It is important to realise that fate, fortune and stars
are words that appear many times in this excellent tragedy and relate to the sense in
which destiny can often decree a path for our lives that we cannot escape. From the very
beginning of this play, in the Prologue, we are told that Romeo and Juliet are
"star-crossed lovers." Both Romeo and Juliet have strange premonitions of the fate that
is to befall them at various points in the play, such as Act I scene 4 for Romeo.
However, it is only in Act III scene 1, after the chain of events has been unleashed
that has seen Mercutio killed by Tybalt, and then Romeo forced to challenge Tybalt for
the death of his friend, even though they are now related by marriage, and then his
killing of Tybalt, resulting in his exile, that Romeo fully appreciates how the hand of
fate, or fortune, is working against him. He at this moment recognises the implacable
forces that are set against a "happy ending" for him and
Juliet.
His tortured ejaculation, where he identifies
himself as "fortune's fool," is thus an example of foreshadowing, as well as being the
climax of this scene. He begins to have some sense of the inexorable forces that range
themselves against him and Juliet, and recognises that this can only end in one way:
death.
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