The Nurse was a very influential character towards Juliet, Juliet trusted her nurse and seemed more of a mother figure to her, The Nurse acting for what she thought the best for Juliet went behind her lord and ladies back to be a messenger for Juliet to Romeo, without the Nurses help the marriage would have probably never taken place, but then again this is not a certain option and it is possible that even without the nurses help the doomed marriage still may have gone ahead and they would have once again met the same ending.
Tybalt, a member of the Capulet family and cousin to Juliet, was a sworn enemy to the Montague family, influenced the course of events by fighting Romeo in the streets and causing the death of Mercutio, If Tybalt had not brawled with Mercutio, Romeo would have never fought Tybalt and would have therefore again avoided banishment.
The Friar was another clear contributor to the death of Romeo and Juliet, Starting with the agreement to help Romeo and Juliet wed, If the Friar had refused to marry the young couple, it is possible that Romeo and Juliet would have given up on the idea of marriage and the couples deaths would have again been adverted, but then again Romeo and Juliet may have been fated to marry and would have therefore found another way to be married even without the help of the Friar. The Friar then again influenced the play be suggesting his dramatic plan to Juliet, the result may have then led to Romeo and Juliet never meeting again but would have prevented the deaths, But then perhaps if Juliet could not have faced the idea of never seeing Romeo again she may have rather have committed suicide than live her life in depression, so again the couple may have been fated to die no matter what influence the friars decisions had on them.
Romeo was of course a sole contributor to the deaths of himself and Juliet, If he had not acted so hastily throughout the play then the deaths many have been prevented, for example if Romeo had not suggest marriage so soon after meeting Juliet the result may have been different, Romeo should have also not acted so hastily at the news of Juliet’s death and should not have rushed back to Verona but should have waited for news from the Friar. Romeo again acted without thinking when he killed Tybalt and then later Paris, maybe therefore if Romeo had thought a little before he acted then the deaths may have again been prevented.
Juliet is another obvious sole contributor, If she had not deceived and disobeyed her parents wishes as she did then the death of the couple would have almost certainly have been prevented, this was a very strange thing for a daughter to do in the period the play was written in, it would have been expected in Juliet’s case for her to respect her parents decision and be happy and thankful at the choice of a husband, but this was not so in the play.
Other contributors to the death of the couple were the disorder, brawls and fighting brought on by the feud between the two households, the feud is an old disagreement referred to in the prologue
‘From ancient grudge break to new mutiny
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean’
The feud was always going to play a very large part in the consequences of the relationship; it was always going to be against Romeo and Juliet and was always going to be part of the reason for the tragic ending of the couple.
There are numerous parts in the play when the characters are predicting their own deaths and are referring to fate, even though the characters do not see the connection in this it Is clear to the audience what is happening, the first example of this is when Mercutio is trying to convince Romeo to attend the Capulet family dance, when Romeo finally agrees he is still feeling uneasy:
‘Consequence left hanging in the stars’
Here Romeo seems to be foreseeing his own death, He calls upon the one ‘that hath the steerage’ of his ‘course’-he who guides the path of his life-to direct him to safety. The sea is often used by Shakespeare as a symbol of the powerful and unpredictable forces of fate and the audience already knows that Romeos fate is fixed for he is ‘star-crossed’.
This shows that Romeo was never too happy about attending the Capulet family dance in the first place, if he had trusted his first thoughts and not attended the deaths of the couple may have been prevented, the quotation is suggesting to the audience that the destiny of Romeo and Juliet was, in fact, fated. The scene in which this occurs ends with a sense of foreboding.
Fate is then brought up by Juliet after the Capulet dance when realising that Romeo is a Montague
‘My only love sprung from my only hate!
Too early seen unknown, and known too late!
Prodigious birth of love it is to me,
That I must love a loathed enemy’
Hear Juliet is suggesting that the meeting of the couple was too strange to purely be based on coincidence. By including these lines Shakespeare is increasing the tension for the audience by giving clues and hints on how the couple will meet their end.
Fate is again remarked by from Juliet to her Nurse just after finding out about Romeos banishment
‘Alack, alack, that heaven should practise stratagems
Upon so soft a subject as myself!’
This statement shows Juliet’s anger after hearing of Romeos banishment, She remarks upon ‘heaven’s stratagems’, hear she is referring to fate, hear Shakespeare is creating a sense of sadness in the audience for the couple especially Juliet but is also showing that the couples unhappy fate cannot be changed.
Friar Lawrence refers to fate when hear hears of the news that Romeo has not received his letter
‘Unhappy fortune! By my brotherhood,
The letter was not nice but full of charge
Of dear importance…’
This quotation shows the worry Friar Lawrence experiences when he relies the consequences that could arise from this. Shakespeare could have worded this quotation differently to express the blame on the messenger instead he expresses it through the fault of fortune; this is a good example of the beliefs concerning fate in the period the play was written in.
A final example of reference to fate is again Friar Lawrence talking to Juliet shortly before she stabs herself
‘A greater power than we can contradict
Hath thwarted our intents’
The ‘greater power’ Friar Lawrence is referring to is again fate, but his statement does not make any impact on Juliet cause she then commits suicide, hear again Shakespeare chases to lay the blame on a higher power then on a individual, showing the audience that no one person or thing was to blame for the deaths of the couple but it was the fate of them to die.
After reading the play as to how far fate was to blame for the death of the young couple I have reached the conclusion that fate was to great extent responsible. After the countless references to fate and fortune it is the obvious conclusion. It seems to me that Shakespeare wanted his audience to see the happenings of the play as influenced by some higher power, and it seems that he wanted the audience to really believe that fate controls everything about our lives, so it is sensible to assume that the actions and outcomes of the characters in the play were fated.
