The feud between the two families was one factor that contributed to the love of Romeo and Juliet being destined for destruction. Shakespeare made it clear from his prologue that fate was going to end the lives of both Romeo and Juliet, the feud was just a factor, which was closely related to the destiny of the play. Shakespeare wanted the audience to know that the lives of Romeo and Juliet had to be sacrificed to end the feud between the two families.
"From ancient grudge break to new mutiny.” (Prologue)
The two families, the Montague’s and Capulets, had many problems. There was hate between the two families so much so that even the servants hated each other. This feud would have caused many problems for Romeo and Juliet: These two young lovers knew this and this is why they kept their marriage a secret. If their parents discovered their secret, they would have made their children's lives miserable. Romeo and Juliet would not have been able to see each other. Both families were very stubborn and Shakespear made is seem impossible for both families to be friends, even the servants of each house hated each other. I
The feud between the two households underlined the entire tragedy and was only partly responsible for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. The feud was the setting of the tragedy. Without it, Romeo and Juliet would never have had to keep their marriage and love a secret. The story expresses this through part of the opening chorus,
“The fearful passage of their death-mark’d love, And the continuous of their parents’ rage, which, but their children’s end, nought could remove,”
The feud only aggravated the characters to express anger towards their enemies, which resulted in fights that ended fatally. When Tybalt saw Romeo at the Capulet’s party, he immediately wanted to kill him, and he did not stop to think that Romeo was not doing anything wrong. When Tybalt confronted Romeo and Romeo talked of peace, Tybalt could not accept peace. In his mind, Romeo was a Montague and a Montague was an enemy. If the feud had not existed, then Tybalt would have had no reason to approach Romeo to kill him hence, starting a chain of events that ended in the deaths of Romeo and Juliet.
Juliet could not tell her parents of her marriage because Romeo was a Montague, which illustrates why the feud was only partly responsible for the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet but not as much as fate, as it was fate that started the chain reaction, which caused the death of Tybalt. In my opinion if Juliet was never destined to meet and fall in love with Romeo, none of the tragedies that took place would have occurred. If Juliet never fell in love at first sight, she would have obeyed her fathers wish to marry Paris.
When Juliet woke from her planned sleep and found Romeo dead beside her, she killed herself. It seemed that Romeo and Juliet’s lives were controlled by fate up to the very end. Both of them made what turned out to be bad decisions and ultimately destroyed both of their lives. In the end, fate had its way. The feuding between the two families did not control timing the stars controlled timing. It was fate, which made Romeo believe that Juliet was dead by a few seconds, and it was fate, that made Juliet wake up from her sleep just as Romeo drank the poison. Just by a few seconds, if Romeo had been delayed by the event that bought him to Juliet’s deathbed, he would have been able to see Juliet alive, and the story would not have been a tragedy but a comedy.
"A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life.” (Romeo & Juliet, pg.2, Prologue, l.6)
Fate, above all, destroyed Romeo and Juliet. Many instances in the play reveal that the love of Romeo and Juliet would end in death. From the very beginning, it was evident that the stars to bad fortune destined them. Some people may think that there is no way to control fate or change what is in the stars. It could be that the love of Romeo and Juliet was destined for death so that their parent's feud would be over.
In addition, in the prologue it states that the dreadful course of their love was destined for death.
"The fearful passage of their death marked love.” (Romeo & Juliet, pg.2, Prologue, l.9)
Both of these quotes show us that the love of these two was destined to end tragically. The Capulets Ball was above all the most important aspect of fate. The fact that Romeo was wearing a mask and his face was hidden allowed Juliet to fall in love with him before she saw who it was. If Juliet had known who Romeo was, she would probably have not fallen in love with him. Fate could not have been changed whatever was meant to be would happen and no one could change that. Whether you believe in chance or you think you control your own destiny, the plot of Romeo and Juliet was heavily influenced by fate, as opposed to the actions of the characters. For example, an illiterate servant set off a chain of events that concluded in Romeo and Juliet being thrust together by an unexpected relation.
"For never was there a story of more woe, than this of Juliet and her Romeo" (Romeo & Juliet, V, iii, p. 138, ll.309-310).
Finally, chance had a powerful influence on the incidents that led up to Romeo and Juliet’s dramatic and ironic deaths. Fate had such a substantial role in Romeo and Juliet that it not only affected nearly all of the characters, it changed the overall outcome of the story because if chance and timing were on the side of the characters the play would have easily been a dispute-based story. From the very beginning, the love of Romeo and Juliet was destined to be shattered. It was tragic that both these people had to die. However, I feel strongly that Romeo and Juliet death was written in the stars, and was what bought peace between the two feuding families. There were circumstances throughout the course of their lives that led up to their deaths. If their parent's had not been feuding and if the Nurse had not betrayed Juliet, the outcome of this story would have been different, although fate could not be changed.
Being left with the question “which theme is upper-most, feud, or fate,” after analysing the evidence in great depth, and searching for the meanings behind Shakespeare’s language I have concluded that fate was the upper-most theme, when compared against the feud between the two families. I have found that Shakespeare himself knew that the fortune of people in those days was more powerful than the feud between the two families. Shakespeare displayed in his prologue that the two lovers were star crossed, and the feud would be ended by the death of Romeo and Juliet. When looking closely into the text, I have found that many characters believed in fate and fortune. People’s thinking in the 1600’s was very narrow minded and stubborn. Fate and feud, was strongly believed in and Shakespeare had purposely made Romeo and Juliet fall into the chain reaction of destiny, so that the play would end in such a big tragedy. I believe Shakespeare was sending a message out to the audience, so that when the curtains were drawn, and the play had ended, the audience would think about living life without being stubborn as the two families were. If the Montague’s and Capulets had accepted the relationship, and ended the feud, the play would not have ended in such tragedy. Shakespeare was trying to display that no one could control the future, and everything was destined, it was best to accept situations as everything happened for a reason. Both families were stubborn and did not accept the situation; they only learned to accept each other, when they had been punished by the power of fate.
