Romeo And Juliet Power Of Fate

Fate’s Hold on Romeo and Juliet It is very debatable whether people’s lives are controlled by fate or free will, however, fate’s grasp on these two young lovers is clearly shown in the text of this Elizabethan era play. The text that is to be discussed is William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, the topic is about whether it is fate affecting the outcome of the play. Fate determines the aftermath of the play, due to bad timing, misfortune, and love. Bad timing of the events in this play led to the deaths of Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet.

The All-Powerful Force “Accept the things to which fate binds you, and love the people with whom fate brings you together, but do so with all your heart.” Marcus Aurelius, Roman emperor 161-180 A.D. Many people believe in destiny, and that everyone was meant for something. Shakespeare based his play Romeo and Juliet off of the concept of fate and destiny. In his play, the main characters are guided by an all-powerful and inescapable force, called fate. In Romeo and Juliet, the theme of fate has brought the two main characters together in the most unintentional way.

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.

Fate vs. Bad Decisions As a human kind we have focused nearly all of our efforts on one question, what ultimately decides our destiny? Throughout history religions have formed, scientists have devoted their lives, and many stories have been told regarding fate; one such story is Romeo and Juliet, which is regarded as one of the best written texts known to man. In Romeo and Juliet two star crossed lovers, born into rival families, fall in love, and through a series of unfortunate events meet their demise. Some people claim that the message Shakespeare was trying to convey is that our life is governed by fate, others believe that the message is that our future is determined by the choices that we make in our lives; while arguments can be made for both sides, it is more conceivable that it is both a mixture of fate and our decisions that determines our ultimate destiny.

William Ernest Henley once said, “ I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.” In other words, I think this quote means that William Ernest Henley believes that we all are in charge of our own fate. Some people believe that our future is always changing because of every decision we make and some people believe that the future is set in stone and no matter what we do there's only one outcome. William Shakespeare has written many great works, including Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare, in his play, Romeo and Juliet, shows the truth of this statement because Romeo made the decision to physically kill himself.

People are responsible for the events that take place in their lives; making fate a scapegoat created by those who find the repercussions are less than favorable. This can be seen in the many lives of the characters of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, an initial comedy turned tragedy. Set in fair Verona, a conflicted prince must counterbalance quarrels between the two wealthiest families; the Montagues and the Capulets. The children of the two houses, Romeo and Juliet, live their lives apart from one another, meeting when Romeo encounters Juliet at the Capulet ball, and are instantly smitten with each other and are engaged in a matter of a few hours. Their marriage ends in disastrous suicides when all of their other plans fail, but this brings

Fate is a concept that is well known as something that planned the future and cannot be changed, no matter how hard someone might try, this concept is established in the play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare when in the prologue Shakespeare states that the main protagonists, Romeo and Juliet will die by the end of the play, “A pair of star-cross’d lovers take their lives,”(Prologue, line six) and Shakespeare uses this idea of fate in numerous occasions, But only three examples will be used; when Romeo is banished from Verona, when the Prince says the Capulets and Montagues cannot fight in Verona, and Lord Capulet's Masquerade to prove that Shakespeare says that fate cannot be changed. Early into the play Romeo and Juliet, Prince Escalus states that if Capulets and Montagues ever fight in Verona they would be executed. “If ever you disturb the streets again Your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace”(Act one, Scene one, lines 94-95). With this is in place the two households must refrain from getting into conflict with each other or face the death penalty and with the violence off of the streets for now

Former French Military Leader, Napoleon I, outlined the basis of fate, a topic that many people cannot wrap their heads around. He once stated, “Our hour is marked, and no one can claim a moment of life beyond what fate has predestined”. Life is started by being born, and over from death. We never know exactly when we are born or when we die. Even though these two important aspects of life are destined to happen, what occured in between cannot change the outcome.

Choices in life can make a big difference. The wrong choices can be deadly. In “The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet” by William Shakespeare, fate is a disease and Friar Lawrence is a person whose only means is to do good. Fate is used as an object because it chooses what we do in life. In the tragedy Romeo is “ fortune's fool”(lll, i, 133).

Many aspects of people’s lives are governed by what they believe to be fate. In reality, timing and random accidents really determine what occurs. Especially in the play Romeo and Juliet, so many important events just happen to arise. It seems that in every scene, something of great significance happened just by luck. People meet perchance, a decision is made at just the right (or wrong) time, and something of substance is not moved around the way it should be.

Anita Brookner, a British award-winning writer of novels, wisely said, “The essence of romantic love is that wonderful beginning, after which sadness and impossibility may become the rule.” In Act Three, Scene Three of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Friar Laurence, a Franciscan that plays the part of an adviser to Romeo and Juliet, sees Romeo crying over Romeo’s banishment and how Romeo cannot see Juliet as often anymore. In this monologue, Friar Laurence wants to stop Romeo from suiciding and being gloomy by using insults and bringing up Juliet; directly and indirectly. Friar Laurence attempts to settle down Romeo by name-calling. For example, afterwards, Friar Laurence shouts, “Unseemly women in a seeming man! /

In the story “Holes” by Louis Sachar shows an example fate because a character named Stanley Yelnats whole family was born with bad luck. “Romeo and Juliet” and “A Lesson Before Dying” share one thing which is that they have problems that they can’t control. The book “Holes” shows that Stanley was born with a curse to have bad luck. Fate is a series of uncontrollable events that cause death.