The play Romeo and Juliet has many themes throughout it. One being, fate versus free will. From the beginning, we knew Romeo and Juliet were star-crossed lovers but doomed. In Act 1, Scene 2, Lord Capulet’s servant is looking for someone that can read the guest list. That is when Romeo and Benvolio showed up and Lord Capulet’s servant meets them and asks if they can read. Romeo was able to read the guest list and the servant then invited Romeo to the Capulet’s house. This accidently meeting and invite to the Capulets house, signifies the importance of fate throughout the play. Although, it could have been from Romeo’s free will. But Romeo had a feeling that night that something that was destined to happen, would happen that night. Only fate would allow Romeo to know this before hand and allow Romeo and Juliet to meet. Later, Romeo says, “O, I am a fortune’s fool!” He said this after he killed Tybalt. Was it fate that killed Tybalt? Or was it …show more content…
Love was present throughout the play from the beginning to the end there was love. Love was shown by the nurse who simply took care of Juliet and was there for her. There was love presented by Paris for Juliet and wanting her hand in marriage. Lord and Lady Capulet may not have seemed like they showed their love but they did. They wanted what was best for Juliet and in their mind, they thought what was best for Juliet was taking Paris’s hand in marriage. But the most important love, was the love between Romeo and Juliet. Because of how much love they had for each other, we are able to celebrate the love of them. We value that the deaths of Romeo and Juliet were both tragic. However, they brought new life to Werona and soon there was no more fighting between the Capulets and Montagues because of the love Romeo and Juliet had for each other. To me, Shakespeare is teaching us that nothing is purely good or evil, everything contains a little of
Romeo is telling Mercutio that he has a dream. The dream is that if Romeo goes to the Capulet party he will die. Yet, he decides to go to the party anyway. The above quote is important to the theme of fate and choice, because most plays about fate and choice usually show the main character trying to change their fate but having their fate come true anyway. Romeo, however, chooses to go to the party despite of his ominous dream. The quote shows what happens to Romeo happens because he chooses to go to the party.
Fate causes Romeo to be at the right place at the right time. If he does not walk near the Capulet’s house or if the servant is able to read, Romeo does not attend the party, thus he does not meet Juliet. After Romeo attends the party, fate strikes again as he stumbles into the Capulet’s orchard while trying to escape his friends. Juliet, after meeting Romeo mere hours before, emerges onto her balcony and, unaware that Romeo can hear her, proclaims her love for Romeo:
On the contrary, fate also shreds Romeo and Juliet’s love with death and melancholy. The two have just been married, and they are at the apex of their love. Before they could even have a proper honeymoon, Tybalt comes with bad intentions. He feels that Romeo has insulted the Capulets by coming to their party. Tybalt ends up killing Mercutio, one of Romeo’s dearest friends, in a fit of rage. Romeo is thirsty for revenge and cannot sit back after his friend has just been killed so he hunts down Tybalt and murders him without thinking of the consequences. He instantly realizes the major flaw in what he has just done when he cries, “O I am fortune’s fool!” (125) Tybalt’s violent nature, which eventually causes his death, is simply a part of fate taking its course. Another instance where fate contributes to ending Romeo’s love with Juliet is when Romeo screams, “Then I deny you stars!” (213) He believes that Juliet is dead and wants to reject his fate by killing himself to be with her in death, but she is not dead. It is incredibly tragic for Juliet when she wakes up from her long sleep to
Fate was the fundamental factor that led to the suicides of Romeo and Juliet. It is present throughout the entire play, setting the scene for the tragic events to take place. Two scenarios which show that fate played an imperative role in Romeo and Juliet’s deaths are when Romeo read the ball invite which was addressed to someone else and when Friar John had to stop while delivering Friar Lawrence’s message resulting in Balthasar reaching Romeo first. The first scenario is seen in the text where a servant of the Capulet family
Tybalt’s murder forces the Prince to exile Romeo. So, Mercutio and Tybalt’s deaths by fate let the plot move on. This event could not have happened if fate hadn’t brought Romeo, Mercutio and Tybalt together. Overall, fate bringing people together really effected what happened in Romeo and Juliet. In those people’s meetings, someone almost always died as a result, even if that death was indirectly caused by that meeting, which brings up a second subject, fates role in death contributing to moving the plot along.
