In the play Romeo and Juliet, the writer Shakespeare portrays the theory fate. Fate is a theory that means all development of events are outside a person’s control and are chosen by God. This means that everything has already been decided. For example due to my fate, I was always going to be writing this essay. This is because God has already created what is going to happen to everything in the world. In this essay I’m going to explain how Shakespeare uses the idea fate and explain the ways he uses it. The ways Shakespeare uses fate in this essay are Foreshadowing, Prologue, Metaphor and Co-incidences.
One type of fate is Foreshadowing. Foreshadowing is when there is a warning or mention of a future event which is shown or caused by God. Throughout the book, Shakespeare uses Foreshadowing. An example of this is when Romeo is thinking of going to the party and he says “Some consequence yet hanging in the stars/ Shall bitterly begin this fearful date” The part “Shall bitterly begin this fearful date” means what happens will confirm the date of his death. This is an example of Foreshadowing because he has got a mention of a future event and he knows that after he goes to the party he will begin the countdown to his death. Another example of Foreshadowing is when Juliet says “My grave is likely to be my wedding bed.” This means that Juliet has got a warning and believes that she is most likely going to die in her wedding bed.
Fate has a big impact on the storyline of Romeo and Juliet. The biggest use of Fate is the Prologue. The Prologue is 14 lines that tell us what is going to happen in “the two hours’ traffic of our stage;” (The Prologue). During The Prologue we receive several lines that use Fate. An example of this is “A pair of star-cross’d lovers take their life;” This line means that two people in love are going to commit suicide. This line is a type of fate because it states what is going to happen. Another example of fate in the Prologue is: “Which but their children’s end nought could remove,”. When it says children’s end nought could remove, it means that nothing but there children’s death could could remove the hatred between the families. This quote is an example of fate because they state predetermined information about what is going to happen in the play. This means that these quotes have already been decided by God and are what is going to happen.
In the play Romeo and Juliet, the use of Metaphor for Fate is evident. It is used as an example of Foreshadowing by individual characters to show that they have an understanding of what is going to happen but aren’t quite sure what it is. An example of this is when Romeo says “Direct my sail! On, lusty gentlemen.”. Romeo is referring to himself being a ship or on a ship and says God is the wind or captain of the ship. Romeo does this many times throughout the play. What Romeo is doing, is explaining that he believes God is going to lead him wherever God believes is important for Romeo to go. He also believes that God will do what is right and will do it for the best of everybody.
Coincidences are when something happens that would generally be considered to have a very low chance of happening but was really an act of god. Coincidences are used to explore the idea fate because they are ideas that are to lucky to be true. An example of this is Romeo seeing the invitation from the servant who can’t read and then deciding to go and see Rosaline at the party. This is a coincidence because the chances of seeing the invitation and then deciding to go to the party are very low. Another example is Romeo not receiving the all important letter from Friar Lawrence, that tells him that Juliet is not going to die. At the start of the play he reads a letter he usually wouldn’t and at the end he doesn’t read the one he should. These two parts in Romeo and Juliet are the start and end of the play and Romeo receives the wrong letter at the wrong time. When he does not receive the letter at the end. the cause of it leads to his death. Shakespeare has used the beliefs from the time to make it seem that coincidences are caused by God.
To conclude, fate plays a very important role in Romeo and Juliet. It creates the idea that God is in the play and in real life and has control over what we do. Foreshadowing, Prologue, Metaphor and Coincidences are four ways that Shakespeare has used to show fate.
1 Comment
Add Yours →This is progressing well. You understand the scope of the question and are using excellent quality examples. Your structure is clear and develops a strong argument.
We discussed two main areas for development from this draft piece.
1) Remove most of the “I” statements. Most of your work will come across as a lot more authoritative if you put your points down as 3rd person statements of fact. Remember you can check the examples on the class website to support you to do this.
2) Explain your ideas and quotations more thoroughly. Currently you’re expecting your reader to already understand what your mean by Shakespeare’s theories about fate and you’re also expecting them to know the meaning of the quotations you’re using and how they’re relevant to the point you’re making. The essay would be improved if you explain these things to your reader before moving to your next point.