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Romeo and Juliet is a play written by William Shakespeare. Shakespeare was

born in April 1564 in Warwickshire, England and died in April 1616. He married Anne

and had three children, Susanna, Hamnet, and Judith. “By 1598, Shakespeare had written

some of his most famous works” (Bloom 2) including Romeo and Juliet. Around 1600,

Shakespeare wrote his romantic comedies. He wrote his great tragedies during the next

ten years. Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy about two “star-cross’d lovers” (Shakespeare

Prologue), a young girl and a young boy from two feuding families who are brought

together by fate and fall in love. When they meet, it’s love at first sight but they don’t

know yet that their love is forbidden. Romeo and Juliet decide that their parents’ feud is

not going to stop them from being together. Juliet comes up with a plan to drink an elixir

that makes it seem like she’s dead. Once everyone thinks she’s dead Romeo will get the

word. By the time Romeo comes back, the elixir should wear off and she’ll be awake.

Then they can run away together but Romeo gets there too early and thinks that Juliet is

really dead. Not wanting to live without Juliet, he kills himself. Once Juliet finally wakes

up, she sees that her plan failed and Romeo has killed himself. Subsequently, she takes a

dagger to the heart. In the end, fate brought them together and made it so they didn’t have

to live without each other. Throughout the play, fate plays a big part in assuring Romeo

and Juliet are together.

Shakespeare was alive during the Elizabethan and Renaissance periods. During

this time, most people believed in astrology, “the philosophy that a person’s life was

partly determined by the starts and the planets” (Bouchard 4). They believed that most

everything was predetermined by fate. Everything that’s going to happen in your life is

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already set and no matter what you do, the outcome will be the same. They believed that

the stars and planets determined a person’s fate. Shakespeare displayed his belief in this

throughout Romeo and Juliet.

In the Prologue, Shakespeare foreshadows that Romeo and Juliet’s love will end

in a terrible fate. He states the play is a bout “A pair of star cross’d lovers” and “the

fearful passage of their death-mark’d love” (Shakespeare Prologue). He warns the reader

that Romeo and Juliet’s love goes against the stars because of their parents’ feud. Their

parents’ fate doesn’t include them getting along but Romeo and Juliet’s fate brings them

together. They are set up for failure from the beginning. “Fate is inextricably linked to

the stars” (Wilson 3). The stars control their fate and bring them together. The play will

be about their journey to be together but will end with their death. They’re love is

forbidden and is difficult for them to be together but in the end fate will bring them

together.

Another example of fate bringing Romeo and Juliet together is when Romeo and

Benvolio run into a Capulet servant in the streets. Ironically, the Capulets gave an

illiterate servant the guest list to their masquerade ball and asked him to invite people.

Since he can’t read he goes up to Romeo and Benvolio hoping they can read and asks “I

pray sir, can you read?” (Shakespeare 25). After taunting him a little, Romeo read him

the list and saw that Rosaline, the “love of his life,” was going to be at the ball. Not being

able to let her go, he decided he wanted to sneak into this party. This ball is where

Romeo meets Juliet. “Fate works not only through the feud but also through chance,

human contingency, and accident” (Waters 6). Out of all the people the servant could

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have asked, he happened to ask Romeo, a complete accident. If the illiterate servant

wasn’t given the list and hadn’t asked Romeo to read it, Romeo never would’ve gone to

the masquerade ball and met Juliet.

“I fear, too early: for my mind misgives some consequence, yet hanging in the

stars shall bitterly begin his fearful date with this night's revels and expire the term of a

despised life closed in my breast by some vile forfeit of untimely death” (Shakespeare

41). On their way to the party, Benvolio says that they’re going to be late but Romeo

disagrees. Romeo thinks going at all is a bad idea. He says he has a gut feeling that this

won’t end well. Shakespeare is foreshadowing that Romeo going to the ball and meeting

Juliet will end in a horrible fate. If fate did not play a role in this play, Romeo wouldn’t

think twice about going to the ball. His gut feeling is fate’s warning. Gut feelings are how

fate acts through a person. This shows Shakespeare’s belief in how fate is predetermined

by the stars and dictates a person’s life.

Romeo and Juliet fall in love at first sight. After finding out that they are from

two feuding families, they decide their parents hate isn’t going to stop them from being

together. They want to get married so Romeo goes to talk to Friar Laurence hoping he

will wed them. Friar Laurence is surprised to hear that Romeo is not obsessing over

Rosaline anymore and wants to marry Juliet. He agrees to wed them but warns them:

“Wisely, and slow. They stumble that run fast” (Shakespeare 73). This means to slow

down and think before he does something irrational. Those who run or rush into things,

fall. Shakespeare’s reminding the reader of what is about to come. He’s reiterating that

Romeo and Juliet are rushing into this and fate will lead to a terrible end.

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In Act III Scene I, Tybalt, Lady Capulet’s cousin, wants to fight Romeo. Romeo

refuses to fight because Tybalt will be his family after he marries Juliet. In his place,

Mercutio fights Tybalt and dies. Romeo subsequently stabs Tybalt and kills him leading

to Romeo being exiled. After Tybalt is slain, Benvolio commands Romeo to run away.

Once Romeo realizes the severity and consequences of what he has done, he shouts “O, I

am fortune's fool!” (Shakespeare Act3 Scene1). He realizes that he has fallen to fate.

Even though Romeo wanted to avoid conflict and not fight Tybalt, fate decided they will

fight and Tybalt will die. This shows that if something is meant to happen, it will find a

way to happen. No matter how hard you try, you can’t go against the stars and change

someone’s fate.

Consequently, the prince declares “And for that offence immediately we do exile

him” (Shakespeare Act3 Scene1). If Romeo is banished, Romeo and Juliet can’t tell their

parents that they are married. Juliet’s father arranges for her to marry Paris, but since

she’s already married to Romeo, she can’t marry Paris.