When two people are meant to be together, no time is too long” (Anonymous). Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare and West Side Story by Arthur Laurents show the pure evils of acting extremely hastily and how it can change the outlook on the future. Romeo and Juliet are two young lovers who were taught to hate one another and who suffer deeply because of the consequences of fate. Romeo and Juliet’s deaths were sure to be tragic as was hinted at early on throughout the play. Both families suffer with the loss of their children as well as other family members. Maria and Tony are split from one another because of extreme violence, hatred, and the differences between their New York City gangs. Each of them
The fact that Free Will didn’t take control of the story; it left Fate to be the murder of the lovers. Fate first kicked in when their eyes met at the Capulet party. When Romeo and Juliet spoke, their words had powerful contentment; they had such a strong feeling for one another that they could lay in each other’s arms forever. Their happiness didn’t last long; there were many reasons for this, for example; the marriage Lord Capulet arranged between Paris and Juliet. I believe that the plot of the play thus far leads the audience to believe that the deaths were a result of fate. The last act will determine once and for all if it is Fate or Free Will. Romeo again challenges Fate by
Romeo and Juliet who were “star cross’d lovers “, meaning that the two were chosen by fate to be together. Even though they were chosen by the stars, Shakespeare says that they were “death mark’d”, implying that the only way to preserve their love was in the afterlife. Many tragedies that occurred were intended to happen, for instance, when Tybalt was killed by Romeo. Shakespeare creates the character Tybalt to refer to him as “Fortunes fool”, thus meaning he is merely just a puppet being toyed by fate. But before anyone was massacred, fate already had arranged Romeo and Juliet’s marriage to go downhill when Lord Capulet decided for Juliet to marry Paris.
In William Shakespeare’s play, “The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet”, fate plays one of the largest roles in the plot. In order to understand how fate plays a role it is important to examine how the story begins, when Romeo meets Juliet, and when Romeo fights Tybalt after Tybalt kills Mercutio.
First of all, the deaths of Romeo and Juliet are a result of free-will because Romeo agreed to go to the Capulet’s party where he met Juliet. “I’ll go along, no such sight to be shown, But to rejoice in splendor of mine own.” (I.ii.107-108) In the beginning of the play after the Capulet’s servant invites Romeo and Benvolio by mistake, Romeo decided to attend the Capulet’s party to see Rosaline, even though he knew him being a Montague going to a Capulet’s party is a bad idea. It shows free-will that led to the death of Romeo and Juliet because if he had not chosen to attend the party he would not have met Juliet. “Is she a Capulet? O dear account! My life is my foe’s debt.” (I.v.131-132) After Romeo and Juliet finished their conversation while
Fate is defined as, ‘the development of events outside a person’s control, regarded as predetermined by a supernatural power’. In the time in which ‘Romeo and Juliet’ was written, many people were strong believers of fate and it was a common belief in society. William Shakespeare was a famous poet who is recognised for his powerful writing and contribution to the English language. One of William Shakespeare’s highly recognised plays is ‘Romeo and Juliet’ written in the late 1500’s. It is a play about two star-crossed lovers alongside fate who by their death end the feud between the Montagues and the Capulets. In ‘Romeo and Juliet’, Friar Laurence is not to blame for the tragic events which occurs in the play due to the fact that other
Although the play “Romeo and Juliet” is lauded as one which excellently portrays unconquerable love, the most prominent theme of the play is not that of unconquerable love but rather of the death and tragedy that stems out from Romeo and Juliet disobeying fate for their own desires. This theme of relationship between fate and free will is present throughout the play and even emphasized through the use of literary elements. One such example of this theme being emphasized through the use of literary elements is the prologue. The prologue of the play employs the literary elements of alliteration, rhyme and foreshadowing to convey the theme of the relationship between fate and freewill, claiming that attempting to defy fate will leads to misfortune.
Romeo and Juliet met by chance at the Capulet’s party but Romeo made the choice to go to the party without an invitation. Romeo had learned of the party by an illiterate servant, but with him being a montague he had no invite but still decided to go. “I’ll go along, no such sight to be shown, But to rejoice in splendor of mine own. ”(Act 1 Scene 3 line 107)
In the play Romeo and Juliet, it is a mix of both free will and fate. In the prologue of the play it says “A pair of star-cross’d lovers take their life” meaning it was destined for Romeo and Juliet to die in the end. Although Romeo the two lovers decided to take their lives, there were many obstacles and people who drove them into doing it. Tybalt's death that lead to Romeo’s banishment and Juliet faking her death to be with Romeo is indeed believed to be fate. Although Juliet chose to fake her death, fate made it so Friar John's letter could not get to Romeo because, as Friar John said to Friar Lawrence, “here in the city visiting the sick, and finding him, the searchers of the town, suspecting that we both were in a house where the infectious pestilence did reign, seal’d up the doors, and would not let us forth” “so fearful were they of infection” (meaning friar John visited the sick house on his way or delivering the letter to Romeo, which authorities suspected might be plagued so they put the whole house on quarantine and would not send the letter to Romeo fearing it would be
The story Romeo and Juliet has the theme of Fate vs Free will/choice . Fate is what is destined to happen to you.(Dictionary. Com) Many parts of the story has the theme incorporated. In every act of the play the theme can be noticed.