Looking At The Fate Of Romeo And Juliet English Literature Essay

Looking At The Fate Of Romeo And Juliet English Literature EssayRomeo pronounces these news shows properly after having mortally wounded Tybalt, guilty of having skilful killed Romeos friend Mercutio. In a fit of rage, Romeo takes his s give voice and attacks Tybalt ferociously, killing him. This is the climax of the play, that will change ineluctably the destiny of the 2 star-crossed l everywheres. Romeo realizes what he has done, now he knows he has to pay the consequences of his deed, his already dangerous love for Juliet is going to cause a compulsive twine of tragic events, bringing the cardinal lovers to certain death. He defines himself as a puppet of the unpredictable destiny. scour from the opening lines, the audience is informed about the calamity that is going to affect the two protagonists, establishing batch as a theme at the foreground of the play. The idea that tragic circumstances were decided from birth for these two lovers is suggested from forth the fatal loins (I.i.5). This line together with, a pair of star-crossed lovers take their life (I.i.6) explains to the audience that destiny was what first brought them together and is what will eventually separate them. The Choruss opening speech is continually echoed through and throughout the rest of the play by other characters making direct references to fate. As Susan Snyder states tragedy force out be seen as a ritual sacrifice, in which the protagonist is both hero and dupe, , separated from the ordinary, but destined for destruction.2Even though Romeo defines himself as helpless victim of his fortune, at that place is much evidence of the important roles that Romeo and Juliet give up in shaping and, in many cases, worsening, their destiny. After a careful reading of the play we can state that it is not just a question of destiny. Romeo and Juliet would have been able to save their relationship simply by using more acuteness, composure and resolution. The cream of means confront ing Romeo and Juliet is not confined to a single occasion, they are given a series opportunity of choice3, but unluckily they always have the appearance _or_ semblance to choose the wrong way in which to direct their story.Again we sense a metaphor relating to the stars, as if Shakespeare has chosen these celestial bodies as symbols for the fatality that lies over the whole play. But here we find the first of Romeos mistakes, he takes a decision without thinking of the consequences he has read the list of guests that are going to be at the feast and although he is informed about the presence of Capulets, Montagues arch-enemies, he decides to attend in any case. As already mentioned, Romeo kills Tybalt out of rage, even though he knows it makes things all the worse for his current placement with Tybalts cousin, Juliet but a far more basic instinct, the desire of a man to avoid macrocosm thought a coward prevails and Romeo is driven to fight Tybalt.While Romeo lacks composure, Jul iets flaw is impetuosity. During the balcony scene, Juliet hurries Romeo into marriage by constantly questioning his love for her and saying things like, If thy purpose marriage, send me word tomorrow (II.i.143-4). The Friars flaw, which in the end had a big effect on this tragedy, is to be too impulsive. He offers to marry Romeo and Juliet, even though he knows there is a huge conflict between the families, probably hoping that the marriage would have solved all the rivalries. Moreover, we must remember that it is the Friar who gives Juliet the potion for suspended animation, which aggravates things even more.Even though the protagonists share many fatal defects, lots of things happen to their misfortune that is not their fault. First of all, Romeo and Juliet shared the unfortunate fate that they were from feuding families, putting their relationship in jeopardy from the beginning. Juliet expresses well this idea in her soliloquy on the balcony Whats in a name? That which we call a rose, by any other word would smell as sweet (II.i.86-87). A second strike of bad luck is the fact that the Capulets, being a typical upper-class traditionalist family, had place a marriage between Juliet and capital of France, against the will of their daughter.The scene in which Romeo finds out about the feast is another twist of fate. The illiterate servant of Capulets was given the crease of telling people about the party. Since he could not read, he was forced to ask two strangers to explain it to him. Those two people could have been anyone, but they just happened to be Romeo and Benvolio. Another ironic fact is that Romeo went to the party because he was madly in love with Rosaline. If Rosaline had been there, and she returned Romeos love, then all the following suffering would never have occurred. Romeo was completely in love with another woman going to the party, which he only found out about in the first place through an adverse stroke of luck. Another example of bad luck is that Romeo never received the letter of Friar Laurence informing him about his and Juliets scheme because of the plague in Mantua, the city where Romeo went to stay after his banishment from Verona. The letter must r individually Romeo in time so that he knows of the arrangement between Juliet and the Friar, but the city has been put under quarantine because of a plague. So Romeo never receives the letter and he is left unaware of the plan between the Friar and JulietAgain we find the concept of fortune. The Friar curses this fate, the unhappy fortune, aware that the story of the two lovers has probably came to an end. Romeo is told by Balthasar that Juliet has died Her body sleeps in Capels monument, and her immortal part with angels stomachs (V.i.18-19). These events are the last still hunt and they will lead to the demise of both characters.Obviously the fate is closely related to the concept of time. Timing, in fact, played the largest role in deciding if they would l ive or die. Many scholars have defined it as the lovers enemy, which retards his pace when the lovers are separated and accelerates it when they are together4O lamentable day O damnable time (IV.iv.57)In the balcony scene Juliet hurries because the Nurse is calling her if Romeo had arrived a few minutes later at the tomb, the tragedy would not have happened moreover, if the wedding of Juliet and Paris had not been brought forward from Thursday to Wednesday the letter would have had more time to reach Romeo in Mantua if the Friar had entered the tomb earlier he could have explained the situation to Romeo and no harm would have happened to anyone. These are only a few examples of the negative and mysterious force that seems to control the happenings.We can definitely say that Romeo and Juliet is a crossing of fortuitous events, coincidences and personal responsibilities, all masterfully managed by fate and time. The love story did not have to begin, the two lovers were not meant to m eet each other, son and daughter of rival families. They both knew this, but they could not accept it, their love was bigger than anything else. What if it was the temptation of the forbidden which increased their love? Two teenagers, two rebels living in a sexist society made of wedding vows and past rivalry. They preferred to risk, but risking is a matter of fate, a cruel fate which brought them to a certain death. As said by Cassius in Shakespeares Julius Caesar5, The fault, , is not in our stars but in ourselves (I.ii-139-40).