Shakespeare continuously hints at fate versus free will in Romeo and Juliet to establish the plot’s tone. The irony and parallel plots in the play makes the audience wonder how their lives ended. Fate is accountable for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet because of the foreshadowing of their deaths in the prologue and how Romeo predicted that their ill-fated love would lead to his “untimely death.” Fate is most responsible for the tragedy because of the foreshadowing of Romeo and Juliet's deaths in the Prologue. Before scene one of the play, the prologue states, “A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life” (1.Prologue.6). Romeo and Juliet's death is inevitable no matter their choices. Shakespeare tells the audience “exactly what is going to happen at the beginning of the play” (PMT 2). In other words, the outcome of the characters was not going to change since their result was set in stone. …show more content…
Before entering the Capulet ball, Romeo says, “some consequence, yet hanging in the stars…by some vile forfeit of untimely death” (1.4.107-111). Shakespeare revealed dramatic irony in this quote since the audience knows that he will die eventually. Other supporting characters like “the powerful prince cannot prevent the tragedy, although he tries, because Romeo and Juliet are identified by fate as ‘star-crossed’ and ‘death-marked’ (PMT 3). The other characters also cannot be to blame because of how their death is