The thing about Fate and free will is that you can’t tell one from the other, I believe that even if you think you are doing something out of free will it might still be fate that you choose that, for instance, when Romeo hears of Juliet’s death and commits suicide he thinks he has beaten fate and tricked it but we already new he was going to die due to a tragic accident, the accidents being the message, about Juliet and her not really being dead, from Friar John not reaching Romeo and Balthasar seeing Juliet at her funeral and not knowing the plan, So fate actually beat him, Romeo couldn’t have known that though, he thought he was doing the right thing but he wasn’t! Also Balthasar thought he was doing the right thing by telling Romeo that Juliet was ‘dead’, fate seems to have tricked him as well.
Now I will explain why I believe that Romeo thought that fate lead his life.
This is evident early in the story when Romeo says, "But he that hath the steerage of my course direct my sail!" This is using a ship as an example of Romeo and fate is the wind that directs him. This says that if it wanted, fate could just slam him into the rocks and finish him off. Later, after the death of Tybalt, there is another significant line as Romeo cries out in despair, "O, I am fortune's fool!” This is pretty self-explanatory; Romeo says that fortune (fate) is tricking him and dislikes him. When all the Montague’s and Mercutio were trying to persuade Romeo to go to the Capulets’ party he said, “I dreamt a dream tonight,” and Mercutio says that dreamers often lie and Romeo returned this with, “In bed asleep, while they do dream things true.” He’s telling us that dreams can come true; so what you dream is your destiny and even if you make decisions you will find yourself in the position you dreamt about because fate chose you to be there.
Juliet on the other hand believed in free will, unlike Romeo, she planned everything like her drinking the ‘poison’ and then waking in the crypt and the friar meeting her whereas Romeo just went and did everything without thinking because he thought that whatever he did it was his destiny as I have already explained. She thought that her future was down to her.
Friar Lawrence was a friar/herbalist and he firmly believed that there was no such thing as fate and he wanted to help the Capulets and Montagues end their troubles so he thought that getting Romeo and Juliet together would end it but due to some unfortunate ‘accidents’ such as Paris falling in love with Juliet and Balthasar seeing her etc, his plans were ruined. He used Herbal medicines to determine the future but Juliet mucked it up, if she hadn’t sat on her bed worrying before she drunk the concoction, she would have drunk it earlier and woken up earlier so Romeo would have noticed her before he committed suicide. But the friar helped bring the families together because at the very end of the play, Capulet says to Montague,
“O brother Montague, give me thy hand.
This is my daughter’s jointure, for no more
Can I demand.”
Capulet is saying that Juliet’s marriage settlement is a handshake and reconciliation; so the friar got what he wanted, peace.
Accidents and chance play a very large part of the storyline; for instance, Romeo would never have met Juliet if he hadn’t gone to the party, and he wouldn’t have gone to the party unless he got hold of an invitation, and he wouldn’t have got one of those if Capulet had given the invitations to a servant who could read;
‘…But I am sent to find those persons whose names are here writ, and
can never find what names the writing person hath here writ. I must to the learned. In good time!’
He’s asking himself how he’s supposed to find the names written on the invites when he cant read so he’s got to find someone who can read, cue Benvolio and Romeo! The servant sees them and asks them to help him, they see Rosalind’s name on the list so Benvolio says he’s on the list and they both obtain invites so Benvolio can show Romeo that there’s plenty more fish in the sea; ‘…And I will make thee think thy swan a crow…’ He would show Romeo that Rosalind’s ugly compared to other women at the party. They go to the party and accident number two happens, Romeo sees Juliet and asks a servingman her name, unfortunately’ ‘I know not, sir.” Was the Servingman’s reply. If the servingman had known she was a Capulet, Romeo would never have gone near her! Unluckily for him, he didn’t know till a bit too late that she was a Capulet!
My final conclusion is that Shakespeare added ‘accidents’ to twist the story even more and he tried to show us that Fate, free will and accidents are very hard to separate.
