A pair of star-crossed lovers, Romeo and Juliet.
From the opening scenes of the play Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet, two children of feuding families, were destined to fall in love together and eventually die together. How does the reader see this? How do we know it was fate, their destiny that triggered these events? Coincidence caused the death of these two lovers. For this reason, Romeo and Juliet is one of Shakespeare's great tragedies. For coincidence to have caused the death of Romeo and Juliet it must have been evident in the events leading up to their deaths. These events include their meeting and falling in love, events that seem to seal their fate, their separation, their reunion and finally their suicides. .
Solving the ancient feud between the Montagues and Capulets was the only real result of Romeo and Juliet's untimely deaths. How did Romeo and Juliet meet? Was it by fate or could it have been avoided? Romeo and Juliet could not have avoided coming in contact with each other, they were brought together by uncontrollable circumstances. In Romeo and Juliet's time Verona (a city in Italy approximately 100 km west of Venice) was a fair sized city, and "bumping" into an acquaintance was unlikely. .
During the course of Act I, Scene II, the contrary had happened, and happened by.
chance. As Romeo and Benvolio, a cousin and friend to Romeo, were nearing a public area when a Capulet servant stopped them. After Romeo had read the guest list to the Capulet party and the servant was on his way, Benvolio suggested that Romeo should go to the party and compare Rosaline to the other female guests. Romeo was trying to get over what he thought was his love for Rosaline. Benvolio thought that that would help Romeo to relieve himself of his sadness for Rosaline. Romeo agreed and the plot was in motion.
Another example of coincidence is evident here in this scene. If Rosaline had not been on the guest list attending the party, Benvolio would not have thought anything of having Romeo attend the party.