our decisions and our actions are not decided by some higher power, of which we have no knowledge of, but rather of our own flawed minds. Any bad decisions you make were not “destined” to be done by you, they were simply made by you and you have to accept the repercussions of your decisions. Fate did not make the choices for Romeo or Juliet, and fate has never “made” choices for anyone. Fate did not drive the knife into Juliet's heart or force Romeo to drink the poison. The deaths were caused by free will and it alone
All of this could have been prevented if those around Romeo and Juliet, such as Capulet, had made separate choices and also Romeo and Juliet themselves, had made different choices. If Romeo and Mercutio had made a simple choice to not crash the party, Romeo would have never met Juliet and both of their lives would have gone on normally. If Capulet had chosen not to advance the date of the wedding the Friars letter would have been delivered to Romeo on time and all would have gone perfectly as planned. They could have simply chosen to live their lives normally and try to forget about each other. Although harder for Romeo, due to his complete infatuation with Juliets looks, both of their lives would have gone on, instead of being abruptly ended in a very tragic way. Juliet would have went on to marry Paris and although she would be sad at first, motherhood would likely bring her happiness. Romeo would have moved on to another girl after Rosaline, like he did with Juliet so quickly, and his new life would have been just as happy as Juliets, with both of them never knowing the others face or their undiscovered love.
One may say that fate made them come up to that point and be in that position, a position in which there was no other choice but suicide. I however, believe that the situation they got into was decided by the choices and actions they made. Their situation could have easily been solved by other choices being made by them and those around them, such as Capulet leaving the wedding date unchanged.
Someone once said "An individual can never escape their fate." Fate causes events in a person's life that are only controlled by a higher power. This is evident in the play "Romeo and Juliet" written by William Shakespeare because after reading his play, the reader learns that Romeo and Juliet's fate ultimately leads to their death. In the movie adaptation of "Romeo and Juliet" directed by Franco Zeffirelli, Zeffirelli does not include some of the significant fateful events that occur in the play. However, the events that do appear in the movie makes the viewer understand that the play’s lesson is fate leads to Romeo and Juliet’s deaths.
Many choices contributed to the end of Romeo and Juliet. Romeo's choice to go to the Capulet party where he met Juliet was one example of their choice. He knows that his family, the Montagues, hate the Capulets, Juliet’s family. Still, he goes to his party fully aware of what might happen. Romeo is aware that if caught by a Capulet, he would be facing immediate death....
Juliet, like Romeo shouldn't have rushed into marrying each other, and Juliet said, "It was too rash, too unadvis'd, too sudden. " But she never did anything about this. She went along with the marriage that resulted in death. Also Juliet was already engaged to marry Paris at the time, and she was happy with that and happy with her parents, she shouldn't have disobeyed them, then their love for each other would never have happened. Tybalt is another character that could be to blame.
In society, people have varying opinions on fate. Many question whether life’s events are pre-determined by fate or whether people have a destiny to serve a greater purpose. Fate versus free will is an archaic topic among philosophers that is ultimately up for interpretation.The question on whether or not something else is controlling life’s events or if they are simply a coincidence faces us in some point of our lives. In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare plays with the idea of fate and its control on the events in the play. He forces us to realize the destiny between Romeo and Juliet involves the fate between the two opposing households as well. Shakespeare blurs the line between fate and free will in his play Romeo and Juliet to show that the outstanding cause of Romeo and Juliet’s tragedy was not something decided- it was fate. It is evident by the events in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet that fate was the main cause of the tragedy in the play, and that Romeo and Juliet held the destiny to finally end the feud between the Capulets and the Montagues.
So it is likely that Shakespeare meant for fate to be the cause of Romeo and Juliet's death. I think that the family feud is the main cause for the death of Romeo and Juliet. If the families were not so hateful towards each other Romeo and Juliet would not have kept there love for each other a secret, and they would have no need for committing suicide. This also backs up the point that fate could be to blame for their deaths.
Some people may not believe that fate truthfully exist in the world. Part of the population doubts that there are things that is meant or supposed to happen thinking that they will always have a way to get around troubling predication, knowing that thing won’t just turn out that one certain way. They are certain of whatever happens in their life is due to the decision they made from their free will. Others, though, believe their life is an inevitable and all events that happen is predestined and planed out for them like a map of life. Or what Shakespeare calls fate. In Shakespeare’s play, fate plays a role like an exceptional crucial force in Romeo and Juliet. Fate leads the two young lovers to come across each other. The moment Juliet and
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?
