Fate In Romeo & Juliet

The play Romeo and Juliet written by William Shakespeare, involves Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet who are two "star-crossed lovers". Their families are sworn enemies and an ongoing feud continues between the two. In the book you are shown many different examples of fate and the role that fate played in the story. It isn't just a coincidence that things happened they way they through the story, its all because of fate.

In Act 1 scene 2, a Capulet servant is walking along the streets of Verona trying to hand out invitations to a party. The only problem with this is the servant can't read (coincidence?). He runs into Romeo and Benvolio who just happened to be on the street that the time. They read the list for him and decide to go to the party that the Capulets are throwing where Romeo first sees Juliet. This is fate because if the servant had run into any other person on the streets of Verona, Romeo would never even know about the Capulet party. Benvolio told Romeo to "Go thither and with untainned eye compare her face with some that I shall show". He wants Romeo to go look for someone at the party to get over his first love Rosaline. This is a bad thing for them since when Romeo and Juliet meet they don't know they are enemies.

In Act 3, Scene 5, Capulet decides to give Paris his permission to marry Juliet. Capulet believes Juliet is mourning for her dead cousin Tybalt who was recently killed by Romeo out of anger from Mercutio's death. What he doesn't know is that she is mourning because her husband, Romeo, was banished for killing Tybalt. Capulet and Paris decide on a date for the wedding; they agreed to have it on Thursday of that week. In Act 4 Scene 1 Juliet goes to speak with Friar Lawrence. He tells her of a plan that will keep her from having to marry Paris, and she will be with Romeo after she wakes up in the tomb. When Juliet gets home, her father is so pleased with all the wedding plans he decides to move the wedding up one day. Juliet was to drink a sleeping potion and fake her death which means that fate played a role in her father moving the wedding plans up. Since the wedding was moved up, Friar Lawrence didn't have enough time to get the letter, of the plans, to Romeo. The messenger the friar sent was