Fate_in_Romeo_&_Juliet

Fate plays a huge role in the play Romeo & Juliet, and eventually leads to the death of the two protagonists. From the prologue, the reader learns that fate will be of great importance to the storyline. Throughout the play Romeo and Juliet were considered soul mates, which portrays them as being young, naïve, and reckless. Fate is a huge part of the play, and it influences some characters experiences for the better, but some for the worse as well. Fatalism shows up in scenes involving Romeo’s careless love, Romeo and Juliet’s rebelliousness, and finally, the Capulet’s party. Shakespeare refers to the young love of Romeo and Juliet as being very careless. He refers to them as “star-crossed lovers” (Prologue.6). The prologue tells the reader that fate was against them and their love, mainly because of their parent’s disagreements. The literal translation of this quote is that since the stars were crossed, it means that they would never settle together. There were several unfortunate events that led up to the eventual death of Romeo and Juliet. Fate did not want them to be together, and in the end, fate got its way. Romeo and Juliet knew that they were not supposed to be together, but as rebellious teenagers, this made them want each other even more. From the start, they had a feeling that the ongoing arguments between their families would eventually get the best of their relationship. Their love was referred to as being “death-marked” (Prologue.9), which means that they basically had no control over what happens, and never would. The well-known concept of fate ‘whatever happens, happens’ comes into play in this scene, because the anger of their families would be inevitable. Their parent’s disagreement complements to the yearning desire they have to fall in love. The incident with the Capulet’s party was extremely dependent on fate. It seems like several characters went out of their way to pave a rocky, fate-filled road for Romeo and Juliet. Before the party, a servant from the Capulet household was asked to invite the people whose names were on the list that he was given. Well, it conveniently turns out that the servant was unable to read, so he just randomly asks young Romeo, just as he happens to be walking by. Romeo decides that he would like to attend the party, so he tells the servant that he is on the list. Romeo therefore receives an invitation, and attends the party. When he arrives, fate immediately draws him to Juliet. He is inspired by her beauty, and hastily forgets about Rosaline. About a scene later, Romeo has completely fallen in love with Juliet and has become dreadfully lovesick. It isn’t until after their initial meeting that they realize that they are from opposing families. Fate has drawn Romeo to Juliet, but it will eventually end up separating them. Fate is the most important aspect of the tender lives of Romeo and Juliet. They are going against the rules of their parents and are drawn together by fate. Surprisingly, they are pulled apart in the same way. In the end, we learn that Romeo and Juliet’s love does not exactly end happily. They both end up dying, and the reader realizes that fate has influenced these young lovers’ lives for the worse.