Romeo and Juliet feel they can’t live without each other, they must have each other, “I must love thy loathed enemy”, this is their own decision, as they carry on. Their relationship is dangerous, their families hate each other, but they still carry on. They are willing to change who they are to be together, “and I’ll no longer be a Capulet”. They don’t see each other as enemies but they both swear lovers oaths to each other.
The next day Friar Laurence agrees to marry Romeo and Juliet, he believes that the love of the two children will conquer the hate of the families.
When Romeo fights Tybalt he kills him. Juliet is face with her love for Romeo and her devotion to her family. She chooses Romeo and when the nurse starts to attack him she get very annoyed and defends her love. She realises that Tybalt would have killed Romeo and says Romeos is worth a lot more to her than Tybalt.
For killing Tybalt Romeo gets banished. He is devastated that he wont see Juliet. He wants to kill himself and he acts impulsively. Friar Laurence takes control and arranges for Romeo and Juliet to spend the night together. They take risks to get together and they make all the decisions, there is no element of fate.
In a event beyond Romeo and Juliet’s control, Lord Capulet decides that he wants Juliet to marry Paris. She cannot get out and she is forced to do the “right” thing. She turns to her mother and nurse for advice, but they tell her to marry Paris. Juliet is alone and has no one to turn to but Friar Laurence. Juliet will die before she leaves Romeo, it is Juliet’s own choice to stay with Romeo, she could take the easy way out and marry Paris, but she decides not to.
Juliet goes to Friar Laurence. He devises a risky scheme to make Juliet seem dead. They know there a lot of risk but she will do anything for Romeo. She leaves and prepares for her “death”.
When she returns and tells Lord Capulet she is willing to marry Pairs, he brings the wedding forward a day. This means that there is less time for Friar Laurence’s letter to get to Romeo.
The letter to Romeo got delayed explaining the plan, this is beyond Romeo’s control, and therefore this is a chance of fate. Romeo gets a messenger informing him that Juliet is dead. Romeo had been told to stay in Mantua, but his own determination and haste forced him to go to Juliet. He rushed into the decision and he should have waited for word off Friar Laurence. If he had waited he would have got the letter and the plan explained. He rushed to Juliet, at his own free will.
When he got there he found Juliet lying “dead”. He was devastated and with bad timing Romeo killed himself, it was his own fault and his choice. When Juliet woke up, she saw Romeo lying dead, and also killed herself. If the Friar had been minutes earlier, he could have stopped Romeo, this was beyond their control.
Overall I think Romeo and Juliet are to blame, as they continued to see each other. However fate brought them together at the Capulet party. Romeo and Juliet were victims of fate, but its not all down to that. Their impulsiveness and haste caused them to go in too deep so that they can’t get out.
Ted Booty 10P1