In this essay I am going discuss the use and effect of the role of fate and coincidence which occurs frequently. Shakespeare uses it to involve the audiences’ emotion, tension and feelings.
Romeo and Fate
There is a good deal of evidence throughout the tragedy to support the idea that fate plays an important role. For example at the beginning of the play Mercutio persuades Romeo to come with his friends to the Capulet’s party only for the Capulet’s family and friends even though they are uninvited. Romeo speaks his thoughts out loud to Benvolio. He seems to feel a sense of fore boding about the future although there is no reason for it at this time. Recently Romeo had seemed to be in “love” with Rosaline though she was not returning his love, causing him to feel very miserable. So Romeo’s friend thought it would cheer him up to gatecrash this party. Never-the-less Romeo says, “ consequence yet hanging in the stars” already predicting something bad will happen. This is backed up as Romeo later says when he meets Juliet that somehow coincidence will lead to his “untimely death” which gives the audience a sense of doom hanging over Romeo.
As Romeo and his friends enter the party and before they are noticed by Tybalt, Romeo’s eyes are immediately caught by Juliet. So amazed by Juliet’s beauty he completely forgets about Rosaline for whom he has been “love-sick” for a very long time. In the soliloquy when he sees Juliet he remarks that her beauty is far too beautiful and valuable for this world: “Beauty too rich for use, for earth to dear.” Romeo seems to predict her fate here as we know Juliet dies at the end of the play
Again Romeo mentions their fate without realising it when he is in Friar Lawrence’s cell waiting for Juliet to arrive so they can marry in secret. No others know of the marriage because of the family feud. As Romeo is waiting he mentions that love consuming-death can do whatever it needs once they are married: “Then love devouring death do what it dare. It is enough I may call her mine.” This can be seen as almost a challenge to fate to do its worst. This personification of fate here is a powerful dramatic device to help the audience’s picture the doom threatening the “star crossed lovers”.
Later Romeo has a dream about his own fate which he mentions in the soliloquy in a street in Mantua, where he has been banished from Verona for killing Tybalt, who for killing one of Romeo’s best friends, Mercutio. Romeo dreamt: “that my lady came and found me dead” But she gave him the kiss of life and he was revived: “and breathed such life with kisses in my lips that I revived” Shakespeare cleverly adds a twist as it is Romeo who finds Juliet dead, gives her a kiss but she did not revive. This twist will involve the audience when at the end of the play the events in the tomb are similar.
Juliet and Fate
Romeo is not the only one that mentions the sense of fate. There is evidence that Juliet is influenced by a sense of her fate. Juliet has just met Romeo who had gate crashed her parent’s party and they both fell deeply in love. In their first meeting, Juliet is called away by the nurse as her mother needs to speak to her. Juliet asks the nurse to ask Romeo’s name and whether he is married, if he is she says “my grave is like to be my wedding bed” This turns out to be her fate because, the only wedding bed they will have forever is when they both die in the Capulet’s tomb.
Again Juliet mentions the possibility of Romeo’s fate. When he climbs over the wall of the Capulet house into their garden, she warns him if he is found on Capulet property, by any of her relatives; it will be a place of death for him: “And a place of death, considering who thou art”. This is prophetic as he at the end of the play the place of his death is in the Capulet’s tomb.
Furthermore Juliet then seems to have a vision of Romeo’s fate, when she and Romeo are by her window and he is about to leave and go to Mantua. She sees Romeo, in a vision, at the bottom of a tomb “I have an ill-divining soul! … as one dead in the bottom of a tomb” which of course we know is true.
After Romeo leaves she calls out: “All men call thee fickle… I hope thou wilt not keep him long, but send him back.” With these words we can see again the role Shakespeare creates for fate in the play, how it is evil and intent on destroying the “star crossed lovers.”
Coincidence
Finally coincidence plays a dramatic role in Romeo and Juliet. Coincidence is the tool of fate in that it causes a sequence of events which doom the lovers. The coincidence of Romeo’s two love affairs is that the first ‘love’ of Romeo Rosaline, isn’t true, he is only in love with the idea of being in love. When he falls in love with Juliet it is true, however he only discovers Juliet when trying to get over his previous love, Rosaline. Romeo’s friends try to cheer him up by taking him to the Capulet’s party. If Romeo had not fallen in love with Rosaline, he would not have gone to the party and the whole tragedy might never have happened. But by coincidence he did and discovered Juliet because of it.
Another example is Paris arrives at the Capulet house and by coincidence, helps cause the party, where he hopes that Juliet will fall for him. Instead she falls for Romeo. If there were no party Romeo would not have met Juliet that evening and would still have been “in love” with Rosaline.
Most importantly, when Friar John goes to deliver Friar Lawrence’s message to Romeo, he gets caught up in a house infected by the plague and therefore is unable to go to Mantua. If he hadn’t have been stuck in the house he probably would have reached Mantua before Balthazar to give Romeo Friar Lawrence’s letter with the details of Juliet’s faked death. This would have stopped Romeo visiting an apothecary to buy poison to kill himself at Juliet’s side, consequently meaning the tragedy would not have happened.
Finally in the Capulet family tomb, the two “Star crossed lovers” take their life. This is very tragic as neither of them needed to die. If Paris had not challenged Romeo outside the tomb he would not have died either. When Romeo dies Juliet wakes up, if he had not had poisoned himself for another couple of minutes, Juliet would have woken to find him still alive so neither of them would have died. Coincidence plays its most tragic role at this scene. Shakespeare uses coincidences them very wisely so he can affect the audience emotions. The role of fate and coincidence is so important to the play as without just one of these coincidences many lives would have been saved
Therefore Fate and Coincidence plays a dramatic role in the tragedy, causing tension, surprise and tragedy. Without the role of fate and coincidence in the play Romeo and Juliet would not be such a dramatic tragedy.
