The opening prologue to Romeo and Juliet is heavily shaped by the context of the Elizabethan period. The Elizabethan era was a truly religious time in England where astrology and supernatural beliefs controlled the way a person was treated if they had medical issues. The people of the era believed in a specific hierarchy; this was known as the Great Chain of Being. It is believed that God was the ruler of everything followed by angels and arch angels, humans, animals, plants and minerals. The prologue of Romeo and Juliet is written in sonnet form which created a contemporary feel to the play. Shakespeare's sonnets were popular among the English of the time period and they came to watch his plays in the Globe Theatre. His prologue in Romeo …show more content…
The theme of fate and fortune in Romeo and Juliet is shown by the line ‘A pair of star-cross’d lovers take their life’. The word, ‘star-cross’d’ portray that the two lovers, Romeo and Juliet, will meet because the stars are aligned for them. This shows that fate is a concept in Shakespeare's play. Fortune was a big part of the Elizabethan world and was believed to be the main controlling force in life. From zodiac signs to the wheel of Fortune, Elizabethan’s believed in fate and the
In the scene of the Nurse, Lady Capulet and Juliet, it shows that the Nurse knows more about Juliet than Juliet’s own mother when Lady Capulet didn’t know her age. Even though Juliet and Lady Capulet are related by blood, the Nurse is more of a mother to Juliet than her. Another significant thing about this is that Lady Capulet looks at Juliet like an object just to get
In Romeo and Juliet', fate plays an extremely powerful role throughout the story. Romeo and Juliet are "star-crossed lovers," as the prologue at the start of the play indicated, they had fate against them. In that time, people were very wary of what the stars said. If two people's stars were
Fate is a hidden, but unavoidable force that leads to certain consequences in people’s lives. The theme of fate plays a crucial role in the main characters of the play, Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare. Romeo and Juliet share a destiny that dooms them to tragic deaths immediately after the exchange of their zealous love. Despite their resolute attempts to challenge their destiny, the lovers still succumb to the inexorable powers of fate. In the Shakespearean play, Romeo and Juliet, the principle of fate propels the lovers together with infatuation, tears them apart through a bitter demise, yet, ensures peace in Verona for many future generations.
When Juliet finds out that Tybalt has been killed and Romeo is in exile, for killing Tybalt, Juliet feels both passionate about Romeo and disappointed in both Romeo and herself, which reveal her inner struggle. In Act 3, Juliet’s Nurse comes back with this news that Tybalt is dead and that Romeo is such an awful person for killing him. Juliet fights back at the Nurse, and herself, for speaking bad about Romeo. She claims, ““Shall I speak ill of him that is my husband? Ah, poor my lord, what tongue shall smooth thy name, When I, thy three hours' wife, have mangled it? But wherefore, villain, didst thou kill my cousin? That villain cousin would have killed my husband.” (3.2.99-101). This shows that Juliet is passionate about Romeo, because first of all, she says that she was wrong to say bad things about her husband.
In the play, Romeo and Juliet written by William Shakespeare, is about two “star crossed” lovers who are destined to end in a tragic accident. Fate is the path that leads to the future and cannot be altered no matter the outcome. Set in Shakespearean time, fate was believed to be in control of people’s lives. The fact that Romeo and Juliet would never live a peaceful life, none of the tragedies would have not taken place if they had not met. In the prologue of the play, Shakespeare outlines that “two star’d crossed lovers take their life”. This foreshadowing creates the sense that fate shall claim superiority. The powerful nature of Romeo
Fate was foreshadowed to be an antagonist in the play Romeo and Juliet; even before the play started; it was foreshadowed in the prologue that the “star-crossed lovers” were “death-marked”. Fate impedes the union of a happy marriage between Romeo and Juliet by throwing many barricades in their way. One such barrier is their lineage; because Romeo is a Montague and Juliet is a Capulet, they are enemies by blood. Nevertheless, they
In the play of ‘Romeo and Juliet’, William Shakespeare explores the idea of fate, through the characters experiences. The play was taken place during the Elizabethan Era where the social norms were completely different to those today and the idea of fate was well and truly believed by the society. Shakespeare incorporates this concept of fate in different ways, he makes references to celestial bodies, employs premonitions and orchestrates events where Romeo and Juliet have no prior knowledge off. He introduces the two young lovers as ‘star-crossed’, which means their relationship is destined to end in tragedy and this is supported by events that occur in the play. Specific events
Fate is something that Romeo and Juliet can not escape in the play no matter how hard they try.When talking about Fate in the story the stars are referenced by the characters to explain coincidences that may happen to them . Shakespeare makes the fate of the star-cross’d lovers story clear from the very beginning by stating in the prologue of Act I “The fearful passage of their death-mark’d love”. (DBQ:Project, 2013) When both characters discover the others death, even if it is at different times they both decide to blame Fate. Romeo references the stars once again because he did not want to believe that a higher power/Fate would take Juliet away from him. Juliet looks to Friar Lawrence to know Romeo is dead and he tells Juliet “A greater power than we can contradict”. (DBQ:Project, 2013) He led Juliet to believe that Fate was also to blame for her husband Romeo’s death. Fate was not one of the characters that caused as much harm as the other two, but was the most blameable character for others in the play.
