Whether it was intentional or unintentional there were many techniques used by William Shakespeare in Romeo and Juliet that caused readers to believe that fate did indeed play a big part in this piece. Below are some of the sophisticated techniques he used to portray this idea of fate
Shakespeare explored the idea of fate in his prologue as the audience of the play were told the whole plot before the play even begun. “A pair of star cross’d lovers take their life;”. By star cross’d lovers it means that no matter how much these two people love each other, their love for each other is doomed and their relationship will always fail in a tragedy. As in the stars do not agree with their love. People who believe in astrology believe that the stars control all humans destiny, which is obviously a form of fate meaning that we do not even control our own decisions. This statement of course turns out to be true as Romeo and Juliet both do indeed take their own lives and that leaves us to think that fate really is a big part of Romeo and Juliet. In Act one scene four Romeo is talking about a dream he had the night before. Saying that something would occur that night that would lead to his death. That was the night he would meet Juliet, referring back to the prologue; “star cross’d lovers”.
Metaphors have been used by Shakespeare many many times in his plays and Romeo and Juliet is most certainly one of them. “He that have steerage of my course, direct my sail”. This is said by Romeo in Act one scene four when he surrenders himself to the path that has been set out for him presumably by god considering when it says “He that have steerage of my course, direct my sail”. he spells “He” with a capital H. He refers to this boat metaphor many other times in the play. Another big example of metaphors in this play is when Capulet uses personification, which is when someone gives human characteristics to an object. Capulet uses personification on death. When he is grieving he states, “Death is my son-in-law, Death is heir”. By saying this he means that he believes that Juliets death is lost future as in he cannot have a son-in-law and he cannot have a grandson because “Death” has replaced them both.
There are many times in Romeo and Juliet where you think that this cant be a coincidence because it is just too rare or unlucky. These coincidences happen so that the characters can follow the path that has already been set out for them. One of the first coincidences in Romeo and Juliet would be when a servant was told to hand out party invitations but can not read, he coincidently comes across Romeo and asks him to read out the invitation to him. This is how Romeo finds out about the party of where he would meet Juliet. People can also argue that if Rosaline had not rejected Romeo then he would not have been sad, he would not have gone to the party, he would have never met Juliet and he most probably wouldn’t have died so young. But these coincidences happen so that they can follow their true paths, which essentially ties back to fate. It is possible that these are not even coincidences, but are instead planned so that Romeo and Juliet can follow their destiny.
Shakespeare conveys his convictions on fate In his play by slipping them into the audience’s grip, using premonition. He utilizes premonition so for Romeo it could feel like an just a bad dream or an ugly thought in his head, however in truth it is expressing what will happen further in the play. A case of fate in a hunch in Romeo and Juliet would be in Act 5 scene 1 When Romeo says “I dreamt my lady came and found me dead”. He says this being totally and completely ignorant that this will be an occasion that happens later on in his life. Shakespeare utilizes this reference to fate since he is trying to demonstrate that inconspicuous clues in individuals’ lives can foresee things that occur later on in their life.
The aspect of fate was also expressed by certain characters dialog throughout the play. In act 3 scene 5 Juliet is refusing to marry Paris even after Capulet and Lady Capulet threaten to banish her which causes them to be very angry. Lady Capulet coldly declares “I would the fool were married to her grave”, wishing her own daughters death. What Lady Capulet was unaware of was that this is exactly what would happen because Juliet obviously did die not long after her Mother stated this. Many would consider this a curse of which Lady Capulet had placed over Juliet. Another example would be just before Mercutio died because of a fight between the Montagues and the Capulets, he stated “A plague o’ both your houses!”, meaning he had placed a curse over the Montagues and the Capulets. This curse would turn out to be true when both Romeo and Juliet from each house perished.
Shakespeare did indeed associate many genius techniques to showcase fate in Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare made his beliefs very clear to the audience about how God has the power to choose certain paths for all living things as he has the power to do anything he chooses. From “star crossed lovers” at the start of the play to the very end where Romeo and Juliet meet their tragic but programmed downfall, fate has run this play.
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