The Role of Fate in William Shakespeares The Tragedy of Romeo and Juli

The Role of Fate in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet 'Romeo and Juliet', the first romantic tragedy was based on a poem translated from the French 'Novella' (1595). Romeo Montague, who is in love with Rosaline, goes to a party in an attempt to take his mind off her. At this party he meets Juliet Capulet and immediately falls in love with her. Later he finds out that she is a Capulet, the rival family of the Montagues. He decides that he loves her in spite of this, and so does Juliet. They confess their love for each other during the very famous balcony scene in which they agree to secretly marry the next day. Friar Laurence agrees to marry them in an attempt to end the fight between the families. Unfortunately, the fight between the Montagues and the Capulets gets worse and Mercutio (Romeo's best friend) ends up in a fight with Tybalt (Juliet's cousin). Tybalt kills Mercutio, which causes Romeo to kill Tybalt in a fit of rage. For this, Prince (the Chief of Police) banishes Romeo from Verona. Juliet Capulet, according to her parents' wish, is to be married off to Paris. She does not want to marry him so she arranges with Friar Laurence to fake her own death with a sleeping potion that will make everyone think that she is dead. Friar Laurence promises to send word to Romeo to meet her when the potion wears off and to take her to Mantua (where Romeo is residing, after being banished from Verona). Unfortunately, Romeo does not receive this message on time and upon hearing of her death, he goes to Juliet's empty tomb where he drinks poison and dies. When Juliet's potion wears off, she awakens to find her lover's corpse... .... If Romeo hadn't gone to the party, he would never have met Juliet who would have been married off to Paris. In this case, the story would not have taken place. While going to the party, Romeo feels that he would die at an early age. His negative thinking could also have been an 'incentive' to his own death. Romeo and Juliet decide to get married. This is a wrong decision in the play but is decided by fate. Friar Laurence made the biggest blunder of all by agreeing to get them married. If Romeo had controlled himself and not killed Tybalt, he would not have been banished from Verona. This would prevent another worry to his tragic love life; crime. By killing Tybalt, Romeo Montague became a criminal and a fugitive. "From forth the fatal loins of these two foes A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life."