Fate in Romeo and Juliet

In the play Romeo and Juliet, the author William Shakespeare talks a lot about the idea of fate controlling the characters lives. He does this in many ways, he used a ship metaphor explaining that Romeo doesn’t believe he is in control of his own choices. Also stars are linked to fate and are continually mentioned in the play. Shakespeare explores coincidences as well, and if even one event in the play had gone differently Romeo and Juliet could have lived happily ever after.

Shakespeare uses metaphors to convey the idea of fate, such as the ship metaphor. Romeo describes himself as a ship on the ocean with someone other than himself steering it. This shows that Romeo believes in fate and that life has an illusion of choice but really his life is already planned out. At the end of Scene 1 Act 4, Romeo and Mercutio go to the ball at capulet’s house, and before they enter the house Romeo exclaims “He that hath the steerage of my course, direct my sail!” meaning he acknowledges that he doesn’t influence his life, and he is putting his trust in whoever is to make the right decisions for him. The ship metaphor is Romeo’s way of perceiving fate. The example of being a ship is relative to the time period when Romeo and Juliet was written because ship were popularly used in the 1500s.

Stars are a common theme in the play and are also linked to fate. Throughout the play many characters hint to the end of the play then refer to stars. In the elizabethan era stars where connected to fate  and ‘written in the stars’ was a frequent term in the elizabethan era and in the play. Romeo gives an example of this when he says “For my mind misgives some consequences yet hanging in the stars… by some forfeit of untimely death” he got a bad feeling right before he goes to the ball, the stars are saying he will die because he goes to the ball. In the prologue it describes Romeo and Juliet as “A pair of star-cross’d lovers” where “star-cross’d” means they are ill-fated it also mentions stars. Another instance is when Romeo gets the news that Juliet has apparently died he says “Is it even so? then I defy you, stars!” he is cursing the stars for making Juliet die.  Stars and fate are connected in the play and in the elizabethan era. In the late 1500s it was strongly believed that stars were Gods tools to determine your fate.

Many events in the play we consider coincidences as a reader, although the characters believe it to be fate. All of the major events in the play share a characteristic: if just one of them didn’t happen or had gone differently, the whole outcome of the play would be changed. A case of this is when a servant from the Capulet house is delivering an invitation to a ball at Capulet’s house. The servant comes across Romeo who happens to be heart broken, and Benvolio is looking for something to distract Romeo from his sorrow. The servant says “i pray, sir, can you read?” to which Romeo later says “Stay, fellow; I can read.” this moment leads to Romeo meeting Juliet, falling in love and eventually dying. We would look back at this moment and call it a coincidence, but anyone in England in 1500s would call it fate.

Shakespeare uses many methods to dispatch the idea of fate. he uses the ship metaphor to help explain how they believed fate worked. Stars were mentioned through out the play because they directly connected to fate. He put many coincidences in the play that were so far fetched that it had to be fate. The play reflects the time period it was written in by referring to ships, stars and coincidences, which what were used and believed in, during the 1500s.