Preview

Romeo And Juliet Fate Vs Free Will Essay

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1873 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Romeo And Juliet Fate Vs Free Will Essay
Is it possible that our everyday decisions control the outcome of our lives? The ideas of fate and free will have been around for centuries, and are still argued about today. The question is often asked: is the outcome of our lives predetermined, or do we control the things that happen to us? Aristotle was one of the first of his time to argue that people’s decisions were not determined by fate, but rather people decided whether or not to act on their choices. William Shakespeare also examines these two themes in several of his works, including Romeo and Juliet. His well-known play is about two teenagers who fall in love, but are said to be doomed as a couple because they come from feuding families. The lovers struggle to make their relationship work because they cannot publicly be together. At the end of the play, Romeo believes Juliet is dead …show more content…
First, Shakespeare and the University of Idaho argue that adolescence plays a role in the impatient decisions of the two lovers, which leads them to their deaths. Next, Shakespeare and Flow reveal how Shakespeare uses the idea of fate to suggest a deeper theme of free will. Finally, Shakespeare suggests how one cannot control others’ free will, but another person’s decisions can impact them. Although everyday decisions may not seem to matter in how one’s life turns out as a whole, these decisions shape who one becomes, and a person’s character then determines the result of their life. As Franklin D. Roosevelt once said, “Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds.” Fate does not control our lives, but one is able to control their destiny if they believe they can. Rather than blaming a higher power for the unfortunate things that happen in life, one should recognize that they have the capacity to make their life everything they want it to

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Additionally, Fate is another hurdle Romeo and Juliet have to jump over,except this one appears in several scenes as the source of blame for death of the two. In the play’s Prologue the line, ”A pair of star-cross’d lovers take their life”, appears. This line suggests Romeo and Juliet were bound to fall in love with each from their first breath because it is stating their love was written in the stars and the families they were born to wasn’t a coincidence but a destined event. As the Prologue continues it announces how the star-cross’d lovers have a death-mark’d love. Their love being described as death-mark’d is a bad omen because it is foretelling how Romeo and Juliet’s destinies are entwined,which will bring their deaths. Fate has already decided these…

    • 430 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Romeo and Juliet are victims of free will because their decisions lead to their ultimate death. Several times throughout the play either Romeo or Juliet’s decisions leads them farther and farther apart. Firstly, after Capulet’s ball, Tybalt fights Murcutio and Romeo decides to intervene in the fight. This leads to Tybalt stabbing Murcutio and Romeo taking revenge by killing Tybalt. After this incident, the Prince declares “Let Romeo hence in haste, / Else when he is found, that hour is his last” (3.1.204-205). This incident turns the plot of the whole story because it tears Romeo and Juliet’s dreams apart. On the other hand, after hours of grieving for Romeo, Juliet asks the Friar to clean up her…

    • 243 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    When two people are meant to be together, no time is too long” (Anonymous). Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare and West Side Story by Arthur Laurents show the pure evils of acting extremely hastily and how it can change the outlook on the future. Romeo and Juliet are two young lovers who were taught to hate one another and who suffer deeply because of the consequences of fate. Romeo and Juliet’s deaths were sure to be tragic as was hinted at early on throughout the play. Both families suffer with the loss of their children as well as other family members. Maria and Tony are split from one another because of extreme violence, hatred, and the differences between their New York City gangs. Each of them uses their knowledge of the power of love in hopes of them being together forever. Choices both Maria and Tony made resulted in severe heartbreak, the death of three teenage peers in the gangs. Romeo and Juliet is controlled by fate, while West Side Story is driven by free will.…

    • 905 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The famous author Lemony Snicket once said, “Fate is like a strange, unpopular restaurant filled with odd little waiters who bring you things you never asked for and don't always like.” I blame fate for Romeo and Juliet’s death because I believe fate is the thing that controls everything and cannot be changed or altered, it is what it is. Everyone has an end at some point and Romeo and Juliet’s had to be at young age. I also blame fate for a different reason, it isn’t just the end for everyone, but it also gives you the lead up to your end. It was Romeo’s fate to be banished and kill Tybalt, it was his Fate to not get the letter and find Juliet ‘dead’ and it was Juliet’s fate to wake up from her sleep and find him…

    • 309 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Modern day society promotes individualism and self-responsibility. Yet somehow, fate exists as an intrinsic part of many people’s lives. This paradox in mindset shows how logical reasoning, common sense, and science bow down for the supernatural force that guides one through life, fate, for better or worse. Such is seen clearly in the dialogue and actions of the characters in Romeo and Juliet, a play written by William Shakespeare. Taking place in 14th century Verona, Romeo and Juliet describes the tragedy that ensues when two feuding families’ children fall in love, but fate ensures both of their suicides. The villainous acts of fate prove that fate makes one helpless against decisions in life, belief in fate becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, and…

