Understanding Romeo & Juliet, pt 3A

Understanding Romeo and Juliet, Part 3A. Who controls us? Whenever something horrible happens in the world, which is pretty much all the time, we always want to know why it happened. It's not just that we want to blame someone. It's more -- if we know why something bad happens, maybe we can avoid it next time. And we can better understand the forces that determine what happens to us. So, let's talk about what caused the tragic deaths of Romeo and Juliet. This video is about Acts IV and V of Romeo and Juliet. If you haven't finished the play yet, please do before going on. Page and line numbers will vary depending on the book you're using, but mine come from this Folger edition paperback. The biggest question when you get to the end of the play is "why did Romeo and Juliet have to die?" Did they have to die? If this were real life, could this tragedy have been avoided in some way? Couldn't there have been a happier ending? When I ask students this question, a lot of them immediately point to Romeo and Juliet themselves. They acted rashly, meaning, they acted without thinking first. That's certainly true about Romeo. He married Juliet the day after meeting her. He killed Tybalt not just because he was obligated to, which he was, but because he was enraged. And of course, when he believes Juliet is dead, he buys poison that second, returns to Verona immediately and then kills himself. Those students say that if he'd taken more time to think or reflect, there would have been a happier ending. Some students say Juliet shares this quality. Minutes after meeting Romeo, she says that "if he be married, my grave is like to be my wedding bed." She's the one who proposes marriage something like an hour after meeting Romeo: "If that thy bent of love be honorable, thy purpose marriage, send me word tomorrow." She also accepts the Friar's crazy fake-death plan right away without thinking how many ways it could go wrong or building in safeguards. And don't forget that it's her desperate desire to kill herself that makes the Friar come up with this plan on the fly. She said "If...thou canst give no help, do thou but call my resolution wise, and with this knife I'll help it presently." A lot of teenagers are like this. It's developmental; their executive decision-making isn't fully developed yet. When they feel something, they do something about it. That's called impulsiveness. It's in their nature, specifically their prefrontal cortex. We adults remember that time of our lives painfully well. But lots of young people are like this. Does that mean if something terrible happens to them that they brought it on themselves? That's kind of harsh. Or does society share the blame? Some students think so. They pull back the lens and see the bigger picture and blame the society that Romeo and Juliet live in, the people who surrounded the young lovers. The feud, of course. But also the Prince who lacks the courage to put a definitive stop to the fighting and who later blames himself for "winking at their discords," meaning, turning a blind eye to their feud. The Friar who lacks the courage to confront Montague and Capulet about their children's love for one another and marries them in secret instead. The same friar who is too afraid to stay with Juliet when she discovers Romeo, dead. He leaves her there, alone, with a weapon, because he "dares no longer stay." If there hadn't been a feud, there would have been no need for them to hide their love. If there hadn't been a feud, Mercutio's hot-headedness would not have led him to his death and Romeo would have had no reason to kill Tybalt. If not for the feud, Capulet might very well have approved of Romeo. He says something that suggests approval at the feast: "He bears himself like a portly gentleman," meaning, Romeo carries himself like a more mature man. "And to say truth, Verona brags of him to be a virtuous and well-governed youth." If not for the feud, there would have been no banishment, no sleeping potion, no poison, no double-suicide. These students point out that Romeo and Juliet lived in a poisonous atmosphere of hate. Their love, which is pure and good, could not nullify the hate and cowardice of the older people who surround them. These students say that the feud is at fault, and in a larger sense, the adult society of Verona is to blame. But Shakespeare gives evidence for a third option. He suggests that nothing they could have done could have stopped this tragedy from happening. it was unavoidable. It was fate or destiny. From the very first words of the play, the prologue, Romeo and Juliet are described as "star-crossed lovers." Elizabethans sort of believed in astrology, you might say. They thought that our destinies were written in the stars. Romeo and Juliet's stars crossed paths and the ending of their story was predetermined. This is what predetermination means. The characters themselves speak of fate or destiny often, especially Romeo. In Act I, scene iv, Romeo says that "some consequence hanging in the stars shall bitterly begin his fearful date... and expire the term of a despised life closed in my breast by some vile forfeit of untimely death. But he that hath the steerage of my course, direct my sail." So he seems to believe at that moment, before he even meets Juliet, that something is going to happen that will result in his "untimely