Romeo and Juliet's Destiny: An Issue of Fate or Man's Free Will?

      For centuries, people thought that our lives was pre-determined by God; for centuries, people believed that actions had a purpose and a reason -- even though they were not understandable. Society were simply convinced that things happened just because they were supposed to happen; indeed, they accepted fate, destiny. In fact, during the Elizabethan era, one's destiny or fate was viewed as predetermined; they strongly believed in the wheels of fortune, in fate, and in superstition. 

      Nevertheless, William Shakespeare once said, "it is not in the stars to hold our destiny bu in ourselves." He definitely went against the mainstream by saying that one's fate can be changed by our free will. In that era, many believed in the power of the stars to predict the future, and Shakespeare uses this idea to anticipate the desired and tragi ending, as it is shown, "a pair of stars cross's lovers take their life (R&J, prologue, 6)." However, throughout Romeo and Juliet 

 there are some glanes of hope that this young couple might overcome the adverse situations and survive. It is difficult to say whether it is a matter of fate or not, because through the story, characters have different options to choose, and a lot of incidents happen that throw readers into confusion. For instance, when the servant invites Rome and Benvolio to the Capulet party and the presence of Paris at Juliet's tomb (among other stituations) demonstrate that something is going wrong and, eventually, Romeo and Juliet are predestined to die together. Or, the eternal disputes between Capulets and Montagues, the fight between Romeo and Tybalt, and the suicide of the couple show that their actions were chosen by their own without any other influence or force. Yes, Romeo and Juliet demonstrates the idea of fate versus free well.

      From the beginning of the story, we as readers can have a bird's eye view of the play. This young couple seems to be ruled by fate as everything is constantly related and linked to together; nevertheless, at the end, we end up unconnsciously questioning if the death of Romeo and Juliet is predetermined by destiny or it happens because of their free will. Is this a proof that, sometimes, the dice are not loaded from the start? This leads us to re-think about our own lives. Religion has lost importance in a predestined world, we do not longer believe that God may determine our lives. Without free will, there would not be a balance between good and evil, perhaps. Certainly, nowadays many elements of our lives seem to depend on our free will but, how many of them, actually, rely on man's free will? Maybe we think that it depends on us, but maybe it is a matter of fate, as well.