Direct my sail! On, lusty gentleman.”
– Romeo has another premonition before the party. He thinks that if he goes to the party he will have a young death. I think that this is a good example of Romeo being a victim of events beyond his control, because the premonition he is having actually does become true as he does enter the party and also if he was in control he could stop himself going into the party, but he cannot stop himself going to the party.
When Romeo sees Juliet, without even talking to her he knows he is in love with her–
“Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight!
For I ne’er saw true beauty till this night.”
- This is another example of Romeo being a victim of events beyond his control as he does not even know her and he has not ever talked to her, but he is in love with her already. He could argue that he did not know what he was doing; he was too besotted with Juliet to think about the consequences.
After Romeo and Juliet have met, she asks the nurse to go find out what Romeo’s name is and who he is. Juliet says –
“If he be married,
My grave is like to be my wedding bed.”
– Juliet does not know that Romeo will marry, and they person he is going to marry is her, and because he marries her, she does end up dead.
When the nurse tells Juliet who Romeo is, Juliet is distraught to find out that Romeo is a Montague –
“My only love has sprung from my only hate.”
– again we could say that Juliet had no control over what she was doing, because realistically she would not start a relationship with Romeo, as she would know that if she did it would cause a lot of repercussions especially with her family and Romeo’s family. Juliet and Romeo’s families are enemies as shown when Juliet says –
“That I must love a loathed enemy.”
– If Juliet was in control of what she was doing then she would know that it was unwise to start a relationship with Romeo. She could blame fate for this and take the burden off her shoulders and forget about the consequences.
Some people might argue that fate was not to blame for leading Romeo and Juliet astray, but the Friar was –
“To turn your households’ rancour into pure love.”
– He thought that if he married Romeo and Juliet then this would stop the feud between them, he does not realise that there is not actually a realistic possibility that this will happen, he will probably make things worse. The friar does end up making things worse.
The Friar does have some words of wisdom to say although –
“Wisely and slow, they stumble those that run fast.”
– He thinks that if things happen too quickly with Romeo and Juliet things will go wrong. Again here we can say that they are victims of events too far beyond their control, as the Friar does try to slow things down, but Romeo will not listen, he seems to have no control over what he is doing.
Later on when Romeo speaks to Friar Laurence again Romeo says –
“Do thou but close our hands wit holy words,
then love-devouring Death do what he dare.”
– All that Romeo wants is to marry her, nothing matters to him if they are married, not even death. Little does Romeo know that because of their marriage they do both end up dead.
Friar Laurence replies to Romeo –
“These violent delights have violent ends,
and in their triumph die like fire and powder.”
– The friar is saying that lovers’ passions are short lived. Still Romeo pays no attention to the Friar and carries on with his plans of marriage. I think that Romeo has been warned many times about Juliet and that something will happen to him in the end of he marries her, but he seems to have no control over what he is doing
In Verona later on, Mercutio is slain by Tybalt. Romeo is angry and says –
“This day’s black fate on moe days doth depend,
this but begins the woe others must end.”
– Romeo is saying that fate will decide what happens. Some people might argue that this is just an excuse to hide the fact that Romeo does hold his own destiny.
Romeo and Tybalt have a fight, Romeo kills Tybalt. After he has killed him, he realises what he has done –
“O, I am fortune’s fool.”
– Romeo is blaming fate for what he has done, but maybe Romeo is a victim of events beyond his control, or maybe he is using fate as an excuse.
When Romeo and Juliet are secretly married, Romeo and Juliet go back to Juliet’s bedroom after the marriage ceremony. In the morning Romeo must leave in case one of Juliet’s kinsmen find him. Juliet does not want him to leave, she is afraid they will not meet again. She expects the worst –
“I have an ill-divining soul.”
– She is saying she is expecting evil things to happen. Some people might say that fate is playing games with Romeo and Juliet and leading them to evil happenings and that they have no control over what is happening to them.
