Fate on Juliet in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet

William Shakespeare's play, Romeo and Juliet, is one of the greatest love stories of all time.   The play was written around 1595, but the story has proven to be timeless.   The play is a story of forbidden love that is resolved in two tragic deaths.   Romeo and Juliet come from feuding families, but they defy the feud and fall in love.   Many events take place during the five short days that they share their love.   All of the events surround characters from both the Montague and Capulet families.   For example, during the play, a fight, which ends in Romeo's banishment, takes place because of Tybalt's hot temper, Romeo's extreme passion, and Mercutio's quick wits.   The forces of love and hate are also very evident throughout the play.   In the end, Romeo and Juliet's love finds a tragic way to overcome the hate between their families.   In Romeo and Juliet, the story revolves around Juliet while she grows up and falls in love, only to have fate keep her from complete happiness.


Juliet is the strong-willed young daughter of Capulet, a rich man in Verona.   Shakespeare made her character a mere thirteen years old, but she acts mature beyond her years.   She is practical, honest, and loyal to herself and her family.   She is also very passionate about her love, but she has control of her passion.   The play is about how she discovers love, loses love, and grows up over a very short period before her ill-fated death.   Romeo and Juliet is very much the story of a girl becoming a woman.   She acts as the protagonist of the play because she is the main character that the audience watches while she matures and people want her to be content.


G. K. Carey, M. A., author of "Cliffs Notes of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet," states, "...the play, for all purposes is hers [Juliet's]- a thirteen year-old girl, discovering love, being loved, then abruptly being, according to her nurse, as good as widowed..."   He makes a very good point about the main...