Fate and destiny

• "I see Queen Mab has been with you" -Mercutio


  Romeo refuses to engage in Mercutio's banter, explaining that in a dream he learned he that going to the feast was a bad idea as he's worried if he's caught there will be grave but unclear consequences --> "I dreamt a dream tonight"
• "I am fortune's fool!" 


  -Shakespeare uses personification so that the possessive apostrophe in the noun "fortune's" shows how Romeo feels that he's being controlled by fate, making it seem like destiny is a person.

  -The noun "fool" could be used to show Romeo's frustration with himself for being so impulsive after just having killed Tybalt --> consequences of violence as it contributes to Romeo and Juliet's downfall.
• "Here's much to do with hate, but more with love" (Act 1)- Romeo


  Romeo recognises the close connection between love and hate, foreshadowing the tragic love between him and Juliet stemming from their family fued
• "Whose misadventured piteous overthrows Do with their death bury their parent's strife" 


  the Chorus foreshadows that Romeo and Juliet's failed rebellion against their families will end in their deaths and resolve the feud
• "These violent delights have violent ends" (Act 2, Scene 6) - Friar Lawrence 


  use of violent twice--> powerful effect, symbolic of the extreme violent joy in their love, which ends violently

  oxymoron: emphasises the danger inherent in their relationship and serves as a warning their love is dangerous and defiant, and likely to not end well --> foreshadowing
• "Methinks I see thee now, thou art so low as one dead in the bottom of a tomb" (Act 3, Scene 5) - Juliet


  Juliet's premonition explicitly foreshadow's Romeo's death, building tension though dramatic irony about their sealed fates

  (she says this after Romeo has been banished and is saying goodbye)
• "Then I defy you, stars" 


  (learning of Juliet's death) Romeo: opposed to the destiny, however in "defying" fate and killing himself, he prompts Juliet's suicide: therefore ironically fulfilling the lover's tragic destiny.

  Romeo and Juliet struggle against the predetermined paths laid out for them: Romeo is powerless to change his fate

  Romeo's declaration represents his assertion of free will; trying to take control of his own destiny Also underscores the theme of the transcendent and transformative power of love; as Romeo is willing to defy the stars
• Early on in the play, at the Capulet ball, Romeo tells fate to "direct my sails": shows he is fateful