    • 1141 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The play Romeo and Juliet written by William Shakespeare, involves Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet who are two "star-crossed lovers". Their families are sworn enemies and an ongoing feud continues between the two. In the book you are shown many different examples of fate and the role that fate played in the story. It isn't just a coincidence that things happened they way they through the story, its all because of fate.…

    • 722 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Fate is the development of events beyond a person’s control. In the Shakespearean play, Romeo and Juliet, there are “two star-crossed lovers” who fall in love. Romeo and Juliet are from different families of the same status and their love is essentially forbidden. After all these misfortunate events trying to tear their love apart, they eventually take their lives as a result. Every character in the story made choices out of free will but these choices ultimately lead to fate. Fate was the most responsible for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet because it is depicted by foreshadowing, the feud between the Montagues and Capulets and the power of the future.…

    • 1132 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the play “Romeo and Juliet,” it seems that some of the adults in the Capulet family (Capulet, Lady Capulet, and the Nurse) believe in freewill while Juliet believes in fate. At the end of Scene 6 in Act 2, Romeo and Juliet were married. Juliet believed that it was her fate to marry Romeo and to live happily ever after. Despite all the problems, such as the Montagues being the Capulets’ enemies and Romeo’s banishment from Verona, Romeo and Juliet fell in love, and let fate decide what happens in their life. Throughout the whole play, they risk their lives just to see each other. Romeo risked a death sentence when he snuck into Juliet’s room in Scene 5 in Act 3. They risked everything because they believed in their fate.…

    • 444 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Impetuous decisions have serious consequences. Allowing passion and emotion to dominate gives one the opportunity to affect the decisions one makes. A love with the influential abilities to alter opinions and decisions must be one that allows no room for rationality. In William Shakespeare’s famous play, Romeo and Juliet, Romeo and Juliet’s blinding love for each other clouds all reason. Therefore, they create their own “fate” of destruction. In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, the impulsiveness and recklessness caused by the passion between both characters are their demise, along with Romeo’s unwillingness to take charge of his destiny.…

    • 1389 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    I think that Shakespeare is saying free will determines how our lives turn out. In Act 1 Scene 2 Romeo and Benvolio are going to the Capulet party when Romeo stops. He says that he fears that if he attends the Capulet party it will lead to his death. Even after this he makes a choice to go to the party. Romeo used his free will to attend the party.…

    • 250 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Excuses are something people use to clear themselves or others of the blame of their own foolish actions. In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, it is not fate, but impulsive and desperate actions that bring about the downfall of Romeo and Juliet. In the Victorian era, fate was known as the development of events out of human control, and determined by a supernatural power. By no means was the demise of Romeo and Juliet out their control. It happened because of the choices they themselves to make.…

    • 937 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    For centuries, there has been lots debate on whether or not there is such thing as fate or free will. To this day, people are trying to decide if one’s life is already laid out for him/her and that if no matter what he/she does that it will still unfold in a preset way, in which that they cannot change, or if one has free will and the ability to completely change his/her life. In William Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the main character, Macbeth, is not doomed by fate, but by free will. In particular, Shakespeare’s Macbeth demonstrates that it is not fate that determines one's life as it is one's flaws and choices. This is illustrated through Macbeth himself, who, first, makes the choice of not listening to his conscience, which continuously makes…

    • 1209 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Capulet’s ball is entirely in the hands of destiny. By chance, a young knave of the…

    • 645 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Fate is a powerful force in the play of Romeo and Juliet where the events of the two characters were heavily influenced. In William Shakespeare’s tragedy, both Romeo and Juliet are subject to fate even before the play had started. Shakespeare had established immediately within the prologue that the plot of Romeo and Juliet would heavily rely on elements of fate. From the line, “From forth the fatal loins of these two foes, a pair of star-crossed lovers take their life.” audience members learn of the predetermined end of the two protagonists, giving them expectation. In this line, Shakespeare refers to the two lovers as star-crossed, connecting them with the constellations, which in history had the theme of controlling destiny and moulding fate. Farther along the prologue, Shakespeare interpolates the idea of predestination when he refers to the love between Romeo and Juliet as “death-mark’d” referring to the concept that no matter what actions the two take during the course of the play, their destinies remain doomed.…

    • 770 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Fate in Romeo and Juliet

    • 1004 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Some people may not believe that fate is something that truthfully exists in the world. They trust that whatever occurs in their lives comes as a result of the decisions that they make with their own free will. Others, however, believe that whatever happens during the course of their lives is inevitable and every event predestined and laid out before them like a roadmap to life; in other words, fate. William Shakespeare's play, Romeo and Juliet has fate as an exceptionally crucial force, pulling the characters into a more animated state. Because of fate, the play becomes thrilling and it is exactly what manages the two young lovers to meet each other in the first place. The moment that Romeo and Juliet meet is the exact incident that leads to their death, however unaware these "star-crossed lovers" are to that fact. Thus, fate is undoubtedly the most responsible influence for the couple's heartbreaking tragedy.…

    • 1004 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics