Essay, Research Paper: The Role Of Fate In Romeo And Juliet

In the play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, fate is the a
dominant factor throughout the story, and it is the cause of many hazardous
events, but Romeo and Juliet were ultimately the ones responsible for their
own deaths. The word fate generates a bit of confusion, and can have many
different connotations. Fate is an inevitable and often adverse outcome or
condition; destiny. The destinies of these two 'star crossed lovers' were
not set from the start of the story, but almost all events that took place
brought Romeo and Juliet closer to their inevitable fates. There were too
many coincidences to give the reader any doubt that the two protagonists
were entirely the masters of their futures.


The first coincidence was that Romeo and Juliet, the two lovers,
shared the

unfortunate fate that they were from feuding families. The two of them
were a perfect

match, and were completely in love with each other, and the odds that one
was a

Montegue and one was a Capulet are incredibly slim. They both showed their
grief when

they learned that the other was from the opposite family. "O dear account!
my life is my

foe's debt." (A-1:Sc5:ln 132), and "My only love sprung from my only hate."
(A-1:Sc5:ln

152) were the two expressions that Romeo and Juliet exclaimed,
respectively. Juliet had

the right idea when she showed her frustration with the feud, and its
influence on R&J's

relationship, in her solliloquy on the balcony, and said, "What's in a
name? That which we

call a rose, by any other word would smell as sweet..." (A-2:Sc2:ln 41-52)


Besides the fact that they probably would have never been able to
live a peaceful

life, none of the tragedies would have occurred had they not met in the
first place. This

scene, where the Montegues find out about the play is another twist of
fate. The servant

of Capulet, who happens to be illiterate, was given the job of telling
people about the

party, but only those specifically on a list written up by his master.
Since he could not

read, he was forced to ask two strangers to explain it to him. Those two
people could

have been anyone, but they just happened to be Romeo and Benvolio. Another
ironic fact

is that Romeo went to the party because he was madly in love with Rosaline.

Hypothetically, if Rosaline had been there, and she returned Romeo's love,
then all the

following suffering would have never occurred. Romeo was completely in
love with

another woman going to the party, and only found out about it in the first
place, through

an adverse twist of luck.


Although Romeo and Juliet were responsible for their own physical
deaths, but

fate played a big role in getting the two into a suicidal mindset. The
first and most

obvious example was the quarentine in Mantua. Friar Laurence's plan was
that Juliet

would be laid in the tomb, appearing to be dead, and when she woke up,
Romeo would be

there to meet her. The Friar was to send a message to Mantua, where Romeo
was

bannished to, and inform the anxious boy about the sceme. This is a
seemingly perfect

plan, and gives the readers a sense of hope, but it is squashed when the
they discover that

there was a quarrantine in Mantua, and Romeo was unable to get the letter.
and,even

right to the very end, fate was still rearing it's ugly head because if
Juliet had woken up

seconds learlier, .


Body Paragraph 4

Although R&J were illfatefully put in their awkward positions, it was their
falts that they

died. There were infinite instances where if a tiny detail had taken
place, these two

wouldn't have ended up like they did.


Conclusion
William Shakespear had countless times where he could have saved
both of them, but he does not. He gives the reader a little hope that the
two will survive, but with each event, that hope is squashed. Although
Romeo and Juliet did not have to kill themselves, none of the the tragedies
would have occurred, had it not been 'written in the stars'. Truly fate is
the most dominant force in the play, and is most responsible for the deaths
of Romeo and Juliet. Reverse deus ex machina