Fate

Fate

1. Act 3 Scene 1

   • 'O, I am fortune's fool!' - Romeo
     • His irresponsibility is shown when he blames fate for his actions

2. Act 5 Scene 1

   • 'Is it even so? Then I defy you stars!' - Romeo
     • Romeo is adamant that he will not give in to the power of the stars and let them take Juliet away from him
       • When Balthazar tells Romeo that Juliet is 'dead'

3. Prologue

   • 'A pair of star cross'd lovers...' - Chorus
     • Even from the beginning, the lovers are destined to die
     • 'star cross'd means the stars of fate were crossed e.g. Romeo and Juliet meeting at the Capulet's

4. Act 1 Scene 4

   • 'My mind misgives/ Some consequence yet hanging in the stars' - Romeo
     • Romeo suggests that going to the party will have severe consequences, hinting at his eventual downfall and death

5. Act 5 Scene 3

   • 'Shake the yoke of inauspicious stars' - Romeo
     • To shake off the burden imposed by fate - continued in the speech before Romeo commits suicide
   • 'One writ with me in sour misfortune's book' - Romeo
     • Romeo and Paris fight until eventually Paris is killed, before Romeo takes the poison
     • Romeo sees Paris as someone who is destined to be unfortunate, much like himself

6. Act 3 Scene 5

   • 'I see thee, now art below, As one dead in the bottom of a tomb. Either my eyesight fails or thou look't pale' - Juliet
     • Juliet foreshadows Romeo's death as the last time she will see him is dead in her tomb

7. Act 1 Scene 5

   • 'Go ask his name: if he married My grave is like to be my wedding bed' - Juliet
     • Juliet foreshadows her own death as her tomb is her wedding bed to Paris

8. There's a lot of foreshadowing in the play, particularly on the lover's deaths

   • Emphasises the Prologue's assertion that Romeo and Juliet are 'fated' to die

9. Fate controls their love and has forced them together, ultimately ending their parents hatred but also their lives

10. Hints are made throughout about the ending and the downfall of Romeo and Juliet

11. Fate is blamed for several events particularly by Romeo

    • Even though it plays a huge part in the play, Romeo fails to accept any responsibility for his actions

12. Shakespeare allows the audience to already know the fate of the lovers. He wants them to be in a god-like position by using dramatic irony