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.

on the course of the play, but changes the way we think of "toasting" to someone.

The reuniting of the two lovers in such circumstances (Romeo's unawareness) could only have happened as it did by coincidence, by fate. The question could be asked, “What if the friar had left early?” Or what if the friar had caught Balthasar and given him the message? Because of bad timing neither happened. Coincidence is a controlling element regarding the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. It is more evident than in other areas of the play.

In reuniting the two lovers, timing/fate, played the largest role in deciding if they would live or die. Friar Laurence had two chances to deliver the message to Romeo regarding Juliet's present state. The first and most practical method of sending this message was through Romeo's "man", Balthasar. The second method was to send the message with Friar John. Timing/fate was an important factor in both of these events. Friar Laurence had missed his opportunity to send the message with Balthasar and reverted to sending it with Friar John. As fate would have it, Friar John was locked up in a condemned house because of the plague. As a result Romeo received incorrect information. The only information he received from the unsuspecting Balthasar was that Juliet was dead. There are two important points to note in this area of the play. One being the reference to star-crossing, fates out of line by Romeo speaking of love “ I fear too early; for my mind misgives some consequence, yet hanging in the stars, shall bitterly begin his fearful date. With this night’s revels and expire the term of a despised life, closed in my breast, by some vile forfeit of untimely death.” (Romeo and Juliet, Act I, Scene 5,Line 114-119) And when he heard of Juliet's death. "Is it even so? Then I defy you, stars." (Romeo and Juliet, Act V, Scene I, Line 24).

The following examples also deal with "close-calls", which involve timing as well as coincidence. After Romeo had killed Paris he entered the tomb and found Juliet's seemingly dead body. He uttered some interesting words. "Death that hath sucked the honey of thy breath hath had no power yet upon thy beauty. Thou art not conquered; beauty's ensign yet is crimson in thy lips and cheeks." (Romeo and Juliet, Act V, Scene III, Lines 92-95.).

Some topics in this essay:
Romeo Juliet, Friar Laurence, Act Scene, Balthasar Juliet, Romeo Benvolio, Scene Prince's, Scene Line, Romeo Juliet’s, Juliet Capulet, III Lines, romeo juliet, act scene, juliet act, friar laurence, romeo juliet act, friar john, deaths romeo, juliet act scene, deaths romeo juliet, entered tomb, scene iii, coincidence caused, act scene 5, caused death, scene 5 line,