Juliet and Her Romeo: A Planned Fate

Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is one imbued with the concept of universal fate. This is marked by the Friar’s intellectual understanding of Hubris, as well as Juliet’s comprehension of her situation in regard to fate.

Shakespeare’s love story of Romeo and Juliet is a container for a thesis of destiny-the subtext of this work. This is made clear to us in the prologue where Shakespeare foreshadows his complex criticism of destiny: “A pair of star-crossed lovers” (I,i,6), and “death-marked” (I,i,9). This opening sequence concludes the fate of Romeo and Juliet’s chaotic relationship even before the action has begun. In this story of destiny, Juliet is the protagonist, and Friar Lawrence the catalyst.

The intellectual Friar Lawrence appears in his first scene to the audience in his garden picking herbs foreshadowing the death-perceiving potion made for Juliet. What is not shown at first glance is his quick agreement to marry Juliet to Romeo, and the plan already forming in his head to unite the two enemy families, that will fail him and the lovers. Throughout the play the Friar serves as a “helping” character who assists the lovers throughout conflict and serves to be a strong, stable, reliable charact

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If the Friar had stopped Juliet from killing herself, not only would she have been devastated with grief, but the Montague family would have most definitely sought revenge on the Capulets and the ‘ancient grudge’ would have been prolonged.

Although the friar initiates Romeo and Juliet’s matrimony, he is also responsible for their sudden deaths, and he feels this as shown in his confession to the prince: "if aught in this / Miscarried by my fault, let my old life / Be sacrificed, some hour before his time / Unto the rigour of severest law" (V,iii,266-269). When Juliet is neglected by everyone she had relied on emotionally, she decides: "I'll to the friar, to know his remedy; / If all else fail, myself have power to die" (III,v,241-242). Although Romeo makes suggestions and references to suicide frequently to the Friar when he is distraught, he is not taken seriously until he actually commits suicide, which proves his seemingly uncertain love for Juliet. Throughout the play Romeo displays a secondary maturity level, emotionally than Juliet, especially when faced with conflict. Traditionally, poison is the woman’s weapon and the dagger the man’s. Instead of staying with Juliet to comfort her and live up to the reliable character he had portrayed himself to be, he runs away in fear of “noises”. At the very end of the famous balcony scene, Romeo says, "Hence will I to my ghostly father's cell, / His help to crave, and my dear hap to tell" (II,ii,188-189). / Come, go, good Juliet,--I dare no longer stay. This understanding of Hubris and respect for fate is the true intellectual capacity of the Friar. Again the Friar gives the support and wisdom Romeo and Juliet’s relationship relies on. ” (V,iii,153-159)

In a decision that indicates the Friar’s understanding of the importance of harmony, he leaves Juliet and in doing so, allows fate to take hold.

Approximate Word count = 1172
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

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