Astrological Fate In William Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet

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In the play Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet are at the mercy of the stars. This is shown through the fact that the two lovers are impacted by many circumstances beyond their control, essentially caused by the family feud between the Montague’s and the Capulet’s. However, Romeo and Juliet do choose to control their own lives by the decision’s they constitute and compose without the influence from someone else in the play, such as getting married in secret and taking their own lives. Despite this small amount of control they are still bound by fate shown by the reasons behind the secret marriage, Tybalts’ death and the suicides. Fate is one of the main thematic representations in the play Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet exhibit’s the idea of astrological fate because the prologue shapes that the two young lovers are “a pair of star-crossed lovers” (p6). A metaphor is defined as one field of reference is being conveyed into another, or it is a comparison where an object or person is directly analogized to something that can be completely unattached. Shakespeare’s use of a metaphor has a powerful effect on the audience. The metaphor of fate as stars in Shakespeare’s play is love, beauty and fate. Another metaphor of fate as stars is that the astrology has something to do with what happens to us and it merely applies to …show more content…

In the beginning of the play Romeo and Juliet, Romeo predicts his own fate as his “mind misgives” (1.4 104). The two young lovers are “star-crossed lovers who take their life” because they care about each other very deeply and their love is doomed by fate as they are not allowed to be with one another due to the family feud between the Montague’s and the Capulet’s who will avert them from being with one another. This creates a barrier to their happiness because of their