As Harrison Enudi once said, “God is the author and finisher of your destiny”. No one can do anything that could change this; once God decides what destiny and fate one will face, that would become his or her life story. The idea of one’s fate being predetermined by god was a widely accepted belief during the Elizabethan Era (A Pair of Star-Crossed Lovers Take their Life). In the book Romeo and Juliet, Romeo plays as a tragic hero that is not at fault for his tragic end, but instead, he is a victim of fortune and coincidence. His tragic flaw, immaturity, and his cruel luck, led him to be the victim of the suicide for a reason that does not exist.
No matter how shallow, imprudent, and capricious Romeo is, he is just being what he is: a normal teenage boy. No one is perfect and he should not be blamed for the death of Juliet just because of his tragic flaws. Romeo’s superficiality of choosing whom he is attracted to by their appearances is what made him fall in love too hastily and easily in the first place. From the beginning, Rosaline’s looks charmed Romeo into thinking that he was in love with her. He claimed, “she is too fair, too wise, wisely too fair, to merit bliss by making me despair” (Shakespeare, 1.1. 24-25). Never did Romeo express his love for Rosaline other than by her beauty. In addition, even when he is trying to forget about her, Romeo seeks for a belle that could surpass Rosaline. Romeo said, “ show me a mistress that is passing fair; what doth her beauty serve but as a note where I may read who passed that passing fair” (Shakespear1.1.24-25)? He is judging a person solely by one’s cover, not by their personality or by one’s intelligence. He is young, wild, and like any normal teenage boy, his love is bounded b...
... middle of paper ...
...fate. As Romeo once said, “I defy you star” (Shakespeare, 5.1.212-213)! Romeo interprets the stars as a symbol of his fate and his tragic end. By defying the stars, he is saying that he is rebelling against his own belief and heaven. As said in the Romeo and Juliet, “simply the fates have take this young pair and played a cruel game against them with loaded dice, unaided by any evil in men” (Bloom, 153).
Some people may see Romeo as the greatest and the bravest man on the face of the earth who was willing to take his life to be with the love of his life. However, the truth is, he is just a boy who fell in love too quickly, immature boy who could not bear the fact that he would have to live without Juliet, and a boy who played a role in a game of tragic destiny. He is nothing more than just a regular teenager who unfortunately became the victim of coincidence.
Romeo and Juliet is one of the most famous love tales, but what if the play is not actually a tale of love, but of total obsession and infatuation. Romeo has an immature concept of love and is rather obsessive. Romeo is not the only person in the play who is obsessed though. Many people throughout the play notice his immaturities about love. Very rarely was true love actually shown in the play. attention. Romeo childishly cries to his friend, Benvolio because Rosaline will not love him back and says " She hath forsworn to love, and in that vow/ Do I live dead that live to tell it now" (I i 219-220). Romeo is stating that he's ready to die for loving Rosaline. This is exactly the same attitude Romeo had towards Juliet a little later in the play. During Scene I, Act ii, Romeo's friend, Benvolio tries to get him to go to the Capulet's party to help him get over Rosaline and meet other women Romeo gets very angry and emotional when he suggests this. “Now Romeo is beloved and loves again, / Alike bewitched by the charm of looks” (II 5-6). The chorus expresses Romeo’s juvenile way...
