In William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, fate plays an extremely powerful role throughout the story

were incredibly slim. They both showed their grief when they learned

that the other was from the opposite family. "O dear account! my life

is my foe's debt." (Act 1, Scene 5, 132), and "My only love sprung

from my only hate." (Act 1, Scene 5, 152) were the two expressions

that Romeo and Juliet exclaimed. Juliet had the right idea when she

showed her frustration with the feud, and its influence on Romeo and

Juliet's relationship, in her soliloquy on the balcony, and said,

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose, by any other word would

smell as sweet..." (Act 2, Scene 2, 41-52)

Besides the fact that they probably would have never been able to live

a peaceful life, none of the tragedies would have occurred had they

not met in the first place. The scene, where the Montague find out

about the Capulet ball is another twist of fate. The servant of

Capulet, who happens to be illiterate, was given the job of telling

people about the party, but only those specifically on a list written

up by his master. Since he could not read, he was forced to ask two

strangers to explain it to him. Those two people could have been

anyone, but they just happened to be Romeo and Benvolio.

When Juliet is "buried" twenty-four hours before Friar Lawrence

planned, it gave Friar John less time to get the message to Romeo.

Beside that, Balthasar came in on one day only to see how Juliet was

doing. If Juliet would have been able to take the potion as scheduled,

Balthasar would have seen Juliet doing well and been able to come back

to Romeo with a report of good news. Romeo would then have had no

reason to buy the poison and commit suicide. Friar Lawrence would have

sent another messenger and all would have been well.

Although Romeo and Juliet were responsible for their own physical

deaths, fate still played a big role in getting the two to even think

about committing suicide. The most obvious example of fate was the

quarantine in Mantua. Friar Lawrence's plan was that Juliet would be

laid in the tomb, appearing to be dead, and when she woke up, Romeo

would be there to meet her. Friar Lawrence was supposed to get a

message to Mantua, where Romeo was at because of his banishment, and

inform the boy about the plan. This is a seemingly perfect plan, and

gives the readers a sense of hope, but the plan is ruined when the

they discover that there was a quarantine in Mantua, and Romeo was

unable to get the letter. This was the point in which Romeo decided

that it would be best if he committed suicide.

The world of Romeo and Juliet was realistic one in which youth is born

into evil and must struggle against it ceaselessly until the conflict

is ended by inevitable death.

This is very true because Romeo is born into the Montague house and

Juliet who is born in to the Capulet house. Even though both of their

families are enemies, they struggled endlessly to keep their love a

secret and meet each other in secret. Their conflict ends up in a

death that is unavoidable. The death could have been prevented if

Romeo was told that Juliet was taking a sleeping potion and that she

was not really dead. But Friar Lawrence's messenger didn't send the

letter discussing the plan to Romeo in time because he was detained by

the plague. This is fate because something happens that isn't meant to

happen.

William Shakespeare had countless times where he could have saved both

of them, but he does not. He gives the reader a little hope that the

two will survive, but with each event, that hope is crushed. Although

Romeo and Juliet did not have to kill themselves, none of the

tragedies would have occurred, had it not been written by such an

unpredictable mind as Shakespeare's. Truly, fate is the most dominant

force in the play, and is most responsible for the deaths of Romeo and

Juliet.

There were a lot of important and influential points in the story

which lead up to their tragic and untimely deaths. A recurring theme

throughout the play has been the possibility of suicide. The climax of

the tragedy is the double suicide in the Capulet tomb. Shakespeare

suggests that where intense love is involved which cannot be fulfilled

then suicide is the likely alternative. The passion that Romeo and

Juliet have for one another cannot be stifled or suppressed and

combined with their youth provides a recipe for final and absolute

tragedy. Being unable to live for their love, Romeo and Juliet die for

it. He makes a comment that the world in which they lived was not

worthy of the love they had for each other, and so the lovers have

robbed the world of their special love. Shakespeare cleverly uses

Juliet's final kiss of Romeo as a weapon of potential death and when

Juliet fails to pick up any poison from Romeo's lips she is overjoyed

to find his dagger, exclaiming `Happy dagger' because this implement

of death will reunite her with her love. From beyond the grave the

love that Romeo and Juliet had for each other is sufficient to heal

the rift between the two families and perhaps through their sacrifice,

the world that they left may become a better place. The Prince closes

the tragedy with the line `A story of more woe than this of Juliet and

her Romeo'.

Fate plays a huge part in the final tragic end. Shakespeare's audience

would have been immediately alerted to the power of fate - fate being

already set out before you and inescapable. The Elizabethans believed

absolutely in fate, indeed the monarchy relied on the advice of

astrologers before embarking on any more missions, marriages or

important decisions. The tragic end of Romeo and Juliet proves a point

to everyone, that fate is unavoidable.

By Alex Bowring 11M2