The Role of Fate in Romeo and Juliet (Free Essay Example)

Choice of Blame “Two households, both alike in dignity, (?)”. The first line spoke in the beloved story of Romeo and Juliet”, by Shakespeare. This play shares the tragic love story of two teenagers that fall in love but their families past dismay their would be a happily ever after. Shakespeare combined human action and fate throughout the plot points to allow the reader to decide whom they blame for the lovers' tragedy.  Fate played a major role in this play. The role of fate was effectively used to divert some blame of the ending off the character. It was also used to help explain some unlucky situations that faced the couple. One of the very first examples of fate happens almost immediately in the play. During the infamous prologue the Chorus remarks, “A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life”. This line showcases that Romeo and Juliet's love for one another was ill-fated. Stars often symbolized destiny in this play. I've heard so many people exclaim their significant other, and they are star-crossed lovers. This term is often misused as “true love”, but it means almost exactly the opposite. A star- crossed love is doomed to fail, and that the star has “crossed” the plans of happiness. Another instance of their doomed fate was heard later in the prologue. The line reads, “The fearful passage of their death-marked love/”. From this line alone, the audience knows that their love was always destined to end tragically, their love was “death marked” before they had a chance to change it. This gives the receiver the immediate acknowledgment of tragedy within the play, but they donʻt know how, which is one of many lines that make this play enchanting to so many. Shakespeare also incorporated a lot of human action in the play that caused the couple's affections to go so wrong. One of the most blazon examples of this was when Romeo and Juliet got married behind their parents backs. During Act 2, scene 3, Romeo asks Juliet to forsake her last name and marry, to which she happily obliged. They then proceeded to get married by the Friar the following day! The scene ends with the Friar exclaiming, “Till Holy Church incorporate two in one.”, seeming to make their marriage official. This human act was a decision that I think could have been avoided if they told their parents and got a more reasonable opinion on the matter. While Juliet did go to an “authority” figure, the Nurse dismissed their childish whim because she wanted to see Juliet get married. An alternative example of a human act causes their downfall happened at the very end of the play. After Romeo takes his life under the assumption Juliet had died too, the Friar goes to the tomb to get Juliet and finds Romeo dead beside her. Friar barley tries to coerce her out of the tomb, when he suddenly hears the prince and his ensemble coming. At this moment he had two options, and he chose the wrong one. Friar in a panic tells Juliet, “I dare no longer stay.” and rushes out the tomb and out of sight. This seemingly harmless choice in his eyes was the worst thing he could have done at the moment. He put his career and reputation over Juliet and her despair over Romeo. After the Friar leaves, Juliet kills herself, before the prince gets there. If the Friar had only tried harder to get her to leave or chose to not leave her even if it meant his job was at stake, he could have stopped her. There are so many valid reasons for both sides, but I believe that the end of the play was solely dependent on the human actions that took place. While there are some parts where fate seems to be truly the one at fault, the characters really made the problems and I suspect this ending would be different and hopefully more jovial. As mentioned earlier, Romeo and Juliet go behind their parents backs and get married to the help of the Nurse and the Friar. A little later in the play, Julietʻs father reveals that he wants her to marry a young man named Paris. The Nurse, despising Romeo for killing Tybalt, tries to also persuade Juliet to marry him, Juliet becomes very upset that her trusted “motherly figure” wants her to forget about Romeo. “Thou and my bosom henceforth shall be in twain.” can be heard in one of Juliet's many soliloquies. This line explains that in Juliet's frustration, she decides to no longer trust or communicate with the Nurse as she feels she betrayed her. This failure to communicate effectively caused a lot of issues in the very near future. Reflecting back on the play, if Juliet and Nurse, or really any of the characters, used effective communication it could have prevented the pain that follows. Another quote that really stood out to me about the effect of human action in the play was the Princeʻs line, “Where be these enemies?––Capulet, Montague, / See what a scourge is laid upon your hate, /”. The Prince seems to shame the families for their abiding hate for one another, he calls for the enemies to name themselves and own up for what they have done. The “scourge” or entity that causes great suffering was really the families after all. Their unwillingness to make up or show any effort to be kind to one another, leads to the mutiny the teenagers displayed. Romeo and Juliet tried so desperately to create a new destiny and new life for themselves, to create a new path. But Shakespeare's narrative shines a light on the power of using destiny and human acts to drive the story forward. The play would not have the powerful message or the conclusion of the feuds coming to peace, if not for every decision made. It keeps the viewers mind debating what side they chose to blame.