Romeo and Juliet Fate and Free Will Quotes Page 2
Citations follow this format: (Act.Scene.Line). Line numbers correspond to the 2008 Norton edition of the play.
| Quote #4 ROMEO |
Immediately after he kills Tybalt in a duel, Romeo declares he is "fortune's fool." This seems to suggest that fate or "fortune" is responsible for Tybalt's death, not Romeo. We can't help but wonder if we (the audience) are meant to agree with Romeo's assessment of the situation. Should we let Romeo off the hook for fighting and killing Tybalt, or should we hold Romeo responsible for his actions?
| Quote #5 JULIET |
When Juliet says she has "an ill-diving soul," she means that she has a premonition of Romeo's death. This, of course, foreshadows how she will see Romeo for the last time: with her in her tomb (5.3). You may have noticed there's a whole lot of foreshadowing in the play, much of it having to do with the lovers' deaths. It seems like all the foreshadowing emphasizes the Prologue's assertion that Romeo and Juliet are "fated" to die, don't you think?
| Quote #6 JULIET |
Juliet feels pretty helpless when she says goodbye to her new husband, Romeo, after the couple's one and only night together. (Romeo has been banished from Verona for killing Tybalt and Juliet's not sure she'll ever see him again.) Fortune (or Dame Fortuna, goddess of fortune and fate) is often portrayed as a "fickle" (unpredictable and unreliable) goddess because she could raise men up to great heights or cast them down at any moment with the spin of her wheel (a.k.a. the wheel of fortune). Juliet begs "fortune" to be kind to Romeo and reasons that since Romeo is so "faith[ful]" (as in not fickle or unreliable), then "fickle" fortune should want nothing to do with him.
