Romeo and Juliet – Theme analysis Fate or choice? Choice or fate? How does one separate these ideals? Can one? Shakespeare could not. Nor can we. Fate and choice are so intertwined that our choices determine our fate, and our fate determines our choices. William Shakespeare trusts the audience to scrutinize whether it is fate or choice that rules our human life.
Shakespeare aptly conveys this oxymoron (with which people have been dealing for ages) through the evidence and structure of his play, Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare, through the dialogue and action of his characters, readily provides the evidence that both choice and fate are integral parts of human life. For example, Shakespeare illustrates fate through the words of Romeo who states, “I fear, too early, for my mind misgives some consequences, yet handing in the stars… .” (I, IV, 116-117).
Romeo believes that it is the stars that influence his life. It is not he who determines his life.
He initially believes that his fate ultimately governs his choices, choices that cannot be controlled by humans. In addition, Shakespeare also reveals that choice plays a crucial role in determining fate. It is choice then that drives the decisions of the characters but these choices are made in the circumstance of their lives. And these circumstances cannot be removed from their consciousness.
For instance, when Juliet says in her soliloquy before she drinks the sleeping potion, “Romeo, I come! This do I drink to thee” (IV, IV, 60) she is saying it is my fate and my choice to be with you. She chooses to drink the potion thus putting her into a coma-like sleep, and ultimately resulting in the death of them both. When Romeo declares, “Then I defy you, stars!” he is making the choice to challenge his fate of living without Juliet who he believes has died. Shakespeare has provided the evidence that fate and choice re so intertwined that they cannot be separated. Even the structure of his play alludes to this same perception. Shakespeare’s structure of the play; pitting two families against one another is what propels the characters in their decisions.
The Term Paper on Comparison And Contrast Between The Nurse And Friar Lawrence In Shakespeares Romeo And Juliet part 1
Comparison and Contrast between the Nurse and Friar Lawrence in Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare is one of the greatest tragedies of all times. It is actually a very sad story about very strong feeling of love by two people: Romeo and Juliet that ends very tragically. There were many characters in the tragedy, positive and negative ones, but we are going to ...
Shakespeare uses the Capulet and Montague families’ feud to create the circumstances (plot) that hold Romeo and Juliet captive in their own existence, their own fate. They are incapable of escaping from this captivity because they can only see themselves in the circumstance of the here and now. They cannot look from the outside in. Shakespeare, however, allows the reader to do just that.
Shakespeare permits the reader to look from the outside and see the choices that the characters are making that determine their very existence. He suitably structures the play in such a way that causes the reader to examine whether or not it is fate or choice that rules human life. For example, Romeo, upon learning of Juliet’s “death” from Balthasar, says, .”.. Then I defy you, stars!” (V, I, 25).
Romeo defies his cruel fate of living without his Juliet by making the decision to kill himself next to Juliet in the Capulet tomb. He can make no other decision because of his circumstance. Gain, Shakespeare’s expert structure of the play controls the action and decision of the characters in Romeo and Juliet. I believe that Shakespeare convinces the audience that it is both fate and choice that rules human life.
One cannot exist with out the other. One cannot believe totally in choice, or one may find himself making choices that lead him down darker paths. Nor can one give up on making choices and expect his fate to carry him on through his life. The fate of an individual depends on the choices that he has made through his life.
Theme of fate in Romeo & Juliet – GCSE coursework
Despite fate’s grasp on Romeo and Juliet being clear from the beginning, their choices in the play cause fate to build momentum and accelerate their lives to their inevitable end. Shakespeare’s original presentation of fate is of an inescapable event, but how the characters get there is less certain and more chance. Whereas Luhrmann’s fate is cruller and more controlling, but both interpretations ...
Bibliography:
Shakespeare, William Romeo and Juliet.
