“Quote about fate”-Explain
Along with this Shakespeare also talks about fate in Act 3 Scene 5,
“Second quote about fate”-Explain
There is also a third and final reference to fate in Act? Scene?,
“Third quote about fate”-Explain
There are multiple references to fate in ‘Romeo and Juliet’ and so it is never let to slip out of the audience’s minds whilst they were watching. Shakespeare probably did this intentionally, these are all key points in discovering whom Shakespeare wanted the audience to blame and the aspect of fate will definitely be something I will not forget. The other aspect to look from when considering if Romeo and Juliet were at the hands of fate could be, were Shakespeare’s references to fate a warning that things could have been done in order to prevent the deaths of Romeo and Juliet? I do not think this is so and I am quite convinced that Shakespeare was not using these references as a warning.
Another element that plays a huge part in Romeo and Juliet is the phenomenal number of coincidences that occur. The first of these that is apparent is the illiterate Capulet servant asking Romeo and his friends about the guest list for the Capulet Ball,
“quote about Capulet ball guests”
This is extremely coincidental, if this had not happened Romeo would not have gone in search of Rosaline and would have never met Juliet.
The second of the large number of coincidences in ‘Romeo and Juliet’ is the arrival of Paris to Lord Capulet to ask for Juliet’s hand in marriage the same day Romeo and Juliet get married, this destroyed the Friar’s attempt to try and end the feud. In Act 1 Scene 3 Juliet is surprised to discover that her marriage is being arranged, this must have been a enormous unhappiness for Juliet to be told this on the day she is due to wed Romeo. This happens in Act? Scene?,
“Quote about being told about marrying Paris”
Had the play taken space over a longer period of time something could have been done to rectify the problem with Paris, this is something I will investigate later.
As we are told by Shakespeare in Act 2 Scene 2 even Lord Capulet thinks Juliet is too young to be wed,
“Quote about Juliet too young”
The third coincidence from the list of many is the accidental death of Mercutio, this sparked the conflict between the two houses to huge heights and so made sure that Friar Laurence’s original plan was completely destroyed.
The fourth coincidence is Lord Capulet’s reaction to the death of Tybalt, this event takes all matters out of the Friar’s hands and so forces the crowd into not blaming the Friar, this also increases the masses of blame already present on Lord Capulet's behalf, through this one happening Shakespeare allowed himself to persuade the audience into his way of thinking.
“Quote about bringing marriage forwards”
Had the marriage not been bought so far forward something could have been done, unintentionally Lord Capulet kills his own daughter. Although bringing the marriage forwards was probably his way of doing exactly the opposite, by marrying Juliet to Paris she would be taken away from the violence and so been protected, Lord Capulet's plan was to stop a repeat of Tybalt’s death, like Friar Laurence’s plan this also failed.
The final coincidence from ‘Romeo and Juliet’ is how Juliet wakes up just after Romeo has killed himself, this may be used to argue on the side of fate being to blame, as it is explains in the prologue along with being star cross’d they were also ill fated, Juliet return to consciousness may have been a sign they were not meant to be together and whatever had happened fate would have tore them apart.
The events that happen in ‘Romeo and Juliet’ all occur in an extremely short space of time, the unrealistic speed at which things happen adds to the already great tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. There are many references to the haste at which Romeo and Juliet take. One reference is from Friar Laurence, in Act 2 Scene 3 Friar Laurence warns Romeo against how quickly he fell in and out of love.
“quote about falling in and out of love too fast”
The inclusion of Friar Laurence’s warning to Romeo may have been a warning from Shakespeare that something should have been done at this point, on the other hand it may have been another element which Shakespeare could use to persuade the audience to believe that nothing could have been done to stop the tragic deaths of Romeo and Juliet. Throughout ‘Romeo and Juliet’ Shakespeare seems to make mistakes in his timing, this was certainly done accidentally whilst Shakespeare was attempting to compress time.
“mistakes in timings”
The reasons for Shakespeare compressing time is very important in the story of Romeo and Juliet. The main reason for Shakespeare compressing time is simply that if this had not been done other events could have occurred that would have stopped or reduced the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet’s deaths.
There are many elements in Romeo and Juliet that influence who or what I think was to blame, before investigating the aspects in ‘Romeo and Juliet’ that were likely to influence the audience I was of the opinion that Romeo and Juliet were to blame as ultimately they were in control of their actions. After thoroughly investigating ‘Romeo and Juliet’ I have had a drastic change in opinion, I no longer consider that it is even possible to blame one person, I believe that fate was to blame for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet, the various references that support this are all blatantly obvious.
The coincidences within ‘Romeo and Juliet’ do definitely support the idea outlined in the prologue of Romeo and Juliet being “star cross’d lovers”, all of the coincidences were only fluke events, the factor that these all did happen in this very short amount of time certainly shows that Romeo and Juliet were destined to meet.
I think that when Shakespeare wrote the play ‘Romeo and Juliet’ he did not expect the audience to blame anyone, I am certain Shakespeare expected the audience to blame fate, proof of this is myself, after investigating ‘Romeo and Juliet’ I changed my mind from blaming Romeo and Juliet to blaming fate, the other reason I assume Shakespeare wanted to blame fate was not related to the play, as Queen Elizabeth 1 would have been watching ‘Romeo and Juliet’ then to impress her Shakespeare tied one of her hobbies into his play.