“Well, you have made a simple choice, you know not how to choose a man: Romeo? No, not he; though his face be better than any man’s and for a hand and a foot and a body, though they be not to be talked on, yet they are past compare. He is not the flower of courtesy, but I’ll warrant him, as gentle as a lamb. Go thy ways, wench, serve God. What, have you dined at home?” (Shakespeare 2.5 38-44) The nurse says that while Romeo is very attractive, he is not very kind and rude. Romeo could also be described as selfish and conceited. Why would Juliet fall in love with a jerk? Because he’s hot. Romeo swears his love to Juliet on the moon the night they decide to get married. Juliet says to “swear not by the moon, th’inconstant moon” (Shakespeare 2.2 109). The moon is a feminine symbol that stands for eternity and the rhythm of time. While Romeo intends to swear his love on the constant rhythm and time of the moon, Juliet believes that because of the “monthly changes in her circled orb, lest that thy prove likewise variable”, it would be inconsistent to swear love on the moon (Shakespeare 2.2 110-11). Juliet is starting to love Romeo, not just for his looks, by wanting him to swear his love on something more constant and stable. Juliet doesn’t want their love to be
Friar Laurence tells Romeo that he is acting too fast when Romeo asks for Friar Laurence to marry them. Friar Laurence then asks Romeo, “Is Rosaline, that thou love so dear,/So soon forsaken?” (2.3.67-68). Friar Laurence is wondering if Rosaline, who Romeo was madly in love with a day ago, and was the reason for Romeo’s sorrow and lack of sleep, is now out of his life. He is pointing out, that Romeo has moved on from Rosaline, whom he loved to dearly to Juliet, who he only met a day ago. Due to him being so passionate, he caused Juliet to fall head over heels for him, making her willing to rather kill herself than be apart from him. Rosaline and Juliet are both described as beautiful in the play. In Act II prologue, the chorus reveals that Romeo is very passionate when they read, “Now Romeo is belov’d and loves again,/Alike bewitched by the charm of looks” (2.1.5-6). Here, the Chorus tells how Romeo loved Rosaline because she was beautiful, but moved onto Juliet because she was prettier. Romeo falls for Rosaline and Juliet both for their looks, before getting to know them. As Romeo fell so hard in love for Juliet the moment he saw her, he is shown to be too passionate, therefore explaining how because of this trait, he was the main cause of the star crossed lovers
Fate determined the lover’s outcome in more than one instance. Romeo and Juliet’s fate is determined before you even get into the story “A pair of star-crossed lovers take their lives” (Shakespeare 1.1.6). An illiterate servant delivers the guest list for the ball and asks Romeo to read the list, coincidence…probably not (Asimov 480). Towards the end, the Friar sends someone else to deliver the message to Romeo but an infectious pestilence occurs and a quarantine of the city ordered that prevent the message from ever arriving. Also, at the very end the friar arrives two minutes too late to save Romeo from committing suicide (497). No matter how hard anyone might have tried fate would still ultimately win.
In William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Romeo’s impulsiveness contributes to the tragedy of the play. There is no doubt that Romeo rushes into love throughout the play. One example of this is when he falls in love with Rosaline. Although Rosaline is not a major role in the play, it shows the sorrow and uncertainty Romeo goes through after not being loved back. Marilyn Williamson said “During the time in which he was infatuated with Rosaline, he was … withdrawn into darkness” (6). The fact that Rosaline never shares the same feelings with Romeo, shows how quickly Romeo is to fall in love. “Out of her favor, where I am in love” (Rom. 1.1.158). Ironically, Romeo falls in love with Juliet during his plan to get closer to Rosaline. He is at a Capulet party when he first sees Juliet and
Romeo's inclination to fall in love easily was first shown in his love for Rosaline. It was illustrated perfectly when he first met Juliet. "Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight. For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night". (Lines 50-51, Scene 5, Act 1) He say this but he seemed to have forgotten Rosaline like old news, even though he speaks of Juliet as he spoke of Rosaline only a few short hours before. "One fairer than my love! The all-seeing sun ne'er saw her match, since first the world begun" (Lines 94-95, Scene 2, Act 1). Romeo immaturity was further shown by the way he handled Tybalt's slaying of Mercutio.
In William Shakespeare's “Romeo And Juliet” Romeo is the main character. He is Montague's son. Which means he is the son of his loves enemy, the Capulets. Romeo is very depressed, he is very negative, impulsive, anxious, emotional, and he is a rebel. Romeo is stupid if he would have taken it slow and not rushed things with Juliet they might still be alive. Due to Romeo and Juliet's mad love for eachother, and their families hatred towards each other they died.
Romeo has an obsessive personality. The morning before he meets Juliet, he is obsessing on Rosaline. To see Rosaline, Romeo snuck into a Capulet’s party; once there, he meets Juliet and instantly he forgets his obsession of Rosaline, thinking Juliet is the most beautiful creature on earth. Friar Lawrence even acknowledges this when he states, “Young men’s love then lies / Not truly in their hearts but in their eyes” (II iii 67-68). Romeo’s affection is easily swayed from Rosaline to Juliet.
