Explanations are a tool people use to distance
themselves of the guilt of their own imprudent decisions. In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, not chance, but
rather desperate and impetuous actions that bring about the demise of the
couple. In the Victorian era, fortune was due to events outside the control of
humans, determined by a paranormal influence. However, not at all was the
departure of Romeo and Juliet out of their hands; It occurred due to the
choices they made, whether it was that of Juliet’s, Friar Lawrence’s or
Romeo’s.

Juliet always blames her own hasty choices on
destiny. When Juliet first notices Romeo at the party in the first act, Juliet asks
the aide to “go ask for his name. As he pronounces that her grave is “like to
be her wedding bed”, she’s forewarning her own passing (1.5.148). Also, Juliet
is the one who proposes to Romeo, understanding being married to Romeo is
sealing her fate. That night, when Romeo sneaks into Juliet’s room, she says
she has “no joy of this contract tonight, it is too rash, too unadvised, and
too sudden” about Romeo declaring his infatuation for her. The union of this
couple was by her own choosing, not like the forced one to Paris. After Romeo leaves
after their first evening with one another, Juliet begs for fate to “be
fickle”, and to “not keep him long, but to send him back” to her (3.5.63). She
also hopes that though he is “renown’d for faith” destiny should be sympathetic
to him. She is overlooking Romeo’s murder of her cousin Tybalt because fate is
undependable and erratic. It wasn’t fate being irregular, it was Romeo’s
inability to behave appropriately but rashly. Juliet demonstrates that she understands
the significance of her actions, and goes ahead with them anyways, leaving her,
and only her, to be blamed for her behavior.

Romeo makes irresponsible and imprudent choices
understanding the reprimands could be and, like Juliet, then blames it on his inevitable
destiny. Romeo is cautioned not to arrive at the party, but dictates to fortune
to “steerage of his course” and “direct his sail” and goes despite the caution.

(3.1.142). Romeo recognizes that he will die if he arrives, but still decides
to show up anyhow. Romeo resolves that all that occurs is due to fate. After killing
Tybalt, he names himself “Fortune’s fool” and grasps that he will be
disciplined strictly. Romeo is saying he is subject to fortune and refuses to
take accountability for his decisions. Romeo is taking concern for his actions
by trying to resist his “fate” and finally take things into his own hands. This
doesn’t work, as he didn’t care to make sure if Juliet was not dead and just commits
suicide in his attempt to be with her, even if they are both dead. Romeo
utilizes fate to explain his decisions and say that a power outside of his
control powered his acts, but in truth everything was just due to his impulsive
decisions.

Friar Lawrence’s irresponsible decisions
brought together the deaths of the two lovers, and he places culpability on luck.

As Friar John tells him that the letter cannot be sent, Friar Lawrence chooses
to put responsibility on an “unhappy fortune” and not himself (5.2.17). Despite
being a grown man, he decides to allow Friar John to travel alone to send the
message. Instead of delivering the letter himself, he gives the critical duty
to people that are not aware of the situation. Conscious of this, he disregards
his obvious fault on fate. Moreover, when Friar Lawrence ends up seeing Romeo
and Paris dead, he says it is “lamentable chance” that they have passed away (5.3.151).

Again, fate is responsible for something effortlessly evaded. He is saying that
it was out of his power that the two lovers, Romeo and Juliet, died, but Friar
Lawrence was the one who wed them and firstly directed the idea. Also, when Juliet
rouses, the Friar tells her, “a power greater than we can contradict has
thwarted our intents” (5.3.158). He discusses a power such as fortune that
could not be prevented and how it ruined the proposal to unite two lovers.

However, he was the one that ruined the delivering of the note to Romeo. The
Friar doesn’t take any accountability at all for his choices and decides
instead to blame overpowering forces.

Throughout Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, the characters’ own misguided and hasty actions, not
destiny, cause their deaths. The characters recurrently used fortune as a
justification by saying the events that took place were no doubt out of their influence.

In difference, everything from the botched letter plan to the lovers’ suicides could
have been dodged if the characters had just been thinking rationally. Having
the characters assert their culpability to destiny, Shakespeare is proclaiming
that people need to take blame for wrongdoings. They should understand that it
is their own decisions that determine the future, not chance. In order to
prevent wrongdoings from occurring again one must acknowledge one’s role in the
incident and take ownership. If only Romeo and Juliet had been honest to
themselves about the mistakes the made for one another, who knows what fate
must have held for the two lovers.