Predetermined destiny writes out our stories before we experience them and is essential to Romeo and Juliet. The star-cross’d lovers gig basically fueled the whole love-filled dramatic play. Although, Romeo and Juliet both learn this, the hard way, costing their lives, as their love was fated to end in death, unfortunately. In the prologue, lines 6-11 state, “A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life; Whose misadventures piteous overthrows, Do with their death bury their parents’ strife. The fearful passage of their parents’ rage, Which but their children’s end naught could remove” (Beers 807). Due to these lines 6-11, it proves that Romeo and Juliet’s destiny was already written previously in the stars above, and the pair of lovers could do nothing but face it, together, hand in hand, with all that they had left.
Soulmates, made for each other, meant to be, written in the stars, crafted by destiny, a pure product of passion… fate plays it’s role as well, as it is virtually destiny’s sister. Romeo and Juliet are undeniably perfect for each other. Their creator, Shakespeare, ha...
Throughout the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare constantly utilizes the motif of stars to convey and develop the prominent theme of fate. Even as early as the prologue, the words, "A pair of star-crossed lovers..." reveal Shakespeare's intent in conveying the association of fate with this motif. Like stars, fate exists in the heavens. Both are untouchable and unalterable, and as seen in this line, it is inev... ... middle of paper ... ...
A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life. Whole misadventured piteous overthrows Do their deaths bury their parents' strife? -Chorus As these words echoed through the hall of the Globe theatre, little did William Shakespeare know that this tragedy, Romeo and Juliet, would be examined and admired by playwrights for decades to come. So does fate play a major part in this tragedy?
In the play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, all the choices made by the star crossed lovers have consequences. The two lovers blame fate for their misfortune. They refuse to believe that fate does not determine the end result, only that they can do that. At the beginning of the play, Romeo is presented with a plethora of choices. The audience is introduced to Romeo as he sulks over his lover Rosaline.
In the very opening of the play the chorus is singing about Romeo and Juliet, and predicts their life together as having a star-crossed conclusion. By already knowing from the beginning that their life has an ill-fated conclusion, we can see how their choices brought them to their death. Romeo and Juliet could see that their life together was not going the way they wanted, because Romeo and Juliet wanted to marry each other but there were many barriers between them. Both Romeo and Juliet had many failed attempts in their efforts to trick fate out of what was ultimately going to happen to them both. Hold! Get you gone, be strong and prosperous in this resolve. I’ll send a friar with speed to Mantua, with my letters to thy lord. (IV, i, 122-124)
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.
In Romeo and Juliet fate is evidently a major theme occurring in the play. For instance, people believed the future was written in the stars. In its first address to the audience, the Chorus states that Romeo and Juliet are “star-crossed lovers”, that is to say that fate (meaning a power often vested in the movements of the stars) controls them. This sense of fate permeates the play, and not just for
Romeo and Juliet is widely known to be a tragedy, but what caused the atrocity for which it is so renowned? Some may argue fate was to blame for Romeo’s and Juliet’s deaths, that the situations these young lovers faced were depicted as being out of their control. Could Romeo have refused to attend the Capulet masque? Was Romeo destined to duel the raging Tybalt? Did Romeo and Juliet truly have to kill themselves? If one considers the specific circumstances and causes of these situations, the fact that all scenarios are the result of choice rather than chance, and the notion that the characters were never left without options, only one conclusion can be determined. It was unarguably the decisions made by characters, not those made by fate, that were responsible for the tragedy in Romeo and Juliet.
From the beginning of the play it is clear that Romeo and Juliet are doomed to die, They are considered victims of circumstance but the question is did they have responsibility for their fate? Could things have been different? Was it a bad series of events, was it a coincidence that fate was against them, were outside forces against them, It is not just a coincidence the language used in the prologue 'star-crossed lovers' and 'death-marked love' shows that it was all meant to happen from the beginning of the play, the words 'star-crossed' refers to an astrological outlook on destiny that was widely accepted in the period the play was written in, reference to this so early in the play creates a sense of anticipation for the audience and from the start they know what is going to be the outcome of the play but the question left on their minds is 'Why?' and 'How?'
Throughout the entirety of Romeo & Juliet, Shakespeare is hinting at the “star crossed” deadly fate of the lovers spoken of by the chorus in the prologue. Romeo and Juliet are also constantly mentioning their uneasy feelings and how they can sense that something bad will happen, which confirm the aforementioned conclusion. This foreshadowing not only tells us this tragedy planned, but there must be pawns of fate that have to drive Romeo and Juliet together, while at the same time leading them to their death. In Romeo and Juliet, their deadly destiny was written by the universe and characters along the way, such as Capulet, Montague, Nurse, Friar Lawrence, Friar John, and Mercutio.
