During the play, Romeo and Juliet are constantly linked with fate. As the play unfolds, Shakespeare repeatedly reminds us of this, in many different ways. ‘Romeo and Juliet’ is a play set in the 1600’s. A typical audience that the play would have been performed to is likely to have believed that fate their lives in a major way. Throughout the play there are many references to fate, including three examples in the prologue. The ‘…showed first 75 words of 336 total…

…showed last 75 words of 336 total…the old saying goes, ‘many a true word spoken in jest’, little did she know at the time that those words would come true! Another reference to fate is when Juliet says ‘and death, not Romeo take my maidenhead’. This turns out to be true, as well. Death does take her virginity, before Romeo does. At the time that she said it, little did she know that it would become true, as it inevitably did.