Once in fair Verona, a bloody feud took the lives of 2 lovers and numerous bystanders. The Montague/Capulet feud will forever go down in literary history as an ingenious vehicle to embody fate and fortune. In Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare uses foreshadowing, repetition, and symbolism to show the how the Montague/Capulet feud causes the inevitability of fate.
William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet,” discusses how people have both a monstrous and honorable side. Shakespeare demonstrates this by using syntax and figurative language in
In the beginning of the play Romeo and Juliet, Romeo predicts his own fate as his “mind misgives” (1.4 104). The two young lovers are “star-crossed lovers who take their life” because they care about each other very deeply and their love is doomed by fate as they are not allowed to be with one another due to the family feud between the Montague’s and the Capulet’s who will avert them from being with one another. This creates a barrier to their happiness because of their
Shakespeare announces Romeo and Juliet’s fate in the prologue, “A pair of star-cross’d lovers take their life.” (Prologue, line 6). Romeo is still distraught when heading to the Capulets for a party. Unable to think of anyone but Rosaline, whom he cannot have. After disputing over the fact Romeo is envious and has to quit whining Benvolio convinces Romeo to tag along. Shakespeare uses a series of hinting to the final result. For example, Romeo announces, “I fear too early, for my mind misgives some consequence yet hanging in the stars” (act 1, scene 4, lines 113-118), meaning he feels something is destined to happen. Shakespeare showing again the idea of an unchangeable fate when Romeo falls in love
In William Shakespeare’s play, The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, two lovers are bound to death by fate, and the audience is informed of this fact by the large amount of foreshadowing seen throughout the play. In each scene, at least one example of foreshadowing can be seen. This literary device is used to help form the tone of the story and give readers a feeling for what is going to happen next.
In the infamous tragedy of the play ‘Romeo and Juliet’ by William Shakespeare, the theme and influence of death are poignantly prevalent through the course of the play. The use of death in ‘Romeo and Juliet’ is portrayed through 3 instances of the deaths of 4 major characters, Romeo, Juliet, Mercutio and Tybalt, in which the context of each death, are relative to the cause and development of their demise. Shakespeare capitalizes on the sophistication and complexity of death along with its varying impacts in relation to the context in which guides their tragedies.
Are people in control of their destiny? Having no power over one’s destiny is an important theme in William Shakespeare’s, Romeo and Juliet. We are in told in the prologue that fate is going to drive the story. Romeo and Juliet are not in control of their lives. It is predetermined destiny, not free choice that manipulates the lives of these two lovers. In Romeo and Juliet, the idea that the main characters have no control over their destiny is proven through the long existing feud between the families, Romeo and Juliet’s chance meeting and Mercutio’s and Tybalt’s deaths.
In the story of Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare grabs your attention in several ways. Some examples are, the use of foreshadowing and dramatic irony, even from the very beginning of the story Shakespeare uses foreshadowing.
In act 3 after Tybalt’s and Mercutio’s deaths, Benvolio tells Romeo that the prince will probably punish him with a death sentence if he get caught and he should flee away quickly. Romeo’s reply was “O, I am fortune’s fool” (3.1.132). Romeo here is saying that he is destined for bad luck and misfortune all his life which is a reference to the prologue where it says that Romeo and Juliet are destined for bad luck and that their deaths will eventually lead to peace between their families. In short, Romeo is once again blaming fate for the bad decision he made about killing Tybalt, his cousin. In a smilier way, in act 1 Romeo has shown that he truly believes that his life is controlled by destiny and fate when he talked about a dream that he had with Benvolio and Mercutio before heading to the
Was it fate or free will that killed Romeo and Juliet? In the prologue of this play, Shakespeare refers to Romeo and Juliet as “A pair of star-cross'd lovers.” Star crossed lovers are people whose love is destined to end in tragedy. Free will is when people are able to make their own decisions and have consequences based off their decisions instead of predetermined consequences. Fate was definitely the reason for Romeo and Juliet’s tragic deaths because of the unexplainable coincidences, uncharacterized choices, and conscious decisions that all lead to the same inescapable outcome.
Shakespeare did not wait to tell the readers that Romeo and Juliet were a part of pre-determined destiny. For example, in the prologue it says "From fourth the fatal loins of these two foes, A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life (Shakespeare prologue)." This means two unlucky children are born into enemy families, they become lovers and commit suicide. From the moment Juliet and Romeo are born they are told they can not do anything but feud with the other family. The children had no input in this, it was decided for them.
Verona, a city in which a pair of “star-crossed lovers” and all of its citizens overall, blame the “greater power,” fate, to veil their own actions. Fate and free will, both play a major part in Romeo and Juliet. However, only one of the two is actually true. On one side, fate supposedly controls the character’s destiny. But they are completely unaware that it is actually their free will and their own actions in which they are in control of. Though the characters in the play seem to believe and to be completely convinced that something greater, such as “fate,” is controlling them, they only choose to do so since they do not want to take responsibility for the actions they have done. Throughout the play, Shakespeare argues between fate and free will acting upon the characters.
Julian Fellowes and Carlo Carlei's film adaptation of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet (2013) depicts the tragic nature of "star-cross'd lovers" (Prologue.6). This is evident through the contrasting scenes of tragedy and romance interspersed throughout the trailer. For instance, Romeo and Juliet's first meeting at the Capulet's masquerade (0.19-0.25) evokes sentiments of doom from the beginning of their love as this is continuously juxtaposed with the play's grim ending (0.04-0.14) and the family feud between the Capulets and Montagues (0.25-0.35). This looming sense of an inescapable fate for the lovers is further reinforced by the scene when Romeo finds Juliet on her deathbed, seemingly dead (1.56). It is a
Conflict in the play has already started before Romeo and Juliet have even met each other. Both of them knew their families’ hatred for one another, though.. Knowing that the two families are still feuding, Benvolio and Romeo decide to go to a party the Capulets are hosting to help Romeo forget about the woman he is in love with, Rosaline. Before heading to the party, Romeo talks about a dream he had the night before.
Romeo and Juliet is such an interesting play because even now, five hundred years later we are still talking and learning about this play. It is so relatable till date because people fall in love now as Romeo and Juliet did, families fight, as the Montagues and Capulets did. We can relate to each character in some. Which is what makes this play so compelling and lets it live, five hundred years later. Romeo and Juliet is a tragic tale of two lovers, separated by an epic feud of their two houses (Romeo a Montague and Juliet a Capulet.) In these two houses there are many relatives and friends that make up much of the population of fare Verona. In the house of Montague there are two men. Mercutio and Benvolio. Both dear friends of the young Romeo. These two friends, so different in their ways are never found apart, or ever far from Romeo.