Romeo and Juliet: destiny or poor human choice?

In the story, Romeo and Juliet, the final tragic outcome, namely the deaths of the two young lovers, was a result of human choices, rather than one of fate. Although fate played some role in Romeo and Juliet's deaths, the various characters' decisions and actions throughout the story eventually led to the tragedy. There were four main stepping stones, all resulting from man's decision, which finally ended with Romeo and Juliet taking their own lives.

The first event that paved the way towards the tragedy was the fight between the Capulets and Montagues. This event was caused by Romeo's and Juliet's respective families' poor choice to engage in the battle. When the story started, the two families were already quarrelling. Then Mercutio and Benvolio further taunted and provoked the Capulet family by "biting their thumbs" at them. This caused the Capulets to become enraged and battle the Montagues. Because of the continuous fighting, the prince declared that anybody who fights again will be punished by death. This declaration foretold the final tragedy of the two young lovers. One can see that this event was directly caused by Mercutio and Benvolio's poor judgment to further inflame an already heated situation.

Secondly, Mercutio and Benvolio's decision to bring Romeo to the Capulet party, and Romeo's acceptance to go, brought both Romeo and Juliet one step closer to their deaths despite the fact that they had not even met each other yet. It was at this feast, where the two lovers met for the first time. At the beginning of the story, the reader is informed that Romeo has ended the relationship with his former lover, Rosaline. Because he was very depressed, his friends persuaded Romeo to go to the feast to look for another girl. The problem was that the feast was hosted by the Capulets. Romeo was the only Montague there; however, Capulet decided not to ask Romeo to leave in an attempt to prevent a fight. At the party, Romeo and Juliet met each other, and there was