How Does Shakespeare Use Fate To Enhance The Dramatic Presentation?

 The prologue states that Romeo and Juliet are “star-crossed lovers,” as if to say that fate controls them. This sense of fate is referenced through out the play, the audience is aware of it and the characters are also, yet in slightly different ways. Romeo and Juliet constantly see omens, for example, when Romeo sees that Juliet is dead, he cries out, “Then I defy you, stars,” completing the idea that the love between Romeo and Juliet is in resistance to the order of destiny. Fate of the stars is mentioned again before Romeo enters the house of Capulet for the first time he speaks of an unknown danger “hanging in the stars.” This notion of events expected to occur being written in the stars explains how life is predetermined by fate. Romeo senses that something bad is going to happen.

Fate allows Romeos destiny to take place. Friar John never delivers the letter to Romeo and fate allows Romeo to hear of Juliet’s death and go to be with her by drinking poison. It is fate that did not allow the friar to reach Romeo in Mantua. And thus, it is also fate that Romeo buys the poison and eventually kills himself by Juliet's side. Fate appears when the Friar does not get to the tomb in time to tell Romeo that Juliet is still alive. The mechanism of fate works in all of the events surrounding the lovers: the feud between their families, the horrible series of accidents that ruin Friar Lawrence’s seemingly well-intentioned plans at the end of the play; and the tragic timing of Romeo’s suicide and Juliet’s awakening. These events are not mere coincidences, but rather manifestations of fate that help bring about the unavoidable outcome of the young lovers’ deaths. The concept of fate described is the most commonly accepted interpretation. There are other possible readings of fate in the play: as a force determined by the powerful social institutions that influence Romeo and Juliet’s choices, as well as fate as a force that emerges from Romeo and Juliet’s very personalities.

Fate shows itself to the two lovers without them knowing the real meaning of what is happening. Juliet tells Romeo of her vision of him dead at the bottom of a tomb, and Romeo has a dream that Juliet finds him dead. This is foreshadowing to the already destined event these two lovers will soon face death. This is yet another example where fate has a role in the lives of Romeo and Juliet; it is something that they cannot control.