A Lack of Fate
People are responsible for the events that take place in their lives; making fate a scapegoat created by those who find the repercussions are less than favorable. This can be seen in the many lives of the characters of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, an initial comedy turned tragedy. Set in fair Verona, a conflicted prince must counterbalance quarrels between the two wealthiest families; the Montagues and the Capulets. The children of the two houses, Romeo and Juliet, live their lives apart from one another, meeting when Romeo encounters Juliet at the Capulet ball, and are instantly smitten with each other and are engaged in a matter of a few hours. Their marriage ends in disastrous suicides when all of their other plans fail, but this brings together the feuding houses, all of which said to have been the work of fate. Throughout the play, many characters blame fate for the events that occur, whether they may be good or bad. People are responsible for the events that take place in their lives; making fate a scapegoat when the repercussions are less than favorable. The only person responsible for the events in one’s life is the one who is living that life. From the beginning, it is clear that most of Verona’s people believe in a higher power that dictates their future, from the belief in God to the subtle hints of the star-crossed lovers’ fates. It is ‘written in the stars’ that two “star-crossed lovers take their life”(Prologue.vi.7), and above all, it is