When Juliet finds out that her husband Romeo has been banished from Verona she is distraught –
“Alack, alack, that heaven should practise stratagems
Upon so soft a subject as myself!”
– Juliet thinks that the Gods are playing tricks on her and that they are messing with her mind. I think that Juliet is just tempting fate now.
In Mantua where Romeo is living he is waiting for one of his servants Balthasar to return with news from Verona. When Balthasar arrives Romeo says –
“I dreamt my lady came and found me dead
(strange dream that gives a dead man leave to think!)
and breathed such life with kisses in my lips
that I revived.”
– Juliet does find Romeo dead and she does kiss him, but she cannot revive him. I think that both Romeo and Juliet are having premonitions about their deaths, but are too out of control to pay any attention to them or to do something about them.
Another example of Romeo being a victim of events far beyond his control is when he finds out about Juliet’s death –
“Is it e’en so? Then I defy you stars!”
– Romeo is going to return to Verona no matter what the consequences. Again here we can see that Romeo seems to be unable to think about what he is doing and is rushing into decisions. Someone could argue that he had no control over himself and was a victim of events too far beyond his control. I think that because Romeo is insulting fate/the stars by saying that he defies them, that he is tempting them to do something bad to him.
Romeo is so grief stricken about Juliet that he decides he is going to kill himself to be with her. He decides to use poison to kill himself –
“Let me have a dram of poison,
Such soon-speeding gear
As will disperse itself through all the veins
That the life-weary taker may fall dead.”
- We can link back to an earlier scene in the book where the death of Romeo by poison is mentioned –
“Shall give him such an unaccustomed dram
that he shall soon keep Tybalt company.”
– Lady Capulet says this; she means that she will get someone to kill Romeo with poison for killing Tybalt. She does not realise that in the end Romeo poisons himself.
Romeo went to the one apothecary that had suicidal poisons and the apothecary was willing to sell it to Romeo because he was so poor even though selling illegal suicidal drugs is illegal on pain of death. Also this one apothecary that Romeo found happened to be at home when Romeo arrived even though most other people would be out as it was a holiday. Is this just coincidence or is it fate.
When Romeo had the poison, he did not talk about it like it was a bad drug, but as a good drug that would help him. Realistically most people would be scared of taking suicidal drugs and would be very afraid –
“Come, cordial and not poison, go with me
to Juliet’s grave, for here I must use thee.”
– Romeo says “cordial” instead of poison. He is saying that it is a pleasant medicine that will cure him. I think that this fate is talking for Romeo as it is not likely that he would be talking so pleasantly about a suicidal poison.
When Romeo is at Juliet’s side he is ready to take his life, he says –
“And shake the yoke of inauspicious stars.”
– “ Romeo wants to cheat the stars (fate) by killing himself, but actually the stars have still one as Juliet is not actually dead and is only a few minutes away from waking up. Again Romeo has tempted fate by yet again insulting the stars
When Friar Laurence arrives to find Romeo dead and Juliet still asleep he says –
“A greater power than we can contradict.”
– He means by this that even though they have all tried to cheat the stars, the stars have still won as Romeo is dead and the Friar’s plan has not worked.
When Juliet wakes up she also kills herself as she finds Romeo dead by her side. So I think that Romeo and Juliet were victims of events far too far beyond their control, because even thought they both tried to cheat the stars, the stars have won and both Romeo and Juliet are dead.
In conclusion I think that Romeo and Juliet’s lives were lead mainly by fate as once they had died the two feuding families stopped fighting and peace was declared, but as Capulet says at the end of the play Romeo and Juliet are “poor sacrifices of our enmity!” – I think that fate used Romeo and Juliet to cure there families arguments, but in order for the families to find peace their daughter and son had to die. I think that Romeo and Juliet were concentrating far to much on themselves to pay attention to what advice they were being given by not only people but the premonitions they were having, therefore I think that Romeo and Juliet victims of events too far beyond their control.
