In the play Romeo and Juliet written by William Shakespeare the idea of fate is explored through the use of multiple language devices and narrative choices. Like many people in the time he lived in, Shakespeare believe in fate, but he also believed that individual characters in some way had control of their destiny. This is shown through characters making some very poor choices on multiple occasions, Romeo describing himself as a ship being controlled by a higher power, Romeo and Juliet both having premonitions about their future and then them being described as star-crossed lovers in the prologue.

In the play Romeo and Juliet, both of the main characters make some very bad decisions based on their incredible lack of foresight and seemingly unlimited impulsion, such as when Juliet states, “if he be married, grave is like to be my wedding bed.” This is when Juliet is asking the nurse about Romeo. She is literally saying that: if he is married I would rather die than not be married to him, which she does. Another time something like this happens is when Romeo goes to buy poison from the apothecary, immediately after hearing about Juliet being dead. “An if a man did need a poison now… this same thought did but forerun my need, And this same needy man must sell it me.” This is from when Romeo is talking to himself about going to die next to Juliet because he could not live without her. Both of these are examples of the characters jumping to conclusions and saying they would rather die than living without the other. This is extremely dumb because they are saying that they would rather die than be without someone they met five minutes ago.

One way Shakespeare communicates what he thinks of fate is the ship metaphor used by Romeo just before the Capulet party. He states “He that hath steerage of my course direct my sail.” Romeo is comparing himself to a ship and stating that neither him nor the ship can steer itself and that’s a metaphor about not being able to control one’s own fate. This is said just before Romeo enters the party after he says: I have a bad feeling about this and then using that quote, resigns himself to whoever he thinks is in control of him. Coincidentally this is just before he meets Juliet and falls in love. Then there is “Thou desperate pilot, now at once run on… The dashing rocks thy sea-sick weary bark!” This is from just before Romeo drinks the poison and dies. He is once again comparing himself to the ship and is also comparing the person in control of him to the pilot of the ship and is basically saying: let’s go crash this ship that doesn’t want to sail any more into the rocks. This shows us that Romeo believes in fate. He probably believes in fate because he lives in a time when most people believed in some way that fate played a role in their lives.

Another way we are shown what Shakespeare thinks of fate is the time just after Romeo climbs down from Juliet’s window. Juliet says “o god, I have an ill-divining soul! methinks I see thee, now thou art so low, as one dead at the bottom of a tomb.” What she is saying is basically: the way I see you now looks like you are dead in the bottom of a tomb. Coincidentally the next time Juliet sees him is dead in the tomb of the Capulets. But the very fact that she has this kind of premonition shows that their fate is somehow predestined, because it would be hard to see the future if it was not already decided. Another example of this is when, shortly before receiving news about Juliet’s death, Romeo states: “I dreamt my lady came and found me dead… And breathed such life with kisses in my lips That I revived and was an emperor.” This kind of thing is almost exactly like what happens to Juliet: she awakes to find Romeo dead next to her, she then kisses him, however instead of reviving him nothing happens and she ends up killing herself.

One more way Shakespeare shows us what he thinks of fate is at the beginning in the prologue when he describes Romeo and Juliet as follows. “A pair of star-cross’d lovers take their life.” In the simple act of describing them as “star-crossed” shows us that in some way their story is predetermined. It is as if Shakespeare is letting the audience in on a secret about what is going to happen. The audience would have believed him, as most people in that time period believed in some form or another in fate, predestiny and especially god/”the stars” deciding their path.

In conclusion, in the play Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare shows us that, similar to a good portion of people in Elizabethan England, Shakespeare believed somewhat in fate, but also had the idea that individuals could in some ways affect their destiny. So either way it probably wasn’t going to end well for them. 😉

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