24th May 2017

Essay

 

Fate,invisible and colourless.Throughout the play Romeo and Juliet fate pops up a bit.Creating the Journey and path for the two lovers Romeo and Juliet.The Prologue gives the audience a clear idea of what is going to happen throughout the play.The play takes a turn for the worst or is it better in the long run? After reading the play u might rethink fate, is it really true? This essay will be explaining how Shakespeare uses fate in his play using coincidences,metaphors and more..”What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.

 

A way Shakespeare communities the idea of fate is by using Coincidences, he relates to the coincidences like a precursor or it was meant to happen.Like how the servant and the servant saying  to Romeo ”God gi’ go-den.- I pray, sir, can you read?”
Romeo reading the invitation is fate because he met Juliet at the party. Juliet turned out to be Romeo’s true love met Romeo on the street which led to Romeo meeting Juliet, referring to Christianity back in Shakespeare’s time, things that happened back they thought it was meant to happen the ” hand of god” where as now in the 21st century we sometimes think it as it was a mistake or a once in a life time thing. Romeo saying ” l’ll go along no such sight to be shown, but to rejoice in splendor of my own” Which is referring to and when he compares her with the sight of others at Capulet’s party he’ll could change his mind or find new love. Later on in the play Shakespeare gets the idea of coincidences across by the letter not getting to Romeo because of a plague.This is also fate because in the prologue it says ” A pair of star-crossed lovers take their lives” which if the letter got to Romeo he wouldn’t have killed himself.

Not only did he uses coincidences he also used metaphors as another method to show fate.He talks about metaphors as something was realistic like it could be true.He uses metaphors to show that the story is predetermined by god. An example of fate is  when he goes to the Capulets party,but Romeo is a Montague and the party is for the Capulet family.Romeo says ”…He that hath steerage of my course,direct my sail”. Which is Romeo referring to god ,meaning the Captain can choose the journey and direct him through the path.Shakespeare is implying that the captain is the same as god.We know this because when ”He” is written with a Capital letter,we know this because it is only done we refer to god.Romeo has faith and believes that god will make the right choices for him.If the ”Captian” didn’t want Romeo to attend the Capulet’s party something would have stopped him from going.Towards the extent of the play Romeo also says  “Thou desperate pilot, at once on the dashing rocks, thy seasick weary bark”. Meaning that his life is going downhill and he is not enjoying it anymore. Also when he says ”thy seasick weary bark” he could be meaning the god is making silly and stupid decisions for him.This is fate because he doesn’t have control of the plans already set in place for him.

In the prologue there a plenty examples of fate.It recites the entire play in a quick 14 lines.The prologue points out that Romeo and Juliet have fate because it says ”a pair of star-crossed lovers take their life.” which points out to the audience that they are going to kill themselves.This is fate because they he has  no control over it.The audience can see this.The two killing themselves is the only thing that can bring the two families together and stop them from fighting.Juliet meeting Romeo at the party it was like god brung them together and then for the two to go and kill themselves.The prologue explains the fate of Romeo and Juliet.”Doth with their death bury their parents strife”,Could be meaning burying the parents strife for Romeo,Juliet and Tybalt and for the whole of Verona that the Journey of Romeo and juliet has caused so much trouble for the town.

 

Shakespeare shows that there is fate in the play by using premonition, he uses this towards the end of the play.Examples of this are when Romeo sees in his dream that “I dreamt my lady came and found me dead—Strange dream, that gives a dead man leave to think—”.Romeo dreamed that he was dead. Another example of this is when Romeo and  Juliet say goodbye to each other as Romeo leaves Juliet sees in her mind that Romeo is dead in some kind of grave.Juliet says “O God, I have an ill-divining soul.Methinks I see thee now, thou art so low As one dead in the bottom of a tomb. Either my eyesight fails, or thou look’st pale”. What he is meaning by this is that she has a bad spirit.Also when he says I see thee now could be meaning Romeo,this is true because they were the only one in the room at the time and they are having a conversation.

Lastly Shakespeare forces dialogue to get the ideas of fate across. An example of dialogue is when Romeo and Juliet start to fall in love.During the balcony scene Shakespeare uses dialogue to show fate “Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo”.Juliet is asking where Romeo is then he out of the blue appears this is fate because she had no control over it happening.When Juliet is arguing with her parents,Juliet’s mum says to her “I would the fool were married to her grave . meaning I wish you were dead.Then the morning of her marring Paris she is found dead in her bedroom after drinking the potion Friar gave her.Another example of this is when Romeo tells Friar that he wants to marry Juliet,Friar says to Romeo ”Wisely and slow. They stumble that run fast”. Meaning that take it one step at a time,those who get rush it stumble.Although romeo meet his true love their were some consequences for him like getting banished from Verona.

After reading this you might understand fate a bit more.Fate is or could be a part of your life already, daily decisions might even influence the outcome of your own fate.Throughout this study I have learnt a lot about how William Shakespeare writes and uses fate.I have came to a conclusion, my own personal opinion that fate is a coincidence,or I guess it depends in what u believe in or you might think different.But do you really believe in fate?

Join the conversation! 4 Comments

  1. Hi Fergus,

    In the first paragraph where you discuss the co-incidence of Romeo meeting the Capulet servant on the street, you do a good job of explaining the situation and its consequences, but what is missing is a detailed explanation of how this is an example of the action of fate. How is a co-incidence an example of fate?

    CW

    Reply
    • hi i know what you are meaing about how is a coi incidence and example of fate but i am struggling to think of a example.

      Reply
      • I think the way to explain it is to make a reference to the Christianity of Shakespeare’s time. When there was a co-incidence, rather than today where we might consider this to be random, in Shakespeare’s time, they considered these events to be the result of the ‘hand of God’, where he influenced events on earth by bringing people together and making events happen in order that humans followed the ‘path’ he set out for them. This is a way to allow for free will and still have God influence the world.

        Reply

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