The prologue refers to Romeo and Juliet as ‘Star – crossed lovers’

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William Shakespeare was one of the most talented writers ever known, one of his greatest achievements, the love story ‘Romeo and Juliet’. ‘Romeo and Juliet’ was written in the late 15th century. It was a very advanced story for it’s time and still proves very popular today. Many different versions have been made and edited from the original play script. To be performed on T.V and radio. Shakespeare originally wrote ‘Romeo and Juliet’ for the stage in Elizabethan theatres all around London.

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The play was set in Verona on two so called ‘star-crossed lovers’ Romeo, who is from the Montague family and Juliet from and Capulet family. They fall in love at first sight.

But the problem with this being the Montague and Capulet family have had a feud between one another for as long as either family could remember. Romeo and Juliet meet at a Capulet party and immediately fall for each other. They decide to get married on only their second meeting.

But when people start to find out about this secret marriage between a Montague and a Capulet, problems arise. But the story ends with the biggest tragedy. Both not realising what was actually happening; Romeo and Juliet consecutively commit suicide. There are three themes running throughout the story; cruel fate, chance and personal choice, all three having a say in why Romeo and Juliet die. In the prologue Romeo and Juliet are referred to, as ‘star-crossed lovers’ making it seem as if they are fated to meet, fall in love and then die.

‘Chance’ occurs quite a lot in the story. So this could have resulted in Romeo and Juliet’s death. For example, if Peter the servant was able to read.

Peter: “god gi’ god-den. I pray sir can you read?”

(Line 59, Act 1; scene 2).

Romeo would never have been able to get into the party in the first place. Another example of chance would be that Friar John didn’t get to Romeo in Mantua to deliver the letter informing Romeo of Juliet’s plan because Mantua had been restricted, so that no one could enter and no one could leave, this would had been very common in Shakespeare’s time, as he wrote his story around the peak of the plague. So the audiences watching the play in Shakespearean time would have fully understood why this was. So all along Romeo is led to believe that Juliet is dead and not just under the effects of the potion. Also, the last and probably most significant thing that occurs within the theme of chance would be that Romeo takes the poison he has bought from the apothecary; exactly the second Juliet is waking up.

So just as Romeo sees Juliet waking up from the effects of her potion she got from friar Lawrence, the effects of the poison he’s just taken starts to work and Juliet dies. Both realising there is nothing either of them can do to save one another. Also the very unlikely chance that Romeo and Juliet were from the two families that had an ‘ancient grudge’. The fact that Juliet could had met any man that night at the Capulet’s party and out of all the men she could had fallen in love with, the most unexpected thing happens and the daughter of lord Capulet manages to fall in love at first sight with the Son of lord Montague. She even says herself:

Juliet: “my only love sprung from my only hate”

(Line 137, act 1; scene 5)

So obviously she wasn’t planning to go to her fathers party and fall in love with the only son of lord Montague, it all happens because of chance.

The second of the three themes, which may have resulted in Romeo and Juliet’s death, was ‘personal choice’. For example: Juliet decides to initiate the marriage between herself and Romeo, she comes out with the idea first,

Juliet: “Three words, dear Romeo, and good night indeed.

If thy bent of love be honourable,

Thy purpose marriage, send me work tomorrow, …”

(Line 42-4, act 2; scene2)

Maybe if Juliet hadn’t decided to marry Romeo in the first place at such short notice and given it a little more time, she wouldn’t had put Friar Lawrence in the awkward position of finally deciding to go along with them and join them together in marriage. Even tough friar Lawrence was aware of all the consequences of this particular marriage; he personally decided to proceed for many different reasons. Friar Lawrence says:

Friar Lawrence: ” In one respect I’ll assistant be;

For this alliance may so happy prove,

To turn your households’ rancour to pure love.

(Line 90-3, act 2; scene 3)

So he is basically saying, I will help you, Romeo by marrying you, to try to unify your feuding families. By the joining of a Capulet and Montague in marriage would bring the two families closer together and end the feud. But this didn’t exactly work out to plan. Also, carrying on with same subject. If Romeo had never agreed to marry Juliet, maybe none of the following Tragedies that were just around the corner would had happened to Romeo and Juliet. One tragedy, related to Juliet and because of Romeo that happens later on in the story is when Romeo decided to go out and find then promptly kill Tybalt, Juliet’s cousin because of a fight that finished with Tybalt Killing Mercutio, who was Romeo’s best friend. This causes a lot of strife in the Capulet family and when Price Escalus discovers what has happened he had to decide on a punishment and he chooses to banish Romeo from Verona and Romeo is then cast off into Mantua. The only was Romeo is able to find out about this devastating news of his banishment is from the Friar Lawrence

Friar Lawrence: ” here from Verona art thou banished”

(Line 14, act 3, scene3)

This leads to Juliet deciding to take serious action. She goes to grave measures to see Romeo again, even if it does mean faking her own death. Juliet goes and visits Friar Lawrence to seek help and at the same time threatens to kill herself, as she believes there is no reason for her living if she can’t see Romeo. When Friar Lawrence introduces the idea of a special potion that makes the body look lifeless for 42hours. She chooses to jump the offer, as it may be her only chance at this point of ever seeing her husband ever again. But this just causes more problems and falsely leads Romeo into choosing to join Juliet in death by going to see her in the tomb and taking the poison he had purchased of an apothecary just before he left Mantua, whilst lying next to her. Just before Romeo gets to see Juliet, Paris the man who was meant to be marrying Juliet earlier that day confronts him and the door of the tomb. Romeo is to desperate to see Juliet he chooses to murders Paris right there on the door step to Juliet’s tomb and just walks straight in. By this point in the story has killed three people killed: Mercutio, Tybalt and Paris. For various reasons, but all relating in some way to personal choice.