death." And yet, he calls upon the forces that are steering his ship to take him where he's meant to go. In Act III, scene i, Romeo speaks of his "black Fate." After he kills Tybalt, he says he is "Fortune's fool." Fortune. You've heard of the Wheel of Fortune? No, not that one. This is a medieval illustration of the Wheel of Fortune. See how the people on the left are having good luck and are going upwards? And the people on the right are going downwards? Sitting on the left, turning the wheel, is Fortune, or Fortuna, or Lady Luck, the personification of Fate, and she's playing with Romeo like a toy. In Act V, scene i, when he is told that Juliet is dead, he says, "Then I defy you, stars!" He's talking directly to the stars and the powers that control his destiny. He's saying that he thinks that it's his fate to be separated from Juliet by death, and that he is going to defy his fate by joining her in death. So, Romeo himself believes this is all happening because of fate. Then, Friar Lawrence says that "A greater power than we can contradict / Hath thwarted our intents." We intend for one thing to happen, but some higher power makes something else happen, and we're powerless to stop it. And finally, there's the Prince's pronouncement that "heaven finds means to kill your joys with love." He names it. Heaven, or God, has done this, used the love of Montague's and Capulet's children to punish them for their feud. And then there are all those really improbable coincidences. Unlikely things happen to move the direction of the story towards its tragic end. In a play, you might like to say that's overly coincidental. In life, you might say that's an invisible hand guiding your actions. But coincidences are everywhere in this play. Out of all the people in Verona, Capulet's servingman finds Romeo to help him read the invitation. There's Friar John's delay in delivering Friar Lawrence's message to Romeo; no one could have anticipated that. Then there were Friar Lawrence's stumbling feet which delayed him just long enough to not be able to stop Romeo from killing himself, and, of course, Romeo dying just moments before Juliet awakens! In the 1996 Baz Lurhmann film, the two events actually overlap. It's just incredible timing. And by incredible, I mean it's almost impossible to believe. Now before you go dismissing all this talk of Fate and Destiny as cute and old-fashioned, answer this question: do you think that somewhere out there in the world is a person whom you are meant to be with forever? Meant? Meant by whom? The word "meant" suggests intention or will -- of somebody. When something terrible happens, like innocent child dies, do you believe it was in God's hands and that He had some higher purpose in mind? Do you ever say the words, "It was meant to be?" or "Oh well, I guess it wasn't meant to be." I'll bet you have. If you have religious beliefs, it's very likely that you've been taught that the ending of your life story has already been written. That's called predestination. You have free will to a certain extent, but some all-knowing, all-powerful Deity knows what you're going to do with that free will, and knows how your life is going to turn out. Romeo and Juliet call it Fate. You might call it God's will. However, if you don't have religious beliefs, it's likely that you believe the things that happen in life are the result of people's individual choices as well as random, mathematical chance. You believe that life has no particular meaning other than what we impose on it. That's a pretty scary idea, that life has no essential meaning or purpose. In its extreme form, that idea is called nihilism. In a different Shakespeare play, he had a character say "The fault... is not in our stars / But in ourselves, that we are underlings." You might know that quote from that incredibly wonderful novel by John Green. That character is saying that what we turn out to be in life depends on ourselves and our own choices. We should not blame the stars for the results of our own actions. A 19th century poet named William Ernest Henley romantically wrote, "I am the master of my fate. I am the captain of my soul." Some people might think that's kind of arrogant, but other people might say that's just taking full responsibility for your own life. I should add that it is also possible to believe in God but not believe He interferes with what happens with us. Thomas Jefferson called himself a "Deist" and believed in a "clockmaker" sort of God that created the universe at the beginning of time, but then He left it to run by itself. He may be watching, but if so, He is silent, and does not interfere. To that way of thinking, we still have control of and responsibility for our lives. Or at least of our choices. What do you believe? Do we have control over what happens to us, or are we at the mercy of Fate? Do we shape our own destinies or are we predestined by a Supreme Being? What's your perspective on this question? And finally, here's a time index if you want to revisit some of the topics we've discussed. And If you didn't see the earlier videos in this series, check them out. You might find them helpful. There's a journal question in Part 3B. It's an opportunity for you to demonstrate your understanding of the play, to reflect on what it means to you, and to apply the ideas to your own life. I hope you'll watch that as well.