Prince Escalus Own Downfall In Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet

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In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet there is a predetermined destiny set for both Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare begins his play with a sonnet foreshadowing the ending. In Act 1 Scene 1 Prince Escalus’s punishment is emphasized, implying that his scolding of the feuding families will be useful later. Romeo predicts his own downfall in a dream he has. The sonnet in the Act 1 prologue foreshadows Romeo and Juliet’s demise. Before Scene 1 begins Shakespeare revealed that Romeo and Juliet were going to fall in love and that they will commit suicide because of it. By stating this in the Prologue it means that nothing Romeo or Juliet do can stop their tragic fate. “From forth the fatal loins of these two foes/ A pair of star-crossed lovers take …show more content…

After the disagreement between Gregory, Sampson and, Abram the Prince became fed up with the bickering and proclaimed a warning of death to both families if another disagreement occurred in the streets. “If ever you disturb our streets again,/ Your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace” ( Shakespeare 1:1:86-87 ). Prince Escalus’s speech was destined to happen from the beginning of scene 1 because the majority of Scene 1 is leading up to a fight between members of both families until outsiders stepped in. The Prince’s speech refers to one example of characters foreshadowing their fate but Romeo foresees his in another way. Romeo has a dream which made him believe going to the feast was a bad idea. Romeo’s dream proves fates hand in Romeo and Juliet because going to the feast was the start of the journey that resulted in the death of both Romeo and Juliet. If Romeo would not have run into Peter who had the guest list then Benvolio wouldn’t have made him go to the feast. If he didn’t go to the feast he wouldn’t have met Juliet which might’ve saved his life. Fates had the ending preplanned and any choices Romeo and Juliet made would’ve eventually brought them to their tragic