Romeo and Juliet! help me please?

Question:Romeo and Juliet are referred to as "star - crossed". To what extent was fate responsible for the deaths of the two lovers?

plase help me...i just want to in point form to help me understand

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Romeo and Juliet are referred to as "star - crossed". To what extent was fate responsible for the deaths of the two lovers?

plase help me...i just want to in point form to help me understand

-Fate brought hem together
-Reaction to fate/love brought them to the point which they would die for one anther
-fate caused them to actually die, as Juliet believed romio was ACTUALLY dead, and the timing was all wrong

Fate and coincidences played a dominant role in this Shakespeare play. For instance, Romeo misunderstood the "death" of Juliet- audiences know that she is just under a spell from the potion, but Romeo thought that she had really died. And as Romeo was trying to get back to Juliet, one of the roads was closed down due to a plague- a coincidence of fate occurring to keep Romeo and Juliet apart. And when Juliet wakes up from her spell, she was literally a few seconds late from preventing Romeo from poisoning himself.

"Fate" does not play a significant role in Shakespeare. R & J fall in love and willingly seek to get married--despite the conflict between their families. Their deaths can be attributed more to bad timing than anything else. Fate is more a concern of Greek tragedy. (see Oedipus Rex)

Fate plays a large role in MANY Shakespeare plays.

In the Prologue, the Chorus states that Romeo and Juliet are "star-crossed," that fate (a power often vested in the movements of the stars) controls them. This sense of fate permeates the play. The characters also are quite aware of it: Romeo and Juliet constantly see omens (see Romeo's speech before the party, Juliet's dreams).

When Romeo believes that Juliet is dead, he cries out, “Then I defy you, stars,” completing the idea that the love between Romeo and Juliet is in opposition to the decrees of destiny. Of course, Romeo’s defiance itself plays into the hands of fate, and his determination to spend eternity with Juliet results in their deaths.

Fate manipulates all of the events surrounding the lovers: the feud between their families (it is worth noting that this hatred is never explained; rather, we accept it as an undeniable aspect of the world of the play); the horrible series of accidents (the other Friar getting stuck in the plague-house and unable to deliver the letter to Romeo, Romeo coming to see Juliet's funeral, Paris interrupting Romeo in the tomb, etc) that ruin Friar Lawrence’s well-intentioned plans at the end of the play; and the tragic timing of Romeo’s suicide and Juliet’s awakening. These events are not mere coincidences, but rather manifestations of fate that help bring about the unavoidable outcome of the young lovers’ deaths.

There are other possible readings of fate in the play: as a force determined by the powerful social institutions that influence Romeo and Juliet’s choices, as well as fate as a force that emerges from Romeo and Juliet’s very personalities.