Although the play “Romeo and Juliet” is lauded as one which excellently portrays unconquerable love, the most prominent theme of the play is not that of unconquerable love but rather of the death and tragedy that stems out from Romeo and Juliet disobeying fate for their own desires. This theme of relationship between fate and free will is present throughout the play and even emphasized through the use of literary elements. One such example of this theme being emphasized through the use of literary elements is the prologue. The prologue of the play employs the literary elements of alliteration, rhyme and foreshadowing to convey the theme of the relationship between fate and freewill, claiming that attempting to defy fate will leads to misfortune. While the context of the prologue itself may suggest that the defiance of fate by Romeo and Juliet has led to the ending of the feud between their two respective families, the prologue also emphasizes the tragedy that stems out from the defiance of fate. It does this through the use of the literary element of alliteration. Such as in the lines “Doth with death”, where the consonant “D” is repeated, the alliteration within the prologue serves to emphasize words such as death which …show more content…
Being a sonnet, the prologue contains iambic pentameter, containing one unstressed syllable followed by one stressed syllable. This means that words such as grudge, fatal, foes, death and strife are emphasized. Such as in the aforementioned case of alliteration emphasizing words such as these, with negative implications, will naturally make the tragic end of the two lovers stand out more to the audience and thus show the results of the theme of relationship between free will and fate, claiming that if free will were to be used to defy fate, it will end in a
Shakespeare’s masterful use of foreshadowing is highlighted throughout all of his plays; some could even say he was the ‘king of foreshadowing’.A play in which his evident gift for making the reader expect disastrous outcomes for the characters is displayed is the Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet.In this tragic play, two star-crossed lovers, Romeo and Juliet, are both part of rivaling families who are almost always at each other’s throats.Consequently, because of how their families feel about each other, they can almost never spend time with each other, resulting in both of their untimely deaths.Their deaths are hinted at in the beginning and throughout the play.In many instances in this famous play, Shakespeare uses foreshadowing to warn the reader
Fate has always been of interest to society, and even today, people continue to question whether someone’s life is destined for a certain fate, or if it is shaped by their own free-will. Such thoughts come into play throughout various acts and scenes of Shakespeare 's Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare’s play often strongly suggests that Romeo and Juliet’s relationship is built upon fate and free-will. There are many critics who argue fate is what makes up this play in its entirety due to the various fate related ideas evoked throughout it. Although fate does indeed play some roles in the shaping of Romeo and Juliet’s relationship, overall, it is free-will that plays a much greater role throughout their tragedy and is ultimately at work in this play.
A timeless topic--fate and free will--still captivates society today. Fortune cookies, physics, and horoscopes all contribute to the obsession people have with this controversial debate over who manipulates life; fate or free will. No one is sure who really pulls the strings, but everyone has an opinion on the matter. Many famous plays center on this topic, and one such play that features characters’ views on fate and free will is Romeo and Juliet. This legendary play, written by William Shakespeare, has been beloved by people for centuries, as they contemplate who is the guiding force in life? The play discusses just this, while depicting the lives of Romeo and Juliet: two desperate teenagers each trapped in their own worlds, seeking love
The concept of fate versus free-will in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet raises the question of whether or not the two “star-crossed lovers” truly had any chance of being with each other. Although Romeo and Juliet devise many ways to be together, they had no hand in their fate. Romeo being banished by the Prince and fighting for his life against Juliet's cousins are examples of how destiny controlled their eventual unpleasant meeting. Through literary elements such as irony, foreshadowing, and interference from other characters along with the major role of medicinal factors, such as the herbs Friar Laurence gives Juliet, the plague that stops the message of the Friar’s plan from reaching Romeo, and the references
Fate vs. Free will. What is the balance between the two? In the play Romeo and Juliet, Romeo screams up to the heavens, “O, I am fortune's fool!”, suggesting that he didn’t have control of his future. Romeo got stuck in the moment and made the decision to steer his fate down a never ending hill. "But He, that hath the steerage of my course, / Direct my sail!" Romeo makes the decision to attend something which leads to something much bigger than he could hold. He evan feels inside him that something doesn't freel in place, but he forges on ahead waiting for the problems to show themselves from their disguises. These 2 quotes show the balance between fate and freewill. But where is the line drawn between them? What was shakespeare so focused on by fate and free will? How did this play out in the play?
First, the outcome of the play “Romeo and Juliet” was due to free will because of choices made by Friar Laurence. The first decision he made was shortly after Romeo meets Juliet, Romeo asks the friar to wed them and he answers with, “In one respect I’ll thy assistant be,” (2.3.94) In hopes of ending the feud between Montagues and Capulets, the friar chose to help marry Romeo, a decision that would result in the deaths of the main characters. If he had refused to help, Romeo would not have married to Juliet, slain Tybalt, or killed himself as Juliet would not have had to fake her death. The second decision made by the friar was after the climax of the play, where Juliet asks for his help when her parents demanded she marry Paris and he responds
One of the most important themes William Shakespeare explores throughout the play is theme of fate, as it is used in most of scenes throughout Romeo and Juliet. The theme of fate is conveyed with the uses of foreshadowing. Foreshadowing is first used in the prologue of the play, the chorus says “From forth the fatal loins of these two foes. A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life”, ‘from forth the fatal loins of these two foes’ means that Romeo and Juliet are destined to have a tragic fate because of their families feuding. ‘Take their life’ is foreshadowing the death of Romeo and Juliet. At the end of Act 1 Scene 4 Romeo says “Some consequence yet hanging in the stars, Shall bitterly begin his fearful date, With this night’s revels,
It might seem at first glance that the role of fate in the play is crucial to its outcome. Certainly many of the characters blame fate/destiny for what happens to them, and the language of the play does at times encourage the audience to view the events as dominated by fate. Romeo for example describes himself as 'fortune's fool', and the prologue seems to follow his judgement in its pronunciation of the couple as 'a pair of star cross'd lovers'. The play is full of ominous lines which take various forms. Firstly, there is the kind of comment by the speaker that all is not well, such as in Act 1, Scene 4 when Romeo and Mercutio discuss Romeo's dream in which he has had a premonition that
Fate can be joyful and bring happiness to many. However, it can also bring destruction and sadness into many people’s lives. In the play, Romeo and Juliet, written by William Shakespeare, fate is shown in a horrific way by numerous citizens dying including Romeo and Juliet. But fate is not the only cause of the two lover’s death; the two lovers themselves ultimately initiated their unfortunate passing. On the other hand, with Friar Laurence encouraging Romeo and Juliet to get married and planning a way for them to end up together is another reasoning that impacted their causality in countless ways. In Romeo and Juliet, it may not have been their parent’s feud that triggered the “star-crossed” lover’s death but fate, Friar Laurence
Fate is defined as, “The development of events outside a person's control, regarded as predetermined by a supernatural power.” (Oxford University Press: 2018). In Romeo and Juliet, the question of how much free the young lovers have versus the predetermination of the stars plan, and which results in their deaths, is the crux of the play. Shakespeare was not the first to question the notion of Fate versus Free Will but the universal themes in his works, the most notable being this, continues to underpin our society to this day. The question itself dates back millennia.
The prologue states “A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life” this is already telling the audience that there is death coming and the whole story is based upon the sorrowful news. This gives us the impression that their lives are out of their control. Then the prologue continues to state, “with their death bury their parents' strife.” This tells the audience that their unfortunate death ends their parent's feud. The audience knows that fate is controlling this misfortunate event for the greater good of Verona.
Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet tells the story of two young lovers, both who ended up in tragedy. At the end of this tale, it is often debated on who us to blame in the text, or what caused the final outcome, death. The tragic outcome in Romeo and Juliet was not in control of the main characters, moreover, it was fate. Fate played a large role in the unfortunate ending of the story based on feud and poor timing. As the story progresses, it can be seen that the actions that had caused Romeo and Juliet to commit suicide was due to the overwhelming amount of fate brought to them.
“Is it e'en so? Then I defy you, stars!”(Rom 5.1. 24). The characters in Romeo and Juliet believe that the stars, or fate is against them. Throughout the play the two protagonists rushed into decisions or did not think about the consequences. Romeo and Juliet’s actions caused their own troubles rather than the blamed fate.
Romeo and Juliet is a highly revered play written by William Shakespeare in the 16th century based off a poem by Arthur Brooke. The play is set in the northern Italian towns of Verona and Mantua during the 1300s, and it follows the romance of Romeo and Juliet. Romeo and Juliet are two young lovers of noble but feuding houses, who after a string of unfortunate events, ultimately kill themselves. Whether their untimely demise was an effect of their own free will or fate is a long and heated debate that has many varied opinions. The downfall of Juliet and Romeo was due to their own actions, as they and those around them made decisions that led to the couple to take their own lives.
III. The Summary prologue fate of a Romeo and Juliet is about how a fourteen year old girl and a very young man fall in love at first sight, caught in an idealized, almost unreal, passionate love. A. They are in love with love, the prologue, Brooke preaches a moral, which people of his time expected. B. Brooke says that Romeo and Juliet had to die because they broke the laws and married unwisely, against their parents'’ wishes, Doth their death bury their parents strife It was a fearful passage of their death marked love because of their parents continued rage against each other that their children’s end, naught could remove. IV.