Key Quotes - Fate

"A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life."

• Speaker: Chorus

• Act: Prologue

• Analysis: Foreshadows the tragic end of Romeo and Juliet, marking them as victims of fate.

• Effect on Reader: Builds a sense of inevitability and doom from the start, creating anticipation.

"O, I am fortune's fool!"

• Speaker: Romeo

• Act: 3 Scene 1

• Analysis: Romeo laments his helplessness, feeling controlled by fate after killing Tybalt.

• Effect on Reader: Evokes sympathy for Romeo and underscores the theme of fate’s control.

"I defy you, stars!"

• Speaker: Romeo

• Act: 5 Scene 1

• Analysis: Romeo rejects fate in his anger, believing that he can alter his destiny.

• Effect on Reader: Highlights Romeo’s desperation and foreshadows the tragic consequences of his actions.

"These violent delights have violent ends."

• Speaker: Friar Laurence

• Act: 2 Scene 6

• Analysis: Friar Laurence warns Romeo and Juliet about the consequences of rushing into their passionate love, suggesting that their intense emotions might lead to destruction.

• Effect on Reader: Highlights the inevitability of tragedy, showing that even the strongest feelings cannot escape the grip of fate.

“Farewell! God knows when we shall meet again”

“This day’s black fate on more days doth depend”

“One writ with me in sour misfortune’s book”

“Here. Will I set up my everlasting rest, And shake the yoke of inauspicious stars”

“Heaven finds means to kill your joys with love”

“I have an ill-divining soul!”