Act V reveals the inescapable work of fate. An outbreak of plague forces Friar John into quarantine and prevents him from delivering Friar Lawrence's letter to Romeo, while Balthasar seeks out Romeo with news of Juliet's death. When Romeo screams “then I defy you, stars” 24 he is screaming against the fate that obstructs his desires. He attempts to defy that fate by killing himself and spending eternity with Juliet:
“Well, Juliet, I will lie with thee to-night” 25
Tragically, it is Romeo's very decision to avoid his destiny that actually brings fate about. In killing himself over the sleeping Juliet he ensures their ultimate double suicide.
Shakespeare demonstrates the extreme power of fate: nothing can stand in its way. All factors swing in its favor: the outbreak of the plague, Balthasar's transmission of the message of Juliet's death, and Capulet 's decision to move Juliet's wedding date. But the sense of fate can also be attached to the social institutions of the world in which Romeo and Juliet live.
Throughout Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare has shown the possibility of suicide as an inherent aspect of intense love. Passion, when combined with the vigor of youth, expresses itself through the most convenient outlet. Romeo and Juliet long to live for love or die for it.
T hrough suicide, the lovers are able not only to escape the world that oppresses them, but also, in the final blazing glory of their deaths, to transform that world. The feud between their families ends. The extremely intense passion of Romeo and Juliet has defeated all other passions, and in coming to its violent end has forced those other passions to cease. In dying, love has conquered all; its forcefulness has shown to be the brightest, most powerful. It seems at last that Friar Lawrence's words have come to be:
“These violent delights have violent ends,
And in their triumph die” 26
Because of the power and beauty of their love, it is hard to see Romeo and Juliet's death as a simple tragedy. Romeo and Juliet's deaths are tragic, but this tragedy was fated: by the stars, by the violent world in which they live, and by their very natures. At the play's end, we do not feel sad for the loss of life as much as we feel wrenched by the incredible act of love that Romeo and Juliet have committed as monuments to each other and their love. Romeo and Juliet have been immortalized as the archetypes of true love not because their tragic deaths bury their parents' enmity, but rather because they are willing to sacrifice everything—including themselves—for their love. That Romeo and Juliet must kill themselves to preserve their love is tragic. That they do kill themselves to preserve their love makes them transcendent.
24 Ibid., Act V, i
25 Ibid.
26 Ibid., Act II, v
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