How Does Fate Play a Part in Romeo and Juliet?

How Does Fate Play A Part In ‘Romeo and Juliet’?

‘Romeo and Juliet’ was written during a period when Shakespeare had found the strength of his writing, it is believed that it was written around 1595 and he would have been about 26 years old when he wrote it. The play is a widely known tragedy concerning the fate of two young "star-cross'd lovers". It is one of the most famous of Shakespeare's plays and one of his earliest theatrical triumphs.

In ‘Romeo and Juliet’, fate plays an extremely powerful role throughout the story. Romeo and Juliet are "star-crossed lovers," as the prologue at the start of the play indicated, they had fate against them. In that time, people were very wary of what the stars said. If two people’s stars were crossed in the sky, they would never remain together. Obviously, Romeo and Juliet did not live happily ever after, as they both died at the end of the play. The prologue also shows fate was against Romeo and Juliet through the negative language and the foregrounds of their deaths:

“The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love,

And the continuance of their parents' rage,

Which, but their children's end, nought could remove”

This insight into the plot provides the audience with the anticipation of the finale and causes them to think negatively throughout the play. It also allows Shakespeare to make use of dramatic irony, as the audience knows something that the characters do not. This increases dramatic tension for the audience, which in turn would help to keep their interest in the play.

Fate can be defined as an inevitable and often adverse outcome or condition. The destinies of Romeo and Juliet were set from the start of the story in the prologue, and almost all events that take place brought Romeo and Juliet closer to their unavoidable fates. There are too many coincidences to permit the audience to doubt that fate is a large part of the plot. The first coincidence is 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 dazzled by each other; the odds that one was a Montague and one was a Capulet were slim. They both declared their grief when they learned that the other was from the opposite family, through the lines:

“O dear account! My life is my foe’s debt.” (Act 1, Scene 5, 132),

and “My only love sprung from my only hate.” (Act 1, Scene 5, 152)

Shakespeare shows the audience the young lovers’ shattered dreams through the negative words cluster, such a foe, debt and hate. Juliet then showed her frustration with the feud, and its influence on hers and Romeo’s relationship, in her soliloquy on the balcony, as she says:

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose, by any other word would smell as sweet...” (Act 2, Scene 2, 41-52)

This line is a good example of how Juliet is maturing, as it portrays an act of disobedience towards her parents and against her entire family in that she is contemplating the relevance of hers and others names. It is a truism, and therefore portrays her developing understanding of the world around her. This maturity is down to fate as it is vital that she matures, so that she can lie to her father about marrying Paris later in the play, and have the self-confidence to take it upon herself to prevent the marriage.

Besides the fact that the couple would have never been able to live a peaceful life even if they had carried out the Friars plan successfully, none of the tragedies throughout the play would have occurred had they not met in the first place. The scene where the two young Montague’s find out about the Capulet ball is another twist of fate. The servant Capulet chose to invite the guests to the party was illiterate, as many servants were in that day. Since he could not read the guest list, he was forced to ask two strangers to read for him. Through this, Shakespeare has managed to incorporate more irony into the play. Those two people happened to be Romeo and Benvolio. Romeo is a typical young man, he jokes with the servant and shows off to Benvolio:

“Servant: God gi' god-den. I pray, sir, can you read?

Romeo: Ay, mine own fortune in my misery.”

(Act 1, Scene 2, 332-335)

This shows Romeo jesting with Capulet’s servant. This is relevant as it shows his brash and irrational nature through the way he insists on acting, and it will be the cause