Many of the misfortunes that occur during the play are blamed on fate, chance, coincidence, and luck. The lovers may not have met if it was not for coincidence. An illiterate servant stumbled upon Romeo asking him to read an invitation. "What names the writing person hath here writ. . .I must to the learned" (Iii 42-43). Luckily enough it happened to be an invitation to the Capulet ball. This brought forward the quick dismissal of Rosaline, Romeo's past love interest, and the introduction of Juliet, the "rich jewel" (Iv 45). Romeo's presence at the ball brought up conflict with Tybalt, who quickly recognised him as the enemy. His pride was wounded when his uncle told him that Romeo "shall be endur'd!" (Iv 76). This provoked a duel between the two. "I hate hell, all Montagues and thee" (Ii 65). It was only by chance Mercutio was killed under Romeo's arm. Tybalt had intended to kill Romeo. Romeo didn't want to fight Tybalt as they were now cousins. "(I) love thee better than thou canst devise" (IIIi 66). Mercutio blamed Romeo for coming between them. "Why the dev'l came you between us" (IIIi 98). However Romeo blamed fate for the incidents, declaring "I am fortune's fool" (IIIi 132). Fate was held responsible for both the love and deaths that occurred in Romeo and Juliet.…
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…
October 16th was the opening night for a Carroll production of Romeo and Juliet. Many familiar faces around Carroll are involved with the shakespearian production and everything seems to be going smoothly. On Thursday night (the 15th), a dress rehearsal was given to an open audience and was very well received with seemingly everything going according to plan. However, behind the show are some interesting characters as well.…
Romeo was considered to be a “perfect man” by the people of Verona. He was born into aristocracy, and all the attributes one would consider flawless. However, when it came to his relationship with love, he had many weaknesses. The tragic death of Romeo and Juliet and their ill-fated love was led about by Romeo’s flaws.…
Driven by these traits, he acts upon his emotions not logic. At the start of the play he pursues Juliet even though she is the daughter of his family’s enemy; putting his feelings before sense. This impulsiveness is in the middle of the play once he kills Tybalt acting upon his emotions in a passion of hate. ‘Alive in triumph—and Mercutio slain!, Away to heaven, respective lenity, and fire-eyed fury be my conduct now. Now, Tybalt, take the villain back again, that late thou gavest me’ .Reason would have told Romeo that Tybalt would have been slayed in the justice of the law. This impulsiveness then puts him at the end of the play; he banished and Juliet faking death. Once Balthasar reveals Juliet’s death, Romeo immediately thinks upon his emotions once again and is determined to kill himself so that he and Juliet could be together. ‘Well, Juliet, I will lie with thee tonight’ – (Romeo. . Throughout the course of the play his impulsiveness still remains the same and this in turn prevents him from developing as a character. His obsession with love also prevent him from changing. His love for Mercutio that made him fight Tybalt, his love for Juliet that made him want to kill himself. Together the two traits, impulsiveness and obsession with love, tie in together to prevent Romeo from changing as a character and maturing as a…
Romeo kills Tybalt in revenge for the death of his friend, Mercutio. The Prince then utters a decree, banishing Romeo from Verona. Romeo doesn't know what decree the Prince has made. In Act 3 Scene 3, Romeo hears the news of his banishment from the Friar. He says that exile is far worse than death because he has to live without Juliet (Romeo and Juliet 3.3). " Ha, banishment? Be merciful, say "death" For exile is hath more terror in his look, much more than death. Do not say banishment" (Shakespeare 156). Romeo says he would rather die than be banished and tries to kill himself. Romeo's stubbornness is shown when he doesn't listen to the wise Friar's advice on how thankful he should be for not being sentenced to death. He is also stubborn for deciding that killing himself will solve the hardships and problems he faces now. He fails to realize how blessed he is for staying alive. He doesn't consider alternatives, such as: he would be able to meet Juliet again somehow and if he had, had more patience, he would have known of the plan of Friar Laurence and Romeo and Juliet could have been together. However, Romeo's stubbornness made him unable to endure the momentary suffering of being separated from Juliet and concluded that killing himself would solve the problem. He didn't realize what his death would mean to other characters like Juliet. He was being too self-centered. Another of Romeo's…
Later on, Romeo defies the stars after he hears about Juliet’s ‘death’ and infuriates them: “Then I defy you stars!” (V, i, 24) When Romeo disobeys the stars, he is basically ignoring fate and perhaps that’s why fate is more cruel to him which lead to his death. Since the two families have such a deep grudge, violence broke out easily and these rash actions worsen the destiny set for Romeo and Juliet. Fate also controls actions. When Tybalt kills Mercutio right after Romeo and Juliet gets married, Mercutio curses the Montagues and Capulets: “ A plague a’both your houses! They have made worms’ meat out of me. I have it, And soundly too. Your houses!” (III, i, 102-104) Mercutio is saying how he’s been fatally wounded and he’s going to die but he also indirectly declares how the two households are going to ‘have it’ which means the families are going to face death soon too. Mercutio’s death causes Romeo to act recklessly. Out of wrath, Romeo kills Tybalt without considering his actions or consequences and ends up being banished from Verona. His banishment means he isn’t able to communicate…