Anais Nin once said, “You don’t find love, it finds you. It’s got a little to do with destiny, fate, and what’s written in the stars”. It is believed by numerous people that fate determines everything that happens in their lives, and they have no control over it, because their fate is already written in the stars. Fate is a somewhat controversial topic, but in the love story, Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare, fate is looked upon as inalterable, and isn’t influenced by the person themselves. In this tragedy, the idea, fate is written in the stars, is shown through the literary devices, foreshadowing and symbolism, which shows readers that, everything happens for a reason, and fate is beyond their control.
In Romeo and Juliet we learn how Shakespeare uses vivid language to build character and depth in their roles. Shakespeare was a poet, playwright and an actor with a great love for language. Shakespeare was of great importance when it came down to the moulding and developing of the English language. Shakespeare had such an immense love for language that he created neologisms that we use in everyday life. Some of these neologisms he created include words such as puke, lonely, bedroom, democracy etc. in the play he developed numerous characters that played incredibly believable roles. An example of how Shakespeare made his characters believable was Tybalt, who spoke only forty lines in the entire play. Though he
Can you agree that a writer’s diction is what draws the audience into a piece of literature? Why is this true? Well often times writers will do this to keep the attention of the audience. Shakespeare the poet of Romeo and Juliet is one author who is known to use various literary devices to grab the audience attention. Shakespeare focuses on the character’s Romeo and Juliet, a couple that fell in love they belong to the two houses that are against each other. Throughout his play Shakespeare uses three literary devices to reach his audience: foreshadowing, Indirect characterization,Imagery.
From fate representing Romeo and Juliet's encounter, to their love, and finally representing their untimely death, fate and fortune has been a contributing factor towards all the tragedies in Shakespeare's play, possibly being the main clause. Throughout the play, several references of fate and the stars are mentioned when characters show terrible grief and heart break. For example, mere seconds after Romeo slew Tybalt in a blind fit of rage, he exclaimed, "O, I am fortune's fool." He is saying that he is being controlled and forced to do things not in his control to change, and that he is a victim of circumstance (which in this case is fate). In which, he is. Time and time again it seems that Romeo and Juliet's love is in fact dependent on fate and fortune, since in the Prologue itself mentions that "...their death bury their parents' strife." It seems that even from the beginning, Romeo and Juliet were destined to die. No matter what they tried, and no matter how hard they wanted to stay together, fate always found a way to ruin their plans. Just after they get married, Romeo just so happens to run into Tybalt and Mercutio. Just after the couple consummated, Juliet was to be married to Paris on Thursday. Just after Friar Lawrence made a plan to reunite Romeo and Juliet, the wedding of Juliet and Paris moved one day forward! The letter
In the very first act of Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare clearly states that the play is controlled by fate. In the prologue, it states that "a pair of star-cross 'd lovers take their life" (I. Prologue. 5-6). Shakespeare refers to them as star-crossed lovers because they are doomed due to the position of the planets when they were born. In other words, he is saying that these two lovers will die because of fate and will have no way of preventing it. Later in that act, shortly after meeting Juliet, Romeo says,
William Shakespeare was a famous English poet who wrote the well-known tragedy of two lovers called Romeo and Juliet which he wrote in 1591-1595. Although written over 400 years the themes of Romeo and Juliet employed by Shakespeare in the play still influence teenage audiences, making his work widely relevant in our modern world. The forcefulness of love, fate and gender inequality are the fundamental themes that Shakespeare incorporate in Romeo and Juliet.
Destiny is no matter of chance. It’s a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for, it is a thing to be achieved,” quoted by William Jennings Bryan. One of the most debated questions in history is whether our lives are ruled by fate or by own choice. William Shakespeare brings this question into play in his production Romeo and Juliet. Although fate does seam to be ruling over every situation, I believe that choice has more to do with this story then it’s really credited to. Even in the opening lines, this play drills into your head the inevitable outcome of the two lover’s deaths. When the chorus uses the phrase Star crossed lovers (I, 1,6) it clearly shows William Shakespeare’s thoughts on what killed Romeo and Juliet. This