Romeo & Juliet Essay Carly Prosser Do you believe in fate? If you want to try to answer this question you must first know what fate is and what it means. The definition of fate is "that power which is thought to determine one's future, success or failure; it is our destiny, doom or failure". Do you believe that there is such a power that decides what our future holds and what will happen to us? I wonder if Romeo and Juliet believed in fate and if it had a bearing on what happened to the two young lovers in William Shakespeare's play. Fate seemed to control them by forcing them to be together despite their parent's hatred. Fate became the theme of this play and continues to play an important part of their lives then and our lives now. I guess it all comes down to whether or not you believe in fate. Is it fate to be in an exact spot at an exact time when you happen to meet that one special person or is it just coincidence. Some of the events and actions that take place in the play are believed to occur by chance or destiny. The timing of each event influences the final outcome of the play. Some important events in Romeo & Juliet that are crucial to the outcome of the play are the Capulet ball, the quarrel between Tybalt & Romeo and Friar John's plague. The Capulet ball is an important part of the issue of fate in this story as fate caused Romeo to be at a ball he wasn't invited to. Was it fate or coincidence that both the servant and Romeo happened to be in the market at the same time, and was it fate the drew the servant to ask Romeo, and not someone else, to read the invitation for him. Even though Romeo went to the ball to see Rosaline, was it fate that he saw Juliet instead and fell instantly in love with her. So, it seems to be fate that Romeo read an invitation he should never have seen, to go to a ball to see one woman and then fall in love with another. The quarrel between Tybalt and Romeo was important as it leads to the banishment of Romeo from the city. The prince has banned fighting between the two families, but as Tybalt and Mercutio fought, and Romeo interfered, this caused the death of Mercutio. Out of anger, Romeo then killed Tybalt. This caused his banishment from Verona and set the scene for Friar John to try to reunite Romeo and Juliet. Friar John is a friend to both Romeo and Juliet and wishes to help them reunite as man and wife, because Juliet's father is making hasty marriage plans to wed Paris and Juliet. Friar John concocts a plan to fake Juliet's death so she does not have to marry Paris and can then reunite with Romeo outside of Verona. Friar John gives Juliet the fake potion but before he can send a message to Romeo to tell him of his plan, fate has it that a plague come over the city which means Romeo cannot be told. Fate then plays another cruel trick by letting Baltazore see Juliet in this state, and believing her dead, rushes to tell Romeo the news. Romeo sneaks into the city and sees Juliet. Believing her dead, he drinks the real poisoned potion as Juliet starts to come to life. Seconds can mean a lifetime in this instance where they both realize the fate has torn them apart. As Romeo lies dying Juliet cannot face life without him and stabs herself. I believe that fate, and it's effect on all of our lives, is the real story. Not only with Romeo and Juliet, but in everyday life little things can mean the difference between life and death, happiness and sadness or love and hate. What we do each and every date shapes our lives and destiny on a track that cannot be altered. Even when we feel we are making correct decisions they can backfire on us for the simplest of reasons, but may result in making our lives better or worse. Only fate can decide this for us.