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.
Fate manipulates events such as dreams and visions to bring about the death of Romeo and Juliet. Romeo is sent a prophetic dream by fate, telling him that, “Some consequence yet hanging in the stars, shall bitterly begin his fearful date, with this night’s revels and expire the term, of a despised life closed in my breast, by some vile forfeit of untimely death.” (I. iv. 107-111) Translated into moder...
Although the lovers are both fairly impudent throughout the play, Romeo, the male lead, is even more so. Through out the play of Romeo and Juliet, the Montague heir has ceased maturity over the course of the Shakespearean tragedy. First of all, it was “Rosaline” (II.iii.67). whom Romeo “didst love so dear” (II.iii.67). at the beginning of the play as he “groaned . . . woes for Rosaline” (II.ii.74-78) however, he easily fell out of lover with her and in love with the “fair daughter of the rich Capulet” (II.iii.58) like he was changing his mind on a meal he’d order. Also, he fell out of love with Rosaline because she did not “doth grace for grace and love for love allow.” (II.iii. 85-88) which basically meant that Romeo didn’t love Rosaline because she didn’t love him back, which is very childish in hindsight. Another way that Romeo is immature is that he doesn’t have a sense of reality fore, he’s always either extremely depressed, like when Rosaline wanted to remain chaised for life or extremely elated like when he met Juliet, while having no real middle ground for his emotions. These are all reasons why Romeo is immature: he’s always heads over heels in love for trivial reasons and he has no to little sense of reality.
Romeo’s numerous rash decisions demonstrates his great impulsiveness. Romeo at first grieves over his unreciprocated love for Rosaline, but after he sees Juliet; he forgets about Rosaline entirely. His hastiness leads him to make decisions that are not intelligent or to his benefit. Shortly after meeting Juliet, he asks her to “exchange [her] faithful vow” for his ( 2.2.132). Romeo’s recklessness is evident that he does not think before he makes important decisions; prompting him to propose to Juliet just hours after their first meeting. Yet the morning before, Romeo was suffering from depression because he could never have his Rosaline. After what seems like a lifetime of loving Rosaline and promising to never love anyone but her, Romeo sees Juliet and instantaneously all his thoughts of Rosaline vanish. Romeo becomes infatuated with Juliet, with whom he exchanges less then fifty words before “falling in love.” The next morning he begs Friar L...
Romeo and Juliet is a romantic love story about a young lad named Romeo who has fallen in love with Lady Juliet, but is unable to marry her because of a long-lasting family feud. The play ends in the death of both these characters and the reunion of the friendship between the families. Romeo is in love with Juliet, and this is a true, passionate love (unlike the love Paris has for her or the love Romeo had for Rosaline) that nothing can overcome, not even the hatred between their two families that is the reason for the death of their two children. Throughout the play, Shakespeare thoroughly explores the themes of both true love and false love and hatred. Without either of these themes, the play would loose its romantic touch and probably would not be as famous as it is today.
Romeo has a passion for love that is unbreakable, and he will do anything to get who he wants, no matter the consequences that might follow. An example of this is when Romeo goes to Juliet’s balcony and confesses his love for her, but what he does not understand is that “if they do see thee, they will murder thee” (Shakespeare II.ii.75). Romeo has trouble accepting the reality that it will not work out for him or her because of family differences. The intensity of love in both of these texts becomes a dangerous and violent thing.
In Romeo and Juliet, a play by Shakespeare, the characters are subject to fate and destiny and hence, have no control, whatsoever, over their lives. Shakespeare repeatedly refers to fate, the idea of a predetermined future or a hidden power beyond anyone’s control through various techniques. There is a sense of inexorable doom throughout the whole play which is made evident through the characters’ repetitive acknowledgement of destiny, as well as the constant foreshadowing and coincidences that take place. Romeo and Juliet have their entire lives played out according to fate and destiny which is obvious through the many references to their predestined future.