Shakespeare’s famous Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth were set in the medieval times where the stars were interpreted to tell the fate of someone by people. Shakespeare shows the themes of fate and responsibility many times in both plays. Romeo and Juliet is a love story about two lovers who are described as ‘’star-crossed’’, they are destined to die because of the feud between two families. Macbeth is about a courageous warrior who is turned evil and then lusts for power, he commits horrible acts during the play because of a prophecy he was told off.
In the first 2 acts and scenes, Romeo talks about his love with Rosaline, he’s heartbroken after what happened with her. Shakespeare indicates fate and true love in these acts since the prologue has already mentioned Romeo and Juliet to be lovers, this creates anticipation and excitement for their story.
In act 1 scene 4, Romeo gets invited to the masquerade by the servant. Romeo says ‘’I fear too early, for my mind misgives some consequence yet hanging in the stars shall bitterly begin his fearful date’’ in this quote Shakespeare gives another hint of Romeo’s fate, the masquerade is also where he meets Juliet which explains why he says ‘’begin his fearful date’’ foreshadowing his death.
In the story Macbeth, the witches tell the prophecy to Macbeth and Banquo. One of the witches tells Macbeth ‘’All Hail, Macbeth, who will be king in the future’’ the witches are the cause of Macbeth’s downfall in the play, their part in the play was to tell his fate (prophecy). Banquo says ‘’why do you flinch and seem afraid of these words that predict such good things for you?’’ even though Macbeth is a good man, he is turned evil very quickly and allows his wife to manipulate him to kill the King.
The two families of Verona are responsible for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet, if it had not been for their feud, they both could be alive. However, Romeo and Juliet can themselves be the blame since they fell in love with each other, knowing both of their families are enemies.
Although Macbeth, gets manipulated by his wife it was still his own actions that killed the king, making him responsible for his downfall. The witches were also responsible for Macbeth’s fall since they told him the prophecy which provoked him to kill the King which was only the beginning of his crimes.
To Conclude, Shakespeare shows the themes of Fate and Responsibility in both plays. He shows two aspects of which the play can be seen. One in which fate cannot be stopped since it has already been set. Two, characters in both plays are responsible for their outcome.
