Fate In William Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet

CAT 3: Romeo and Juliet
Cherish Ioane
XB2
Romeo and Juliet, written by William Shakespeare in the 16th century explores a story of two young lovers in the city of Verona, Italy. Although the novel was mainly based on love, Shakespeare also covers other major themes such as, destiny/fate, Hatred/Revenge and also the foolish and impulsive actions of Romeo and Juliet.
From the beginning of the story, we know that Romeo and Juliet’s lives will end in a tragedy, but not because of their own defective decisions but of fate. Emphasizing fate’s control over them, Shakespeare introduces Romeo and Juliet as ‘Star-crossed Lovers’. Fate is also referred early into the play in Act I, Scene ii, when Lord Capulet's servant is searching for someone to read

In the prologue, Shakespeare depicts the conflict between the Montagues and the Capulet's. “Two households, both alike in dignity, in fair Verona, where we lay our scene, from ancient grudge break to new mutiny, where civil blood makes civil hands unclean….”. Shakespeare does this to illustrate the ongoing ‘ancient’ grudge between the two families. This is to show how ingrained their conflict is- it is a part of their daily lives. Throughout the play, the theme of conflict is conveyed in many forms but mostly through physical violence. The hatred is apparent from the start of the play where Samson and Gregory [enter] with swords and bucklers... (Both from the family of Capulet). This informs us that the Capulet is more violent than the Montagues; which is also evident through the choice of words that the family of Capulet's use: ‘A dog of the house of Montague moves me’. (Act 1, scene 1) in which Benvolio tries to maintain the peace yet Tybalt does not back down as Tybalt ‘hates the word’. When the Prince of Verona enters to stop the fray between Benvolio and Tybalt, where he uses violence to maintain the peace (how ironic). Shakespeare chose to begin the play with a violent scene to create emphasis on the “ancient grudge” between the families. There is further evidence of conflict in Act 3, scene 1 when Romeo is described by Tybalt as a