Destiny or fate is a controversially talked about subject that has arised for many years. ‘Destiny is referred to as a predetermined course of events.’ Many people, especially in Shakespearean times, believe that God has a life plan for every individual. A sense of destiny in its oldest human sense is the soldier’s fatalistic image of the ‘bullet that has your name on it’ or the moment when ‘your number comes up’ or a romance that was ‘meant to be.’ Many Greek legends and tales teach the futility or trying to outmanoeuvre an inexorable fate that has been correctly predicted. Today we have people that can ‘predict out future’ whether we nowadays still have the belief in the stars and the ability to read them is another controversial matter. Elizabethan astrology fascinated many prominent Elizabethans. The subject is mentioned in every single one of Shakespeare’s plays. At the time the play Romeo and Juliet was published Robert Burton was the astrologer of the era. In Shakespeare’s plays astrology was often critical to the plots when the actions and events surrounding characters are said to be ‘favoured’ or ‘hindered’ by the stars. In the tempest the main character is said to be based on John Dee, who was a famous astrologer and scholar in the Elizabethan era. Destiny is the idea of necessity ‘everything in the world is conditioned and takes place according to necessity.’ ‘Fatalism is based on the assumption that everything in the world and in peoples lives is predetermined by natural or super natural forces, that God set everything out.’ Destiny also mans ‘dragged by force.’ If Romeo would have stayed in his, not gone to the Capulet’s party, left the party when Capulet saw him would all this of happened? That is the idea of destiny...
Throughout the play, it is clearly shown that fate has a huge role in the “star-crossed lovers” dire downfall. This is written in the prologue to foreshadow the ending. The prologue provides the audience with Romeos thought provoking promotion further warming the reader of the omnipresent force of fate which is looking over him, “Some consequence, yet hanging in the stars.” Here Shakespeare use literary techniques such as a metaphor to demonstrates that there is a deathly consequence written in fate for Romeo. Overall this provides the reader with the knowledge of what Romeo is thinking and foreshadows the end of the story. Shakespeare uses clever diction to imply that Juliet’s death is inevitable, "If all else fail, myself have power to die.” This clearly illustrates that fate is involved in the upcoming disaster. Not only have the lovers realized that there is a greater fore involved, but Friar Lawrence has too realized, “a greater power than we can contradict, hath thwarted our intents.” This shows that fate is a subjugate factor in the lover’s untimely
Two lovers lay dead on the ground. One with a wisp of poison on his breath, and the other with a dagger inside her. In the prologue, Shakespeare reveals to us that two star-crossed lovers die because of their families’ ongoing feud. When the two families discover what has happened and how they caused it, the families agree to end the feud and no longer quarrel. Was Romeo’s and Juliet’s death at the hand of the family in the form of fate, or did their choices cause this tragedy? In the play, Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare, free will is more dominant than fate in the outcome of the play and is shown by Juliet’s actions, Romeo’s actions, and the actions of others.
Shakespeare implies that love occurs as a result of fate which to a large extent, is responsible for Romeo and Juliet’s encounter. In the first few scenes of the play, there are several events which suggests that fate is responsible for the destined events which instigate their love. The servant is predestined to tell Romeo “come and crush a cup of wine” (act 1, scene 2, 79) due to the fact that Romeo would never have met Juliet if he was uninformed of this party. It is also fate which causes Romeo to attend the party and defy his instincts despite knowing that the event could “forfeit [his] untimely death” (act 1, scene 4, 113). Due to their fate, Romeo who plans to see Rosaline states “I ne'er saw true beauty till this night” (50, act1, scene 5) when he falls in love at first sight with Juliet. Shakespeare suggests that fate has the ability to control love, through the predetermined events which led to Romeo and Juliet’s encounter.
Romeo and Juliet were not meant to be a couple and live their lives together. They did love each other, although their families long feud rejected their fate of being forever together. Romeo and Juliet’s passion for one another started at the Capulet’s masquerade ball where they first met. Romeo had the intentions of dancing with a
Some people may not believe that destiny is something that truthfully exists in the world. These people doubt that there is anything that is actually meant to be, or supposed to happen, thinking that there is always a way around troubling predicaments, knowing that it is not necessary to turn out just one certain way. They trust that whatever occurs in their lives comes as a result of the decisions that they make with their own free will. Others believe that whatever happens during the course of their lives is inevitable and every event is laid out before them like a road map to life, in other words, fate. William Shakespeare's play, Romeo and Juliet has fate as an exceptionally crucial element which makes fate as important as any character in the production. The events leading up to and during the party were definitely caused by fate. The moment that Romeo and Juliet meet is the exact incident that leads to their death, however unaware these "star-crossed lovers" are to that fact. Thus, fate is undoubtedly the most responsible influence for the couple's tragedy.