Death lingers in the prologue, implying that something bad lies ahead for the young couple.
“The fearful passage of their death mark’d love.”
The prologue proposes that tragic accidents will happen to take away their parents hatred for one another and that fate is partly to blame for the causes of these accidents.
“Whose misadventures piteous overthrows doth with their death bury their parents’ strife.”
The first appearance of fate can be seen when Benvolio tries to persuade Romeo that his love for Rosaline is false. Romeo is mourning due to his unrequited love for Rosaline however; he is infatuated rather than in love. Romeo contradicts himself when he quickly forgets about Rosaline and moves on to Juliet.
“One fairer than my love? The all-seeing sun ne’er saw her match since first the world begun.”
“So shows a snowy dove trooping with crows, as younder lady o’er her fellow shons.”
It is either pure chance that the servant arrives or, fate intervening.
When Romeo and Juliet first meet, they almost instantly ‘click’. Throughout their conversation, they both use religious words like ‘holy’, ‘prayer’, ‘shrine’, ‘blessed’, and ‘pilgrim’. The sonnet indicates a lot of heavenly imagery, hinting that something dreadful will happen in time to come.
Juliet mentions their relationship growing like a flower, although in a negative aspect, flowers also die soon after which could propose what is going to happen further on in the play.
“This bud of love by summer’s ripening breath may prove a beauteous flower when we next meet.”
Shakespeare makes Romeo seem obsessed with the idea that the stars are in control everything. He blames fate or misfortune for nearly all that goes wrong.
“Some consequence, yet hanging in the stars.”
“Is it e’en so? Then I deft you, stars!”
Romeo talks about Juliet as if she were an angel and compares her to heaven and the stars.
“Two of the fairest stars in all the heaven, having some business, do intreat her eyes to twinkle in their spleens till they return.”
Romeo is besides himself with love and talks foolishly, ‘…with love’s light wings did I o’erperch these walls…’
When Juliet refers to her love for Romeo, she mentions death and love in the same sentence. This is unusual as death is not normally mentioned when someone is on the subject of love.
“Come gentle night, come loving black-browed night, give me my Romeo, and when I shall die, take him and cut him out in little stars, and he will make the face of heaven so fine.”
This suggests that death is going to be involved in Romeo and Juliet’s love for one another.
Although Romeo and Juliet do love each other, they are both too young to think about the consequences of their actions. They rush into marriage and do not think about what could happen between the feuding of their families.
“If that thy bent of love be honourable, thy purpose marriage.”
The day after they meet, they are so blind in love, they decide to marry.
When Romeo kills Tybalt, he has extrememly bad luck of being banished. He has death hanging over him and it hints to the audience that something terrible will happen because it is obvious he will go back to see Juliet.
“And for that offence, immediately we do exile on him hence.”
Shakespeare portrays Romeo’s bad luck when Friar Lawrence tells Romeo that he is married to misfortune.
“Affliction is enamoured of thy parts, and thou art wedded to calamity.”
Without the duelling between Romeo and Tybalt, many deaths could have been prevented.
Fate intervenes enormously when Friar Lawrence tries to send Romeo a message. In the process the message is delayed by the plague. The plague signifies death, indicating that something terrible is going to happen and people are going to die. When Friar Lawrence hears the news, he explains what “unhappy fortune” Romeo and Juliet have had.
When Romeo hears about Juliet’s ‘planned death’, he once again blames fate for the loss of her life.
“Is it even so? Then I defy you stars.”
Romeo doesn’t accept fate, destiny or any other rules of the heavens which is quite harsh for a world that is ‘controlled by the stars’ and what he has said is as strong as saying ‘I defy you God’. Once again, hinting that a terrible catastrophe is about to arise.
Romeo and Juliet constantly say that they will do anything for one another and when they do actually die, they die for each other.
“Here’s to my love. O true apothecary. Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die.”
“O churl! drunk all, and left no friendly drop to help me after?”
Although it is a very big and difficult decision to make when they are that young, their love is so strong, they decide it is worth dying for.
In the play, Shakespeare includes many speeches and scenes that show fate and love were the main themes. He constantly replicates it throughout the play using different methods and twists. There is not a simple solution for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet; however there are various points in the play showing that fate could be to blame. Shakespeare did see his play about the themes of fate and love and there are numerous points of evidence to prove it.
