Romeo And Juliet Fate Essay

Fate is an important part of Romeo and Juliet.

Through this play,William Shakespeare is trying to express the notion that fate is inevitable no matter how hard one tries to escape it. Manifesting in the motif of stars, fate is a reoccurring theme throughout the play. From the prologue to Friar Lawrence’s plan, to the unlikely obstacles faced and the couple’s deaths, fate is the underlying cause of the tragic ending. Perhaps this play is all about Romeo, Juliet, and the antagonist, Fate. During the Elizabethan era, Elizabethans speculated a lot about fate. The Queen herself had translated The Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius. Boethius, an ancient Roman philosopher, proposed that fortune is behind the entirety of human existence to bring

The prologue gives away the ending of the play, which the audience will watch unfold. Romeo and Juliet will die, and their disputing families will reconcile. Shakespeare references fate by calling Romeo and Juliet “star-cross’d lovers.” At its core, the prologue is hinting that Romeo and Juliet are meant to be together, but are also meant to die. During the Elizabethan era, people believed in the connection between fate and astrology. Before making decisions on marriage or travel, astrologists would be consulted. Elizabethan astrologists believed that they could predict future events or mishaps by observing the way the stars aligned. “Star-cross’d,” therefore, is Shakespeare’s way of implying that fate did not favour Romeo and Juliet, from the very start. Although their meeting was fated, their love their destiny, death was as predetermined as both. Shakespeare describes their love as “death mark’d.” This suggests that their love is entwined with death. Shakespeare’s use of the word “mark’d” implies that the lovers’ fates are as inevitable and unalterable as a deep mark in stone. Along with the two lovers’ deaths, their families’ strife will also die. This foreshadowing makes the events of the play even more tragic, as the characters’ “misadventured” attempts to change their fate, ultimately ending up as its

An example of this is Friar Laurence. After hearing from Romeo that he wants to marry Juliet, Friar Laurence responds with doubt and concern at first, saying that “young men’s love then lies not truly in their hearts but in their eyes.” After realising that “this alliance may so happy prove, to turn [the] households' rancour to pure love”, Friar Laurence believes that fate is in his control. He only needed to wed the couple. However, the couple’s deaths were predetermined by faith. His plan would cause the death of the couple. Although he tried to control fate, he only assisted to fulfil