Fate vs Free Will plays an important part in many people’s lives, and in William Shakespeare's play “Romeo and Juliet”, a tragedy about 2 young lovers, while fate shapes their doom, the choices they make along the way also factor into their tragic end. This combination of fate and free will shows how both destiny and personal decisions changed their lives and how it is still affecting people today hundreds of years later from when this would have taken place. This essay shows how people go through fate vs free will in their everyday lives and how it eventually impacts how they live their lives. There are a lot of people in the world today who believe in fate deciding their lives. In a poll in 2015 led by The Washington Times, they asked 1,000 …show more content…
A recent study has found that over 80% of people in our society say that they do believe in free will (This study was not about fate and free will but just about free will). Most neuroscientists and philosophers believe that all humans have some type of free will, no matter if you believe in it or not. This is because free will is essential to how we see ourselves, others, the feeling of satisfaction or achievement, and doing the right thing. It is also proven that talking about free will is a good way to start an argument with someone who doesn't believe in free will. Neurologist Robert Sapolsky has been studying humans for over 40 years and has ultimately decided that, “All human behavior is as far beyond our conscious control as the convulsions of a seizure, the division of cells or the beating of our hearts.” (Sapolsky). After studying both baboons and humans over his years, he came to his ultimate decision that, “Free will is a myth, and the sooner we accept that, the more just our society will be.” (Sapolsky). This goes against what most of our society believes in. Since most people believe in free will, they would not be expecting this conclusion that Sapolsky has come …show more content…
The ultimate definition of fate vs free will in simplified terms is, “Some believe that people's lives and choices are predetermined, while others believe that humans are responsible for their own actions.”(Doll). Although a lot of people believe in fate or free will, we also have to know that everything is up to you to make that decision for yourself. We know that a lot of people base all of their decisions in life on what their friends or the people around them are doing. If we go back to Romeo and Juliet, we can see that there were already some things set in stone that were going to happen to them before the end of the play. An example of this could be knowing that Romeo and Juliet were going to fall in love eventually. On the other hand, both Romeo and Juliet went along with what they thought was best for them and not worrying about what those around them were going to think, this is an example of free will in the story. To conclude, we know that William Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet, had many examples of fate vs free will that occurred, which can also happen in our society