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One of the major premises of Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare, is that Fate (or the Elizabethan version of it, Fortune) is more in control than any of the characters are. The definition of ...
It’s true that Romeo and Juliet have some spectacularly bad luck. Tybalt picks a fatal fight with Romeo on the latter’s wedding day, causing Capulet to move up the wedding with Paris. The crucial letter from Friar Lawrence goes missing due to an ill-timed outbreak of the plague. Romeo kills himself mere moments before Juliet wakes up.
It is pure chance that Friar Lawrence’s warning that Juliet’s death is a pretence fails to reach Romeo. Fortune-driven tragedy climaxes when Romeo swallows the poison draft a second before Juliet’s awakening. In some productions, Juliet moves, and Romeo realises in the last moment of his life that she is still alive.
A servant of the Capulets, initially she is more upset by Tybalt’s death than by Romeo’s banishment, but moved by Juliet’s despair, she recovers: she will find Romeo and bring him to Juliet. The Nurse continues her staunch support for the young couple during her visit to Friar Laurence’s cell ( Act 3, scene 3, lines 85-174 ).
Though much of Romeo and Juliet is driven by the choices its main characters make and the actions they take, there is a dark undercurrent running throughout the play: the suggestion that fate, not free will, is behind the entirety of the human experience. Repeated references to fate and fortune throughout the play underscore Shakespeare’s suggestion that humans are merely pawns in a larger ...
of a character’s actions due to Fortune can no longer be just-desserts. A random consequence by definition cannot be deserved. As Shakespeare roots the relationship of Romeo and Juliet in Fortune, the characters become less culpable for the ending. In Romeo and Juliet, Fortune’s influence parallels many of Shakespeare’s historical dramas.
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Oct 31, 2024 · Romeo’s encounter with a Capulet servant: As a consequence, Romeo attends the Capulet ball and meets Juliet: Romeo claims it is his “fortune” to have read the invitation Friar Laurence’s warning: Romeo is advised that people’s impulsive actions often have very negative and destructive consequences:
