Another reference to fate in the play is in Act III Scene I when Mercutio is killed by Tybalt he quotes “a plague o’ both your houses”. He is cursing both the Capulet house and the Montague as he blames them both for his death. The plague could be attributed to the lovers lives as the plague holds up the messenger that takes Friar Lawrence’s letter to Romeo telling him of Juliet’s ‘death’. Also the plague could be the fact that several members of each family die before the two families put aside their differences.
In Act V Scene I Friar Lawrence learns about the fact that his letter has not reached Romeo because of the plague holding up his messenger. This relates back to Mercutio placing a curse on the two families and is another reference to fate as it is one of the last scenes where it looks as if the two lovers are not meant to be with each other and we also get the impression that fate is a bad thing as Friar Lawrence quotes “unhappy fortune”, fortune could be meaning fate and he is saying that he thinks fate makes people unhappy and never makes things turn out how people want them to.
In Act III Scene I Romeo reacts impulsively when Mercutio dies, by killing Tybalt even though he risks exile and even death. This shows that when someone that he loves and feels close for dies he reacts greatly and does silly things. He shows these acts of impulsiveness throughout the play.
In Act V Scene I Romeo learns of Juliet’s ‘death’ and he goes straight to the apothecary and asks for the most powerful poison to kill himself with. This shows that he loves Juliet so much that he cannot think of anything except to get to her even though he will be killed as soon as the Prince learns of his arrival in Verona.
In Act V Scene III Romeo again acts impulsively when he journeys to the Capulet tomb where Juliet is laid to rest, only to find Paris there, whom Romeo mistakes for a grave robber, as well. Romeo then kills Paris. This shows that Romeo acts impulsively as he does not try to find out who Paris is, he just kills him showing that he cares so much about Juliet that he gets rid of anything that gets in way. At first Romeo does not want to fight as he says “good gentle youth tempt not a desperate man” and “put not another sin upon my head”. The second quote is Romeo asking Paris not to make Romeo kill him as this will endanger what little chance he has left of going to heaven with Juliet.
At the end of this scene (Act V Scene III) Romeo acts impulsively for the last time in his life. When he sees Juliet he kills himself, not allowing any time to talk to Friar Lawrence as he might have known what to do which he would have.
Throughout the play I think it is Romeo who acts impulsively and it is mainly due to his decisions that people like Juliet died.
Throughout the play there are many hints and images of death and the grave like in Act I Scene V when Juliet says “… if he be married, my grave is like to be my wedding bed”. This gives a huge hint at what will happen in the future as when Romeo and Juliet do marry, they end up dead lying next to each other like in a wedding bed. Also in Act II Scene II Juliet says
“My life were better ended by their hate than death prorogued wanting of thy love” which means she would rather die because of both families hating each other because of their love for each other, rather than dying without loving Romeo at all. This comes true as the lovers both die as a result of loving each other.
Both fate and impulsive action are important to the outcome of the play as without the presence of fate there would have not been any play and without impulsive action some of the biggest events like Romeo’s exile and Romeo’s death would not have happened. I find the impulsiveness of the play more convincing than the fate side as God and fate do not play as bigger part in life as they did and we see more impulsive action in our own lives than we see fate. I think that Shakespeare wanted to show his audience that love will drive people to do desperate acts more often than if they were not in love and that fate plays a huge part in love. I think that the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet was due to mainly Romeo’s impulsiveness, though it was not all his fault.