The complications in the play Romeo and Juliet are a result of the characters impulsiveness. Lord Capulet’s decision led to Romeo and Juliet’s first meeting. Juliet’s refusal of marriage, because of her undying faith to Romeo led to her fake death. Lastly, Romeo’s decision to kill himself without thinking led to three deaths, his own, Paris’, and Juliet’s. The decisions made in the play were due to the characters acting without thinking. Unfortunately, Romeo and Juliet took till death do us part literally.
But this statement fails to mention how none of this would have ever happened if Lord Capulet hadn’t been as unforgiving. The only reason Romeo killed himself is because he couldn’t be with Juliet, and the only reason he couldn’t be with Juliet is because Lord Capulet tried to make her marry Paris. It could also be said that it was the Friar or Juliet’s fault because he made such a risky plan and she took it, but he never would have had to make this plan if Capulet had been more accepting, and she never would have had to take such a plan if she wasn’t so scared of her
...east, By some vile forfeit of untimely death”(shakespeare act 1 scene 5). which he's basically saying i will wait and see what fate has in store for me,also he saying he's destined to die.I think romeo believes in fate to much that he thinks that everything revolves around fate, even though some of it could've been his fault and other peoples faults.like when mercutio died (shakespeare act 3 scene 1) tybalt caused the fight not fate he could of just let it go but he persisted on fighting which caused the death of mercutio.Romeo also believed in fate to much he let it control his life,it was like a book to him like he had to follow code.As a result it got him into bad situations,in turn caused his own demise.If romeo believed in fate so much than he should of realized that him and Juliet weren't meant to be. these are examples why romeo is at fault for his own demise.
	Due to the secret marriage, Romeo and Juliet tragically die. Had Romeo and Juliet announced their wedding, they could still be alive. Juliet would not have had to fake her death to get out of the arranged marriage with Paris if she had told her parents about her and Romeo. Romeo does not receive the information of the Friar and Juliet's plan in time, and he kills himself in anguish over her death. As Juliet awakes from her slumber, she sees Romeo dead. Juliet then kills herself in bereavement over Romeo's death. Had Romeo and Juliet announced their wedding, then none of these tragic events ever would have happened as a result of their parents dispute.
The modern field of cognitive science combines research from fields such as computer science, psychology, linguistics, and neuroscience in order to study the processes of the mind. Using a framework of representational structures and operational procedures, cognitive science has been able to make significant contributions to the study of cognition and information processing. This interdisciplinary approach has been so successful that its application has been extended to areas like metaphysics, which was once considered to be outside the realm of empirical study; theorists hope that cognitive science may provide insight into questions related to the fundamental nature of existence, such as the debate between free will and determinism.
Shakespeare in The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet depicts the conflict between fate and free will through use of his characters’ actions and beliefs. Fate is the main driving force between the demise of the two main protagonists. Because of it, superstition, the actions of others, and the idea of chance are allowed a main role in the play building up to events that lead to a tragic end.
A timeless topic--fate and free will--still captivates society today. Fortune cookies, physics, and horoscopes all contribute to the obsession people have with this controversial debate over who manipulates life; fate or free will. No one is sure who really pulls the strings, but everyone has an opinion on the matter. Many famous plays center on this topic, and one such play that features characters’ views on fate and free will is Romeo and Juliet. This legendary play, written by William Shakespeare, has been beloved by people for centuries, as they contemplate who is the guiding force in life? The play discusses just this, while depicting the lives of Romeo and Juliet: two desperate teenagers each trapped in their own worlds, seeking love and freedom. The two “star-crossed lovers” are from feuding households, and each has their own distinct problems. Romeo jumps from girl to girl, never finding anyone to reciprocate his feelings until he meets Juliet. She is hidden from the world, and with every decision being made for her, she wants to control her own life, which she does with marrying Romeo. Although fate and free will are both undeniably found in the lives of Juliet and Romeo, it is ultimately fate and the way it manipulates the events, time, and the characters that brings about the untimely death of the two iconic teen lovers.
One of the main themes in Oedipus the King written by Sophocles is the debate between free will and fate. There are many free choices that were made in the play, such as the decision for Oedipus to pursue the knowledge of his own identity. However, fate is responsible for many of the other critical events that took place in the play, such as Oedipus’s incest. Fate is made to seem very important in this play because it is written to seem that the characters cannot be held fully responsible for their actions due to fate.