☆Rainbow Snowflakes☆: May 2008

Fate*, Predestination, Fortune, Kismet, Destiny, or whatever YOU want to call it!

The Question:
What role has FATE* (Mrs. Knight's Favorite word) played in William Shakespeare's tragedy,Romeo and Juliet?

"For never was there a story of more woe, than this of Juliet and her Romeo." (Romeo & Juliet, V, iii)

The main theme of fate*, in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, is shown throughout the play within subtle comments made by characters, the imagery in the stars, and different writing styles. The prologue describes Romeo's fate*, as well as Juliet's, which appears many times later in the play. Throughout the play, Romeo and Juliet unwillingly realize their love has no chance in their current situation of war and hate. A tragic fate* awaits them. The two families, the Montagues and the Capulets, are rivals throughout the entire play, until this tragic fate takes its toll on the lovers.
There are multiple events that foreshadow Romeo and Juliet's tragic future together. As early as the first scene of the play, there is evidence restating the information given in the prologue. "Romeo:?And makes himself an artificial night".This passage is a foreshadowing of Romeo's suicide. Montague adds to the effects of foreshadowing when he states, "Unless good council may the cause remove" In the first act, Romeo is introduced. His great sadness is obvious and the theme of love is presented. Through Romeo's mellow mood we see how desperate he is for love. Romeo falls in love with Juliet, the daughter of the "all mighty" Capulet. Romeo and Juliet were ultimately the ones responsible for their own deaths. The destinies of these two "star crossed lovers" were set from the start of the story, and almost all events that took place brought Romeo and Juliet closer to their inevitable fates.
There were entirely too many coincidences throughout the play, which further support my educated guess that FATE* has played a bigger role throughout the plan than Romeo and Juliet themselves! The first coincidence was that Romeo and Juliet, the two lovers, shared the unfortunate fate that they were from feuding families. The two of them were a perfect match, and were completely in love with each other, and the odds that one was a Montague and one was a Capulet were incredibly slim. They both showed their grief when they learned that the other was from the opposite family. "O dear account! my life is my foe's debt." (Act 1, Scene 5), and "My only love sprung from my only hate." (Act 1, Scene 5) were the two expressions that Romeo and Juliet exclaimed. Juliet had the right idea when she showed her frustration with the feud, and its influence on R&J's relationship, in her soliloquy on the balcony, and said, "What's in a name? That which we call a rose, by any other word would smell as sweet..." (Act 2, Scene 2) Besides the fact that they probably would have never been able to live a peaceful life, none of the tragedies would have occurred had they not met in the first place. The scene, where the Montagues find out about the Capulet ball is another twist of fate*. The servant of Capulet, who happens to be illiterate, was given the job of telling people about the party, but only those specifically on a list written up by his master. Since he could not read, he was forced to ask two strangers to explain it to him. Those two people could have been anyone, but they just happened to be Romeo and Benvolio. When Juliet is "buried" twenty-four hours before Friar Lawrence planned, it gave Friar John less time to get the message to Romeo. Beside that, Balthazar came in on one day only to see how Juliet was doing. If Juliet would have been able to take the potion as scheduled, Balthazar would have seen Juliet doing well and been able to come back to Romeo with a report of good news. Romeo would then have had no reason to buy the poison and commit suicide. Friar Lawrence would have sent another messenger and all would have been well. Although Romeo and Juliet were responsible for their own physical deaths, fate* still played a big role in getting the two to even think about committing suicide. The most obvious example of fate was the quarantine in Mantua. Friar Lawrence's plan was that Juliet would be laid in the tomb, appearing to be dead, and when she woke up, Romeo would be there to meet her. Friar Lawrence was supposed to get a message to Mantua, where Romeo was at because of his banishment, and inform the boy about the plan. This is a seemingly perfect plan, and gives the readers a sense of hope, but the plan is ruined when the they discover that there was a quarantine in Mantua, and Romeo was unable to get the letter. This was the point in which Romeo decided that it would be best if he committed suicide. William Shakespeare had countless times where he could have saved both of them, but he does not. He gives the reader a little hope that the two will survive, but with each event, that hope is crushed. Although Romeo and Juliet did not have to kill themselves, none of the the tragedies would have occurred, had it not been written by such an unpredictable mind as Shakespeare's. Truly, fate* is the most dominant force in the play, and is most responsible for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet.
Fate* played the most significant role in the horrendous events that seemed to follow Romeo & Juliet everywhere they went. From whether it was the day they met at the Capulets' party or the day they both committed suicide, fate* was practically there leading the way. In conclusion, this whole play revolves around fate*. All the main characters in this tragedy have a fatal flaw that eventually leads to their doom or grievance. As said by William Shakespeare in Julius Caesar, "It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves."