Essay on Romeo and Juliet Tragedy of Character or Tragedy of Fate?
Sierra Davenport
Mr. Gingery
CP English 1
6 March 2013 Romeo and Juliet Tragedy of Fate or Tragedy of Character
Romeo and Juliet is a story of a forbidden love, written by William Shakespeare. Some may say that it is a tragedy of fate. Fate is defined as forces outside of your control that makes things happen. An example of fate is when you miss your bus and meet the person who will turn out to be your spouse while you’re standing on the platform waiting on the next bus. I think Romeo and Juliet is the exact opposite of fate, they undoubtedly took things into their own hands. The tragedy in this story didn’t start until Romeo killed Mercutio, like I said; fate is when the forces outside of your control take action. Romeo was definitely in control of this situation, initially if Romeo didn’t get in between the fight with Tybalt and Mercutio, Mercutio would have never died and as a result Romeo wouldn’t have to feel the need to stab Tybalt for the death of his friend. Even if Tybalt did kill Mercutio, Romeo didn’t have to take matters in his own hands and kill Tybalt himself if he just waited, then Prince Escalus would have kept his word and had Tybalt either imprisoned or killed. So this was definitely character. Another component that led to this tragedy that could have been prevented is when Juliet asked Friar Laurence to help her to get out of marrying Count Paris. Now the Friar, knowing that Juliet was desperate enough to do anything, decided that this was his chance to get himself in the clear and have Juliet pose as a dead person so that he wouldn’t have to marry the same person twice, which I’m pretty sure wasn’t allowed back then. He being the Friar would have had to tell people that he already married Juliet to Romeo and that he couldn’t re-marry Juliet while she was still married to Romeo. So he decided on taking the easy way out and gives Juliet a potion that puts her in such a deep sleep that she will appear dead. Juliet being
Mr. Gingery
CP English 1
6 March 2013 Romeo and Juliet Tragedy of Fate or Tragedy of Character
Romeo and Juliet is a story of a forbidden love, written by William Shakespeare. Some may say that it is a tragedy of fate. Fate is defined as forces outside of your control that makes things happen. An example of fate is when you miss your bus and meet the person who will turn out to be your spouse while you’re standing on the platform waiting on the next bus. I think Romeo and Juliet is the exact opposite of fate, they undoubtedly took things into their own hands. The tragedy in this story didn’t start until Romeo killed Mercutio, like I said; fate is when the forces outside of your control take action. Romeo was definitely in control of this situation, initially if Romeo didn’t get in between the fight with Tybalt and Mercutio, Mercutio would have never died and as a result Romeo wouldn’t have to feel the need to stab Tybalt for the death of his friend. Even if Tybalt did kill Mercutio, Romeo didn’t have to take matters in his own hands and kill Tybalt himself if he just waited, then Prince Escalus would have kept his word and had Tybalt either imprisoned or killed. So this was definitely character. Another component that led to this tragedy that could have been prevented is when Juliet asked Friar Laurence to help her to get out of marrying Count Paris. Now the Friar, knowing that Juliet was desperate enough to do anything, decided that this was his chance to get himself in the clear and have Juliet pose as a dead person so that he wouldn’t have to marry the same person twice, which I’m pretty sure wasn’t allowed back then. He being the Friar would have had to tell people that he already married Juliet to Romeo and that he couldn’t re-marry Juliet while she was still married to Romeo. So he decided on taking the easy way out and gives Juliet a potion that puts her in such a deep sleep that she will appear dead. Juliet being