by Max C

Created on: May 14, 2009   Last Updated: May 18, 2009

Fortune's Fools

Shakespeare's works are well know for their uses of imagery, foreshadowing and figurative language. From the moment that Shakespeare's romantic tragedy, Romeo and Juliet, had begun, it was made clear, through the use of literary devices, that the consequences of their actions would lead to their demise. In fact, the outcome had always been in their hands. However, neither Romeo nor Juliet recognized this. Before thinking that fate does not exist, look at it this way. "Each player must accept the cards life deals him or her. But once they are in hand, he or she alone must decide how to play the cards in order to win the game." -Voltaire. Romeo and Juliet were not doomed from the start, but rather, their thinking that fate was in control of every move they made, cost them their lives. Shakespeare used several literary devices in Romeo and Juliet, none more than imagery, foreshadowing, and figurative language, to show that the fate of Romeo and Juliet was escapable.

From the start of the play, foreshadowing showed that something bad was destined to happen. Before the action even begins, Shakespeare says "A pair of star-cross'd lovers, take their life," (Prologue, line 6). One of the first lines of the entire play, and it already connotates that Romeo and Juliet will commit suicide. It is easy to see, that in their blinding love, they were clearly not thinking rationally. As one of the wisest and most logical characters, Friar Lawrence, puts it, "These violent delights have violent ends And in their triumph die, like fire and powder," (Act 2,Scene 6 Lns 9-10). Rather than blaming fate for all this gloom and doom, he is clearly telling an irrational Romeo, that his actions will be the cause of his "violent ends". Although Romeo has listened to Friar Lawrence's advice, he is still infatuated with the belief that fate is in control. Friar Lawrence is right in saying that Romeo's actions are controlling the situation, but Romeo fails to see that his actions control his fate. Again, Romeo blames his predicament on fate, even though it is obviously in consequence of his actions, when he says, "Oh, I am fortune's fool!," (Act 3,Scene 1 Ln 132). He is declaring how unlucky he is, and how cruel fate is to him. Luck has nothing to do with his blind anger when killing Tybalt. Fortune or luck did not kill Tybalt or cause Romeo to, it was another form of Romeo's unbridled emotions. Romeo is reckless in his actions, because he believes that his fate is predetermined,

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