Romeo and Juliet... and Fate

Romeo  and  Juliet are described as “star-cross’d lovers” in the Prologue of Shakespeare’s play Romeo  and  Juliet (1595), implying that the tragic end of their love was fated.  Analyse this view with close attention to the role of fate in the tragedy.                                                                                                        

By definition, star-crossed lovers means those whose relationship is doomed by evil and bad luck. The prologue of Romeo and Juliet tells the readers to anticipate a tragedy in advance. The fact that too early on in the prologue the readers are warned of such anticipated tragedy also implies that tragic events will happen too early, earlier than they ideally should. In other words, the characters meet their fate too early. The prologue also projects the theme of dispute between families being the cause of the fatal tragedy that happens to the characters. That being said, the fighting between the Capulets and the Montagues is the main reason Romeo and Juliet are star-crossed lovers.

Speaking of implying that a tragedy, or tragedies may one say, might fall upon the characters, the script, at many instances, foreshadows to the characters' bloody fate and death. For instance, in act 1 when the men of the Montague and the Capulets fight in the streets after Mercutio had won the tournament, the prince warns the people that their lives will pay the price of the offense. This literally translates to the events that will happen in which Tybalt, Mercutio, Count Paris, Romeo and Juliet, will lose their lives as a result of the dispute and violence between the families.

As well, before the Capulet masquerade at their house, Romeo starts to contemplate whether there is the possibility that their decisions will lead to their demise and fate. He says that he fears some consequence yet hanging in the stars if he were to enter the Capulet’s property. As he finally decided to enter the party with Mercutio and his cousin, he already begins the journey to experience his fatal demise. Romeo's mentioning of consequences hanging in the stars synchronizes with the prologue of the play. In other words, the anticipated consequences hanging in the stars is the star-crossed lovers; himself and Juliet.

Tybalt is a character that embodies and combines violence and evil fate in one. Consider how in the party at the Capulets' house he notices that Juliet is dancing with Romeo, who he knows is a Montague. Just as Romeo sees Juliet for the first time and falls in love with her, Tybalt has his mind already set on killing Romeo to maintain the Capulet’s family honor. In other words, the moment Romeo and Juliet experienced their love at first sight, violent demise was waiting for Romeo on the other side.

From then on, the love between the characters seems to noticeably be drawing them closer to their death. Romeo and Juliet speak of attempting suicide in many scenes in the play and speak of their willingness to die in honor of their love. For example, when Romeo kills Tybalt and the prince makes the decision of putting Romeo in exile, Romeo snatches a knife in Friar Lawrence's cell and threatens to murder himself as he will be separated from his love. Just a few instances later, Juliet pulls out a knife to kill herself in the presence of Friar Lawrence as she is desperate for ways to dodge her marriage to Paris and meet Romeo after he was sent to exile. That being said, the love between them is the cause of their willingness to commit violence and accept their fate.

Another instance by which the text suggests the tragic death of the main characters is the balcony scene in act 2. Juliet is standing in her balcony after the masquerade has ended, reflecting on her feeling towards Romeo. She is concerned about the fact that it is a fatal deed to be in love with a Montague, and she refers to Romeo—as she talks to herself—as one dead in the tomb. This part of the scene suggests that Juliet also is aware of the deadly consequence hanging in the start if she were to love and marry Romeo.

In the play, the role of fate contrasts with the notion of free will. Romeo and Juliet are young and foolish and wish to be on their free will. They think they can fight the world, their state, their law, their families, and their circumstances in order to marry each other. Indeed they do act on their free will and get married the next day after their first acquaintance, but then again their free will results in their tragic demise, too early and too foolishly.

This brings attention to the idea of consequences happening too early. Consider how Juliet’s family wanted her to be married too young and too early. Consider how Tybalt finds Romeo too early and fights with him before even the news of the marriage to Juliet start to spread. Consider how Romeo rushes to see Juliet on her ‘fake’ death bed as he hears from his cousin that she had died, too early he hears from his cousin, before the letter from the priest Friar Lawrence arrives to him which was intended to explain to Romeo the whole plot of Juliet’s fake death. You see, all those accidents happening too early eventually lead to plenty of tragedies: the killing of Mercutio by Tybalt, the murdering of Tybalt by Romeo as revenge, the receiving of the false news that Juliet has died, and the consumption of the venom by Romeo as he believes that Juliet has truly died, and lastly the suicide of Juliet as she wakes up from her ‘fake’ death and sees that Romeo has died as a result of the whole plotted death. All the consequences that happened to early dictated the fate of the characters and the star-crossed lovers.

In the light of the idea of time and things happening earlier than expected, it is fascinating to see how little time Romeo and Juliet actually get to spend together. It is understood that there is an overpowering source of passion, love, ecstasy, and desire between the young couple. Because of such overpowering feelings that they have, they rush into defying their families and norms and get married too quickly. Juliet herself, early on in the story, starts to wonder whether their love is too rash, too unadvised and too sudden, but still, she proceeds to talk to herself wishing that Romeo could deny his father and deny his name as a Montague, or if not, then she may no longer be a Capulet just to marry him, if that is what it takes. The decisions and thoughts that Romeo and Juliet are having at this point in the story are too significant and too life-changing, yet the irony is that after all that, they only get to spend very little time together before they meet their fate.

Defying fate and denying succumbing to it is a notion embodied in Romeo. When the young lover hears of Juliet’s ‘fake’ death, he is filled with anger and sorrow to the extent of promising to defy the stars. Romeo literally says I defy you, stars, which tells the readers that he is willing to fight the universe only to be with Juliet. As the events unfold, Romeo indeed defies the starts in the sense that he refuses to be separated from Juliet, and therefore he kills himself with poison just to lie and die next to her. The tragedy is that Romeo’s defying of fate eventually leads to Juliet’s actual death. Keeping in mind the theme of star-crossed lovers, the stars which Romeo dares to defy could be symbolic of bad luck. In other words, Romeo says I defy you, bad luck. Romeo’s attempt in defying bad luck leads to worse and more tragic bad luck.

The notion of fate wraps around all of the events in the story: the dispute between their families, which is fated from the start, as the prologue says, and which the readers, as well as the characters, have to accept and live with, the tragic number of accidents that ruin Friar Lawrence's purely well-intentioned plans to make Romeo and Juliet merrily married; and the tragic timing of Romeo's suicide at the same time of Juliet's awakening. These accidents are not mere coincidences, but rather signs of fate that contribute to the young couple’s destined deaths.