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Fate Versus Free Will In Romeo And Juliet

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Fate versus Free Will Throughout both Sophocles “Antigone” and William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” fate and free will play a major role in Romeo and Antigone’s lives, but ultimately fate can take the blame for causing the chain of events in the novels. Romeo makes rash decisions and choices which determines his fate for him. The same can be said about Antigone, they both use free will which in the end determines each of their fates. In William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” Romeo shows that he uses his ability of free will to determine his fate. In Romeo and Juliet, Romeo finds the love of his life, little does he know that she belongs to the Capulets which means that he cannot be with her. In the play the prologue reads “Two households, both alike in dignity from ancient grudge break to new mutiny, where evil blood makes civil hands unclean. From forth the …show more content…

The fearful passage of their death-marked love, and the countenance of their parents’ rage, which but their children’s end, naught could remove, is now the two hours’ traffic of our stage; the which if you with patient ears attend, what here shall miss our toil shall strive to mend. (Romeo and Juliet. Prologue. 1-14) This quote shows that fate is present in Romeos life because he meets the love of his life Juliet at a party he happened to be at by choice. Romeo did not have to attend the party. He chose to and he met the love of his life which fate can take the blame for. Fate also can take the blame for Romeo just happening to be in the Garden when Juliet is professing her love for him. These events would not occur if fate was not relevant in this novel. In Scene one Romeo says “I fear, too early, for my mind

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Which has a greater impact on the characters in these texts Romeo and Juliet and Pyramus and Thisbe: destiny or personal choices? "Destiny is no matter of chance. It is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved.” - William Jennings Bryan.

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One of the most asked questions about the star-crossed lovers, Romeo and Juliet, is “Who is to blame for the untimely deaths of these young lovers?”. The play Romeo and Juliet, written by William Shakespeare, is filled with very influential emotions. The tragic deaths of Romeo and Juliet were brought about by many characters such as Lord Capulet, fate and a feud between two families. One of the most substantial characters in Romeo and Juliet is fate. There are many times where Shakespeare leads us to believe that fate is involved with the hapless deaths of Juliet and Romeo.

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Evidence to prove how Fate played a huge role in the lives of Romeo and Juliet is given thoroughly in the Prologue: “A pair of star-cross’d lovers take their life (Doc A).” With that term star-cross’d means either doom or unluckiness. Another would be when Friar John was supposed to deliver the letter informing Romeo that Juliet is not actually dead, but he was unable to deliver due to a plague and was held quarantined: “I could not send it, ---here it is again,---...

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492 Words | 2 Pages

In the play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare both main characters Romeo and Juliet die at the end. They were warned several times over the play not to fall in love but didn't listened and that lead to them deciding on their own to kill themselves. Fate is when you can't control your future. Some may say their deaths was fates fault but this is inaccurate because they both chose to kill them selves. They chose their own destiny.

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239 Words | 1 Pages

Fate vs. Free Will In the play Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare uses the theme of free will to help drive the storyline and highlight the importance of individual choice and its consequences. In act two scene 2, Romeo climbs over the Capulet's garden wall to see Juliet just following their first meeting. In this scene, Romeo shows his free will and determination to be with Juliet despite the obstacles in their way. However, this decision ultimately leads to Juliet implying the idea of marriage, which causes sudden unrealistic expectations, prolonging the tragic death for both lovers. Free will shows in act 3, scene 1, when Mercutio fights Tybalt, although Tybalt did not challenge him personally to the duel.

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1080 Words | 5 Pages

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.

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480 Words | 2 Pages

Fate is just a way to be rude to someone with a reasoning behind it. The family feud is also responsible for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. Juliet struggles with knowing the difference between loving Romeo and that he is an enemy to her family.

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1034 Words | 5 Pages

Are people in control of their destiny? Having no power over one’s destiny is an important theme in William Shakespeare’s, Romeo and Juliet. We are in told in the prologue that fate is going to drive the story. Romeo and Juliet are not in control of their lives. It is predetermined destiny, not free choice that manipulates the lives of these two lovers.

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He is warned not to attend the party but he smirks at fate by saying, “But he that hath the steerage of my course/Direct my sail,” (1.4.119-120). Romeo knows that he risks facing death himself if he attends the party, but still decides to go. He is leaving whatever happens at the party to fate. Another example of Romeo blaming his choices on fate would be after he kills Tybalt. Romeo calls himself “Fortune’s Fool” and realizes that he is going to have to face a punishment for his actions, that are of course caused by fate (3.1.142).

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882 Words | 4 Pages

Verona, a city in which a pair of “star-crossed lovers” and all of its citizens overall, blame the “greater power,” fate, to veil their own actions. Fate and free will, both play a major part in Romeo and Juliet. However, only one of the two is actually true. On one side, fate supposedly controls the character’s destiny. But they are completely unaware that it is actually their free will and their own actions in which they are in control of.

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People are always looking for someone to blame. It is no different when they read the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. There are many differing beliefs as to who is to blame for the deaths of the ill-fated young lovers, but the truth is that it was not one single person who determined what happened to Romeo and Juliet. Fate is to blame for the deaths of the teenage couple because it predetermined their unavoidable deaths, rushed the time span of the story, and put all of the characters into countless coincidental situations. No person in the story of Romeo and Juliet can be blamed for their deaths because Fate already predetermined their unavoidable deaths.

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785 Words | 4 Pages

’s free will? In Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, the use of free will throughout the play would give Romeo and Juliet a one way ticket to their deaths. Their “fate” was determined by events that could have been prevented by some people’s decisions. Romeo and Juliet led towards the path of death because of their own choices! Times in the play when the characters use their free will include Tybalt’s decision to fight Mercutio, the Prince ordering Romeo to be banished (instead of being executed), and, Juliet’s decision to disobey her parents to marry Romeo.

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704 Words | 3 Pages

Throughout everyone's life, decisions are made using free will. But in the end, fate is what determines the outcome of everything. In the book Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, there are decisions made by the characters using their free will, but no decisions could’ve stopped the tragedy of there love. All of the events leading up to Romeo and Juliet's death were not caused by free will, but they were caused by fate.

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865 Words | 4 Pages

Was it fate or free will that killed Romeo and Juliet? In the prologue of this play, Shakespeare refers to Romeo and Juliet as “A pair of star-cross'd lovers.” Star crossed lovers are people whose love is destined to end in tragedy. Free will is when people are able to make their own decisions and have consequences based off their decisions instead of predetermined consequences. Fate was definitely the reason for Romeo and Juliet’s tragic deaths because of the unexplainable coincidences, uncharacterized choices, and conscious decisions that all lead to the same inescapable outcome.

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1057 Words | 5 Pages

The theme of Fate vs. Free Will is dominant in William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet; however the theme of fate is more significant than free will. In the play both Romeo and Juliet meeting was contributed by fate as Shakespeare mentioned in the prologue that Romeo and Juliet were star-crossed lovers that were meant to meet, fall in love and their death would be the reason for the feud to end between the two families. Fate was the reason Capulet’s servant asked Romeo and Benvolio to help him read the invitation for him that contained all the names of the people that were invited to the ball Capulet hosted. “…If you be not of the house of Montagues, I pray come and crush a cup of wine.

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