Romeo, even when provoked by a serious insult, will take extra measures to avoid violence. On this occasion, ignoring Tybalt’s provocation could make Romeo seem dishonorable, yet he refuses to fight back. This hesitancy to fight is in direct contrast with Romeo’s later actions in this scene. After Romeo has killed Tybalt in a fit of rage, he exclaims, “O, I am Fortune’s fool!” (3.1.142) By saying that he is “Fortune’s fool”, Romeo is stating that Fortune or Fate is controlling him like a puppet, and making him do foolish things. This statement reveals that not even Romeo believes that he was in control of this event, or his own actions. Romeo previously wished to avoid violence, even when doing so would make him seem dishonorable and mark him as a coward. Now, he has killed one who he previously stated that he had “reason to love”, showing that some other force has driven him to the violent action of killing Tybalt, in this case, fate. Fate has shown itself as able to manipulate characters and their behavior, making it capable of pulling the strings behind the major events of this…
Romeo 's impulsiveness played a key role and is shown when he quickly fell out of love with Rosaline and into love with Juliet, having decided to marry her after knowing her for less than a day. Another case of impulse was due to misunderstanding and assumption, when he assumed that Juliet was dead. His only thought was to take his life, instead of finding out if she was still alive. Romeo was also vengeful and didn 't think though or control his feelings as in the example when Tybalt killed Mercutio and Romeo ran after Tybalt to pay back. This bad decision led to Romeo being banned from Verona and started the miscommunication between Romeo and Juliet, which eventually led to their deaths.…
When Benvolio encounters him and tells him the prince will probably have him killed, Romeo uses the line “O, I am fortune’s fool”(III.i.130). Romeo blames that he has awful luck and that it is luck’s fault for all that has happened even though he had just physically killed Tybalt with his sword. He did not take responsibility for his actions and acted surprise from the consequences. Pushing the blame onto fate or luck allowed Romeo to continue to be reckless and not reconsider for a single millisecond. Therefore Romeo’s impulsiveness and irresponsibleness lead to him being part of the blame for his and Juliet’s…
Romeo always blames his own reckless actions on fate. Romeo is warned not to go to the masquerade party but tells fate to “steerage of [his] course” and “direct [his] sail” and goes anyway. Romeo knows himself that he will die if he goes but still chooses to go. Romeo decides that whatever happens is up to fate and it’s completely out of his control. Also, after killing Tybalt, he calls himself “Fortune’s fool” and realizes he will be punished severely (Rom 3.1.142). Romeo is basically says he is a subject to the whims of fate. He thinks fate is playing around with him and not taking responsibility for what he himself did. However when he hears of Juliet’s “death” Romeo tries to “defy the stars” and kills himself (5.1.25). Romeo is taking responsibility for his actions by trying to defy his “fate” and finally taking thing into his own hands. This doesn’t work, since he didn’t bother to check if Juliet was still alive and just kills himself in his attempt to be together with her, even if it’s in death. Romeo uses fate to justify his actions and say that a power outside of his control fueled his action, but instead everything was just his impulsive choices.…
Friar Lawrence may think that he is helping Romeo and Juliet more than anyone, but in reality he is irresponsible, and later, even mentally corrupt. To begin, when Romeo arrives at the Friar’s house to ask to marry to his newfound love, Juliet, the Friar realizes that Romeo doesn’t know love because it was only yesterday when he was in love with Rosaline. He lectures Romeo, saying, “But come, young waverer, come, go with me./ In one respect I’ll thy assistant be,” (2.3.96-7). The Friar understands that Romeo is impetuous, but he still decides to marry him to Juliet, which ultimately makes matters extremely worse. He thinks he is helping the families, but his irresponsible action ends up tearing the families apart, making him mentally corrupt. It is also the Friar’s responsibility to provide ethical solutions to people’s problems, but, instead, he encourages Juliet to fake her death. He guides Juliet, “Take thou vile, being then in bed/ And this distilling liquor drink thou off;/ When presently through all thy veins shall run/ A cold and drowsy humor; for no pulse” (4.1.95-8). The Friar knows that he can only get away with this…
First, Romeo was responsible for his own death because he used his eyes not his heart to find love. The friar said “Young men’s love then lies/Not truly in their hearts but in their eyes. (II,iii,67-68). Romeo saw Juliet’s face and loved her from that moment on and didn’t know anything about her at all, and that caused grief to everyone around him in the end. Another reason is that the Prince said “If you ever disturb our streets again/Your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace” (I,I,94-95) If Romeo was not impulsive, Romeo’s decision to kill Tybalt for Mercutio is what causes his death. If he didn’t do this, he would not have been banished from Verona.…
Up to the moment where Romeo hears of Juliet’s passing, it seemed like there might have been a happy future for the couple. But as soon as the news comes through that Juliet is dead many unfortunate events start to tumble into the plot. As soon as Romeo hears the news of his youthful rashness comes out “Is it e’en so? Then I defy you, stars!”, we learn that Romeo is looking to defy fate and kill himself so he can be with Juliet. However, his determination to kill himself only succeeds in bringing his and Juliet’s real death, a fate we learn of at the start of the play. So the consequences of human rashness and the inevitability of fate are the two themes that cause everything to go wrong from this moment onwards.…
Throughout Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare shows many examples of the main theme, forbidden love. In this story two feuding families, the Montagues and Capulets, each have a child who falls in love with the other. The young Juliet Capulet and Romeo Montague meet and fall in love at first sight. They know they cannot be together because of their names, and that is how the main theme, forbidden love, comes about.…