Romeo and Juliet, one of the most famous plays ever written revolves around fate.
Romeo and Juliet, one of the most famous plays ever written revolves around fate. It is a story of two young lovers united by love but divided by their families. All of the events, which occur within the story, are a result of fate or destiny. Romeo and Juliet come from two feuding families, both alike in dignity. They fall in love, but cannot publicly proclaim their love for each other because of their feuding families. In the opening prologue it is clearly stated that Romeo and Juliet are “star-cross’d” lovers, which basically means that destiny and fate control them, and that their relationship is doomed. Their love is so strong that they take their lives, because they cannot be together. The tragic deaths of both Romeo and Juliet cause the families ancient feud to end. The story opens with a fight, which occurs in the streets of Verona between servants of the Montague and Capulet families. This suggests that the grudge between the families is so deep that it also extends to the servants. The most important characters of this story are Romeo and Juliet. Romeo of the Montague family is kind of a romantic
type, who will fight for what he believes in. He agrees to attend the Capulet ball in hopes of seeing Rosaline, a woman who he claims is the only one that can impress him. Romeo attending the ball is the first event that seals his terrible fate. Juliet Capulet attends the ball to meet Count Paris, a suitor of Juliet, that her father would like her to meet to see if she could ever love him. Tybalt, Juliet’s cousin realizes that Romeo is a Montague, but Lord Capulet, Juliet’s father, wishes that there be no blood shed at the ball ...
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type, who will fight for what he believes in. He agrees to attend the Capulet ball in hopes of seeing Rosaline, a woman who he claims is the only one that can impress him. Romeo attending the ball is the first event that seals his terrible fate. Juliet Capulet attends the ball to meet Count Paris, a suitor of Juliet, that her father would like her to meet to see if she could ever love him. Tybalt, Juliet’s cousin realizes that Romeo is a Montague, but Lord Capulet, Juliet’s father, wishes that there be no blood shed at the ball so he tells Tybalt to disregard the fact that a Montague is among them. While at the ball Romeo encounters Juliet and immediately falls in love with her. They spend most of the evening together at the ball becoming more and more enchanted with one another. Romeo eventually declares his love for Juliet, as does Juliet for Romeo although she is unaware that he is a Montague, for loving a Montague is a terrible crime according to her family. They believe that they are so in love that they must marry immediately. After discovering the Romeo is a Montague, Juliet agrees to marry him in secret, for her family cannot know that she is in love with an enemy. Romeo visits Friar Laurence, an older friend and man of God, and tells him of his engagement to Juliet. Friar Laurence is skeptical of Romeo’s infatuation with Juliet, but eventually realizes that their love is strong and sees it as an opportunity to end their parents’ fighting. He agrees to secretly marry them, another event which marks the end for both Romeo and Juliet. The two lovers are unaware of the danger that lies ahead for them. Later in the story Tybalt challenges Romeo to a duel, because he knew that Romeo had attended the ball and he felt that he had a “score to settle” with Romeo. Romeo however refuses to fight Tybalt because they are now cousins. Mercutio, a kinsmen to Prince Escalus and a fried of Romeo’s, is embarrassed by Romeo’s cowardice and battles with Tybalt. Tybalt kills Mercutio and in revenge Romeo kills Tybalt. The death of Tybalt at Romeo’s hand greatly complicates the situation between Romeo and Juliet. Romeo is exiled to Mantua, which is on the outskirts of Verona. Juliet is greatly devastated by the banishment of her husband. Juliet’s father believes that she is grieving for her cousin so he arranges for her to be married to Count Paris immediately. After hearing of this Friar Laurence provides Juliet with a potion that will allow her to appear dead in order for her to avoid adultery. The original plan was for Juliet to take the potion and awaken in 42 hours to be reunited with her lover in Mantua. Being that their love is a forbidden love, they can never be happy together. As the story comes to a closing, one final event that seals the tragic fate of both Romeo and Juliet is Friar John’s plague. This probably had the most impact on the destiny of the two lovers simply because of the way everything just seemed to go wrong. After Juliet took the potion Friar Laurence wrote a letter, which explained the plan, the he and Juliet had thought up. Friar Laurence gave the letter to Friar John who was to have it taken to Romeo, however, Friar John couldn’t find anyone willing to deliver the letter for fear of being infected by a certain plague. Eventually word got to Romeo that Juliet had died, and since he never got the letter from the Friar he automatically assumed that Juliet was dead. This horrible mishap propels Romeo to commit suicide. The final and most devastating event to complete the tragic story is Romeo’s death. After hearing the dreadful news of his wife’s death he purchases a potion that will kill him instantly. He then arrives at the Capulet tomb to see Juliet one last time. There he drinks the potion and dies just as Juliet is beginning to wake up. After she awakens from her deep sleep, Juliet is horrified at the sight of her dead husband, and even more mortified by the fact that his lips are still warm. Distraught, she stabs herself through the heart with Romeo’s dagger. It is obvious that Romeo and Juliet simply were not meant to be together. Their devastating destiny was already written in the stars. No matter how much they tried to make the relationship work, it was doomed. Of course some can say that if Romeo had not acted with such sudden certainty he would have lived to watch his wife awaken. However, fate had determined that neither of the lovers would obtain happiness during their lifetime. Both Romeo and Juliet are controlled by an unalterable set of tragic events. From this point, a series of tragic mishaps prevents the lovers from experiencing happiness. The death of Tybalt, the exile of Romeo, and the unread letter propel the tragic plot forward. Fate, from the beginning, had resolved that the story of Romeo and Juliet would culminate in heartbreak.
