Free Will In Romeo And Juliet

834 Words4 Pages
Many people may not believe that fate, and true love truly exists. Others believe that love and fate are like a map guiding you where to go. In the play Romeo and Juliet, written by William Shakespeare, fate is decisively the main theme in this play because two young lovers met and fell in love. In Romeo and Juliet, two destined lovers are known as being star-crossed lovers. This refers to lovers whose love for one another is doomed to end in an unexpected tragedy. The main characters Romeo and Juliet are greatly affected by fate. William Shakespeare foreshadows the fate of Romeo and Juliet in the prologue by stating, “ From forth the fatal lions of these two foes a pair of star-crossed lovers take their life(Shakespeare prologue 6-7) Shakespeare…show more content…
Despite the fact that Romeo and Juliet were brought up to hate one another, their forbidden love is caused by fate. Romeo and Juliet are secretly married by the support of Friar Lawrence. Friar Lawrence has to secretly marry them because they are enemies and are supposed to despise each other. However their fate causes them to love each other. After Romeo and Juliet are married, Romeo goes to see Mercutio, and sees him fighting Tybalt, because Romeo had refused to. After seeing that Tybalt has killed his friend, Mercutio, Romeo then kills Tybalt, and is ordered to be banished from Verona under the princes ruling. Romeo cries out “O, I am fortune’s fool”(Shakespeare 3.1 10). Romeo explains how he is the victim of his fate. He no longer has control over his fate, and is a fool for destroying his fate. As Juliet hears from her nurse that Romeo is banished, she is distraught over the news, and goes to Friar Lawrence. Friar Lawrence suggests a plan that she takes a potion that will make her look dead, and have no pulse so that she can sneak away with Romeo. The Friar will send a letter to Romeo and tell him about the plan. Unfortunately, their star-crossed fate only brought the worst of them, when Romeo never gets the letter from the Friar and thinks that Juliet is actually dead. This foreshadows that their fate of being together was never meant to be, as Romeo dreams that Romeo has died and Juliet kisses him and he
Open Document