Romeo And Juliet: Fate Or Actions Consequences?
Romeo and Juliet is written by William Shakespeare in 1594-1596. It apprises two feuding families; Capulets and Montagues, that held an ancient grudge against each other. Romeo and Juliet were described as ‘star-crossed lovers’ from two opposing families. They both took their own lives to be with one other. Under the influence of many people, it reconciled the two families. Arguably Mercutio and friar Laurence are responsible for Romeo and Juliet’s death and fate that is driven by the characters of the two families.
Mercutio; Romeo’s friend, is responsible for the deaths of the star-crossed lovers. Mercutio at the beginning of the play, had suggested Romeo to go to the Capulet banquet to get his mind off Rosaline. This was a method of error as It made Romeo meet Juliet. If they had never met, they wouldn’t have taken their own lives. Furthermore, Mercutio’s death was also a stimulus to the death of Romeo and Juliet. Mercutio got himself into a fight with Tybalt. Which resulted in Mercutio’s death and Romeo’s vengeance on killing Tybalt. If this had not occurred, Romeo wouldn’t have been banished and would have stayed with Juliet. The fact that Mercutio had cursed both families played a part in Romeo and Juliet’s death, repeating a theme of fate; ‘A plague o’ both houses!’ (iii.i.90.) A plague appears to occur in the end of the play when Friar John was supposed to send the message to Romeo. Mercutio changed the lives of Romeo and Juliet in the course of killing Tybalt. This ultimately led to Romeo’s pure vengeance that had led up to the death of Himself and his lover, as he quotes in (iii.i.135) “O’ I am Fortune’s fool” Maybe talk that Friar Laurence was more responsible
Friar Lawrence played a major role of Romeo and Juliet’s death. He was a ‘wise’ adviser whom Juliet blindly trusted because he was the only one who desired her to be with Romeo. He kept their marriage secret instead of telling the families as quoted in (ii.Vi.36-37) ‘For, by your leaves, you shall not stay alone / Till holy church incorporate two in one’, Instead of confessing to the two families and confirm an end to the feud, which might have been a better idea than his plan, as he was trusted and respected upon the families. His plan was a major reason for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. He set up the plan for Juliet to pretend her death with the potion, which the plan inevitably failed because Romeo had not received the letter written by Friar; as Friar Laurence quotes in (V.ii.17) “unhappy fortune!”. He should of ordered Balthasar to send the message instead of Friar John being Romeo’s servant, which would of prevented Balthasar telling Romeo that Juliet had died. If the marriage had never occurred, Romeo and Juliet’s devotion together wouldn’t exist, and Romeo would have never killed himself for his love. Although his intentions were meant to maintain balance and tranquillity, which shows that he was not completely responsible, the lack of a secondary plan had costed the lives of the two naive couples that couldn’t think of other remedies, as
Their fate was ultimately responsible of Romeo and Juliet’s death acting like father time. It created many coincidences which brought about the fact that they knew they were destined to die. Romeo was well aware about this concept of fate, and that his life was controlled by the stars. It was fate that Romeo had met Juliet in the first place as quoted in (i.IV.112-113) ‘But he hath the steerage of my course direct my sail’, this shows a coincidence that they are both from opposing families, and their unbreakable love, even though Romeo had dreamed about his death. Fate also opposed Juliet’s marriage with Romeo as Capulet wanted Juliet to marry Paris right after the lovers had already married; (iii.V.113) ‘Marry, my child, early next Thursday morn’. Because of all this, Juliet did everything she could do to be together with Romeo even if death was the cost. However, Fate again played a role to prevent the two lovers being together as there was a plague just when the message/letter was to be sent to Romeo of the plan, which had made Romeo kill himself with the poison. The biggest time fate took place was when Romeo had killed himself just before Juliet had woke up. If fate had ensured that Juliet woke up earlier, they would both be still alive. It had aligned all these events that led up to their death.
To conclude, Romeo and Juliet were subjected to death through their fate controlled by the stars. The characters that were linked with this theme of fate, such as Friar Laurence and Mercutio, were indirect and direct influences. The lovers took foolhardy and impulsive measures to which costed their lives, however ended the feud between the two families.
