This meager, seemingly unimportant word plays a significant role in Shakespeare's most well known piece Romeo and Juliet. The definition of fate is is "something that unavoidably befalls a person". Many of the most well known quotes from Romeo and Juliet involve some aspect of how fate controls their actions. Fate is the main theme of the play and mentioned multiple times. The reason for this is likely because in Shakespearian times people believed fate decided all decisions. In today's modern era the vast majority of people believe we have free will and can control our decisions. Some psychologists argue free will is simply an illusion. How much control do we really have?.
The play sets the tone of the story by referring to Romeo and Juliet as "A pair of star-cross'd lovers " in the first address to the audience. This is most commonly interpreted to that they don't have control over how they fall in love. By using this at the beginning of the play it foreshadows the inevitability of fate. Fate appears in the main events of the lovers such as the feud of the families and the tragic timing of the suicide. Throughout the play it is obvious to the audience that nothing that happened was coincidental. Romeo and Juliet are also aware of what role fate plays and mention it quite often. Fate was mentioned in many famous works and plays a key role in literary history.
Fast forward from the Shakespearean Era to modern day and almost anyone will tell you we have to power to control our own lives. Fate is viewed as an unnecessary, foolish idea from the past. The idea of free will is an important aspect to our modern society such as our Legal System which is based off of responsibility for your actions. Few people today still argue that Fate exists and there is no such thing as free will. This minority of people include many psychologists that convey strong arguments against the commonly accepted idea of free will.
