It causes people to do strange things. It can both make them or break them. In this way, love is very similar to fate. Romeo and Juliet met on the night of the Capulet party, and instantly fell into the deep, dark abyss of love. It is by chance that they met. A servingman who cannot read invites them to the party, and sets the wheels of the play into motion. This turn of events is caused by fate, and it is in the lovers’ favour. Romeo was there to consort with Rosaline, the reason for his unrequited love, but instead met Juliet, a woman so beautiful she gives off rays like the sun. However, it is not to be, for they are from warring families. Fortune is good to them, for it brings them together, but Romeo’s “life is [his] foe’s debt.” (I,v,133) This means that Romeo’s life is in his enemy’s control, and he cannot do anything about it. This shows he has is being ruled by fate, because he cannot makes his own choices. Later in the play, after Romeo and Juliet are married, the fight with Tybalt and Mercutio occurs. Romeo fights Tybalt and kills him in the spur of the moment, forgetting about the death penalty for doing so. He becomes “fortune’s fool” (III, i, 141) after this event. Fortune, which has been really good to him so far, causes him to kill a member of the Capulet family, conforming his downfall. Fate plays him like a fiddle, giving him a joyous time in his life and then bringing all his hopes and dreams crashing down, hence deeming him its …show more content…
Examples of this are present throughout the play, from the squabble between the two families to the death of Romeo and Juliet. Fate is kind to these men and women, but changes its mind at every hour. Nobody can escape, not even the minor characters in the Capulet and Montague family. Fate brings both good fortune and despair to the lives of Mercutio and Tybalt. Fate plays its cruel games with Romeo’s life, going back and forth between being nice and being cruel. These events in “Romeo and Juliet” prove that fate is indeed double sided. It has on a mask of love and hope, but behind it, fate is cruel and cold hearted. It toys with the lives of all the characters of this play, bringing upon them nothing but despair and death. But others it is kind to, bringing them love and joy. It is cruel and menacing, yet kind and hopeful. It brings good fortune and life, while still bringing bad luck and death. Fate is an angel, yet is as cruel as a demon. Yes, fate is indeed a double-edged