The last and defiantly most important theme that crops up throughout the whole of the play is the use of ‘Fate’, or ‘cruel fate’ as it never seams to be fate towards a high point or in the story it builds up throughout the play until the end where it seams as if Romeo and Juliet’s death has been fated ever since the moment Juliet and Romeo saw one another at the Capulet’s party. Fate is mentioned from the very beginning in the prologue. It mentions the phrase,

‘Star-crossed lovers’

(Line 6, prologue)

When referring to Romeo and Juliet. Making it seem as if they have been fated since the beginning of time to meet. Then the prologue goes on to refer to their love for one another as,

‘Death-marked love’

(Line 9, prologue)

Meaning there is obviously going to be a death within the relationship and it’s been fated from the very beginning. As if there is nothing neither Romeo nor Juliet can do to stop. Within the second meeting of Romeo and Juliet fate has already occurred many times, for example, just the way they meet at the Capulet’s party it was as if it was meant to happen and there was nothing either of them could do to avoid one another. They were set out to meet each other and that’s exactly what happened at this point, they immediately fall in love with each other. Then in the Second Act, in the passage when Romeo and Juliet are devoting their love to one another, fate is occurring a lot here, although neither of them realise they are actually in a way sometimes speaking their unseen future of what is going to happen to them if they were to be together. When Romeo says,

Romeo: “Two of the fairest stars in all the heaven

Having some business”

(Line 15-16, act 2; scene 2)

He is referring back to association them selves as stars, just like in the prologue. Also Juliet says,

Juliet: ” Do not swear at all;

Or if thou wilt, swear by thy gracious self,

Which is god of my idolatry,

And I’ll believe thee.”

(Line 113-16, act 2; scene 2)

She is saying this because earlier on in this particular conversation between Romeo and Juliet, Romeo was swearing on the moon to prove his love for Juliet, but Juliet said not to swear by the moon as it changes monthly and it could then represent their love. So she said to him, if he was going to swear his love by anything, swear it on him self. So as long as he is alive he will be in love with Juliet. But they obviously as these points don’t know what events that are about to happen which are going to increasingly change and also, very rapidly end their lives. Before Romeo, Mercutio, Benvolio and friends are on their way to the party, Romeo has a vision; the vision is of his own death! Just when Tybalt has stabbed Mercutio and he is dying after Romeo refusing to fight, Mercutio makes two obvious referrals to fate,

Mercutio: “I am hurt.

A plague on both your houses, I am sped.

Is he gone and hath nothing?”

(Line 93-5, act 3; scene 1)

‘A plague on both your houses’ is a very well known phrase from Mercutio; he is basically putting a curse on both the Montague and the Capulet mansions, as he is from neither and is angry and the brawling that happens between both of them and after his death, he obviously just wants the feud to end, so no more deaths can take place. But I also get the idea that him putting a curse on the two families is like the families getting a plague in both their houses (like Mercutio says) so he is predicting the future by saying their will be more deaths to come, just like in a plague.

Mercutio: ” ask for

Me tomorrow, and you shall find me a grave

Man.”

(Line 99-100, act 3; scene 1)

In this phrase I think Shakespeare chose to use ‘a grave man’ because Mercutio has at this point realised that his time is up, but he tries to make it sound as if they would still be able to come and call on him tomorrow. But when he say he will be a ‘grave man’ it is kind of pointing out that they all know he is going to be dead, so in a way he still jokes about his death, even when he is on deaths doorstep.

In conclusion, I feel out of the three themes: cruel fate, chance and personal choice. Personally, I think one that strikes me as being the most important in contributing to the death of Romeo and Juliet would have been ‘cruel fate’. I thought throughout the whole of the play this theme popped up the most and was made to stand out over all the other themes leading to Romeo and Juliet’s death. Although I do still feel the other two, chance and personal choice did play some role in the misfortune of Romeo and Juliet’s ending. I believe Shakespeare choose to use Cruel fate in the play as the main subject to rotate the story around, because it is the most difficult to understand. So it draws people into the show. I felt this also when I watched the play, the use of cruel fate makes is more interesting and also enables the play to introduce weird and wonderful theories, like when Mercutio and Romeo are talking about dreams and Mercutio mentions the Queen Mab, who controls your dreams. Also it enables in this particular story the allowance of comparing Romeo and Juliet as star-crossed lovers.

I just feel the story is much, much deeper that what it seems when you just read it or go and watch it on a stage. Only when you have analysed it and written about the story plots and themes, you can get a better understanding of the reasons for Romeo and Juliet’s death and cruel fate in this particular occasion I feel has come out on top. The use of not such popular themes as in books I imagine makes it much more interesting to read, just because it’s so much different and makes you think a lot about what is happening, it’s also a gripping love story, the tragedy and romance just make it very entertaining and watch-able/legible. Also the language that Shakespeare uses is very different to the language we are used to today, so it makes it much more of an interesting read. I personally enjoyed the story thoroughly and now after looking deeper into the themes and story plot it has given me a much better understanding of the whole play.

Claude Harrison
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