Later in the play, in act 5 scene 1, after Balthasar delivers the news that Juliet is dead, Romeo’s quick response is: ‘Is it even so? Then I defy you, stars!’ What is being said here is that Romeo is not going to get down on his knees and cry over her death. He is defying fate by refusing to mourn. Instead he is going to win over the stars and their fate by joining Juliet in her death by killing himself. He decision is made instantly.
I think Shakespeare chose to bring fate into the play as a main theme, because fate was a bigger thing back when the play was written. Although a lot of people do not believe in it now, much more people did then. This was probably because of the way in which society was different then. There was much more war, and death was considered a much less serious thing, which happened to everyone. And because of this, when someone died they believed it was obviously meant to happen and accepted it, rather than making a big issue out of it, because if they did they would be upset all the time, as death was a much more common thing, due to a lower level of hygiene and less cures for diseases etc.
Probably the main factor outside of Romeo and Juliet’s control, which was the main thing that caused the problems, was the fact that Romeo was a Montague and Juliet was a Capulet and therefore they were enemies, by no other reason than past events, most of them forgotten. It was fate for them to be together but was not allowed, just because their families were pointlessly at war. Another thing outside of their control was a friar Lawrence’s plots, which although were made with the right intentions, never turned out how they were meant to, such as the plan to marry Romeo and Juliet so that the families would unite, but instead of uniting they just got angrier at each other. Also the plan for Juliet to agree to marry Paris and then drink the drug to make her seem dead before the wedding, which leads onto the next point of the fact that by coincidence, Juliet wakes up just after Romeo poisoned himself, where if he had done it just a few seconds after, or she had woken up a few seconds before it would have turned out ok and they would not have both died.
Although aside from all these things out of their control, there were still factors which lead to their downfall that were in their control and they could have changed. A short while after they met they both found out they were enemies and yet they still got together and didn’t fight their temptations. Although the fighting of their families was not the right thing, and they shouldn’t have just ignored their feelings because of it, arranging to get married the next day, without consolation of any of their relatives, was probably not the best idea and a big thing that lead to their downfall. And yet they knew of the problems as said by Juliet after the party: ‘My only love sprung from my only hate’. Also, just one hour after the wedding, Romeo avenged Mercutio’s death by killing Tybalt, which was the first big step towards a major downfall, as it got him banished from town. So now, he can not only not see Juliet, without breaking the law, but has also given her another reason to think marrying him was a mistake, even though she loves him, and another reason for the Capulets to hate him and not make peace with the Montagues.
Although it was not just Romeo and Juliet who led themselves into problems. If it wasn’t for the existence, or actions of other characters, things would have been a lot simpler. Tybalt, for instance, was one of the Capulets who held a strong grudge against any Montague, even when there was no straight reason for it. This was shown near the beginning at the Capulet house party, where Tybalt spotted Romeo, and wanted to make a deal out of it, even though he was not causing any trouble. On this occasion Lord Capulet who knew that Romeo was not the sort to cause trouble stopped him, ‘let him alone, A bears him like a portly gentleman’, but after this, you knew that he was not going to step down and not be any trouble to Romeo. And when he went on to kill Mercutio, it was just asking for it for Romeo to get angry, even though he was normally against the war between the families, and so he went on to kill him in his anger which started a string of problems.
Another character who, not intentionally caused some problems to the decisions made by Juliet, was the nurse, who did not put much of a fight against Juliet marrying Romeo or being with him and helped with some of the Friars plots. Although she was doing what she thought was best, her keeping everything secret from the rest of the family probably did not help the situation and the fact that it had been kept secret by her made the other Capulets even more angry that they had been betrayed. So her influence on Juliet’s decisions was another thing that did not help the way things were.
The characters of Romeo and Juliet, and the way they responded to things was another factor that had an effect on the way things turned out. Neither of them were very big, bold characters although they both had noticeable characteristics, which changed the way things happened. Romeo was in general a quiet, peaceful character, with good intentions, which was shown throughout the play, although the immaturity, which came with his adolescence was also clearly shown at some points, starting at the beginning, where he says he is completely in love with Rosaline, and then after one evening of meeting Juliet, decides he no longer has any feelings for her, as said in Act 2 scene 3: ‘I have forgotten that name, and that name’s woe.’ Juliet generally comes across as someone with strong feelings and views although without the power to use them. She says that she loves Romeo although she is the one who hesitates to do anything about it at first, as she is worried about the consequences of him being a Montague. Although she is younger she is the one who wants to make the more mature decision, whereas Romeo says that he will change his name if it is what she wants, ‘neither, fair maid, if either thee dislike’. But, although their personalities are there, most of the decisions that they make are through their love for each other and not by what they see as right, so it is not a main thing leading to their downfall.
Act 5, scene 1 is the scene where Romeo is told that Juliet is dead, even though she is actually just under the effects of the drug to make her seem dead, and goes and buys poison off of the poor apothecary. I would present this on the renaissance theatre by giving the stage a dark atmosphere and making the man look old and rough. This is because for an audience that does not know the conclusion to the play, it would be a very dramatic scene as they would all know that Juliet is not actually dead, and to see Romeo, a character put across as a good person, buy himself poison to kill himself with, over something which is not even true would be painful to watch, and they would all be wanting to tell him to stop. So by giving it a dark atmosphere it would have an even more dramatic affect on the audience. This would appeal to the audience because throughout the play a personality for Romeo would have been built in the audience’s minds that he is a peaceful person who wants the best for everyone and they would probably look up to and relate to him, and so it would be shocking to see him in a bad state planning to kill himself.
The structure of the play, and the way things happen is reasonably simple. Its just love at first sight with Romeo and Juliet, and then doing all they can do to be together, until through the way things turned out with the rivalry of their families, they end up killing themselves through their love for one and other. Although what actually happens is more complicated. Although it was never very simple, what with the two families fighting, the real complications came along when Tybalt killed Mercutio. Mercutio being so close to Romeo, it led him on to avenge his death and kill Tybalt, and any chance of the Capulets making peace with Romeo was destroyed. After this, and Romeo getting banished, things just went downhill. He was not able to see or talk to Juliet and explain the reasons for his actions, which left her confused and devastated about what had happened and not knowing what to think of Romeo. And the lack of contact between them was also the final misunderstanding, which went on to be the cause of the death of the two lovers, as Romeo did not get told that Juliet was not actually dead and was just taking part in a plan so that she could be with him. So he bought the poison and killed himself, along with Paris, before he could be told the truth.
Having explored, analysed and evaluated the play, I can conclude that the factors within and outside of Romeo and Juliet’s control were not the reasons for the consequences of the play, but were just things along the way that affected the course of their lives. The way in which it turned out was down to fate, which is the main theme of the play. I think this because all of the small problems, which came together to make the bigger problems, were caused by fate, and it is mentioned indirectly so many times throughout the play. Lines such as ‘star cross’d lovers’ and ‘O I am fortunes fool’ are examples of this. I think that William Shakespeare did this deliberately to make the play something to think about, as there are so many possibilities and alternative conclusions, which could have happened if a certain thing hadn’t taken place etc. and the fact that some serious things happened just because of small actions, which could have been avoided. This leaves the audience thinking about the different possibilities that could have happened. Although the only really straight answer that you can give to say why it all turned out like it did is because of fate, and that it was all meant to happen. Which also concludes it by the fact that although there was suffering and death, it all came together for the better and ended with the families uniting and ending the war between them.
