Agarwal 1

Arav Agarwal
Ms. McCabe
World Lit. A1
2015 April 22
Romeo and Juliet Essay
Imagine life flashing by, quickly going through all the accomplishments someone has
done, and then slowly fading into the light. Suddenly, the light stops, and the character is met
with a choice: life or death. However, this choice of fate is not something the character has full
control over. A characters fate can be linked to many events. However, in Romeo and Juliet, a
tragedy written by William Shakespeare about two star-crossed lovers named Romeo and Juliet,
one of these factors plays a decisive role compared to the others. In the play Romeo and Juliet by
Shakespeare, Romeo or Juliets relationship with a minor character plays a decisive part in the
ultimate fate of the character, which is demonstrated through specific examples of indirect
characterization, stress, and stage directions.
While usually used in the defining of characters and relationships between characters,
indirect characterization plays a very important role in the play, as it showcases the characters
relationship with Romeo/Juliet, which ended up causing their fate. One instance of this can be
seen when Lady Montague says, O, where is Romeo? Saw you him today? / Right glad I am he
was not at this fray, displaying her caring nature and love for her son (Shakespeare I.i.118-119).
This illustrates her love for her son, as she is worried by not seeing him for only a few hours.
This love ends up contributing to her fate at the end, which is exemplified when Montague said
that grief of my sons exilestopped her breath, depicting how her love for Romeo made her
want to kill herself rather than stay away from him (V.iii.219). Another example of indirect

Agarwal 2
characterization and fate is depicted in the character of Friar Lawrence when he says, Take thou
this vial, being then in bed no warmth, no [breath] shall testify thou livest, just after Juliet
threatens suicide if Friar Lawrence cannot find a way to prevent her marriage with Paris (IV.i.95,
IV.i.100). This shows how Friar Lawrence is very caring towards Juliet as he gives her what she
desires even when it could spell disaster for everyone. This positive relationship ends up
choosing his fate, as he blames himself for their suicides as he was the one to give Juliet the
potion, which is depicted when he says, both to impeach and purge / myself condemned and
myself excused (V.iii.235-236) going back to how he wants to pay for their deaths in any way
he can, even if it is his own death. Altogether, the indirect characterization shows just how
relationships can modify fate by illustrating how the characters will act in regard to the actions of
Romeo and Juliet.
Even though literary devices like indirect characterization play a massive role in Rome
and Juliet, it is a play that makes acting techniques, like stress, play an important role for
deciding the fate of characters by how they interact with Romeo and Juliet. One case of how
stress selects fates through relationships can be seen in the personality of Paris, especially when
he says, So will you, I am sure, that you love me, stressing the word me in response to Juliet
declaring she does not love him (IV.i.27). This creates a relationship of unrequited love, as
Pariss love only goes for her, yet Juliet only loves someone else: Romeo. This love ends up
deciding his fate, as seen by when he says, This is that banished haughty Montague / That
murdered my loves cousin, with which grief / It is supposed the fair creature died, just before
confronting Romeo, and then dying, for Juliets graves protection as he believes that Romeo is
there just to mess with the grave of the one he loves (V.iii.49-51). Another instance can be found
in the character of Tybalt, when Romeo says, Alive in triumph, and Mercutio slain! Either

Agarwal 3
thou or I, or both, must go with him, stressing the word slain and the phrase thou or I
(III.i.127, III.i.134). This shows how much he hates Tybalt as he is wants to duel him to the death
just in the hope of avenging the death of his friend, Mercutio, and stopping the torment Tybalt
has been causing against him throughout the play. This ends up being the end of Tybalt as, when
he fights with Romeo as a result of the bad feelings between them, he is killed by Romeo, which
is illustrated by the stage direction Tybalt falls (III.i stage direction under line 137). To sum it
up, the stress in Romeo and Juliet shows just how relationships can decide fate by depicting how
strongly a character feels about another character that ends up indirectly or directly killing him.
While the previous examples shown have all been verbal, a play is meant to be
performed. This makes stage directions very important to the fates of characters as they are a
direct indication of their relationship with the lovers of the warring families. An example of this
can be seen with the character of Mercutio, whose relationship with Romeo can be seen in the
stage direction Romeo attempts to beat down their rapiers (III.i Stage Direction under line 91).
This shows just how Romeo cares for the fate of Mercutio, as he is trying to stop the fight before
one of them gets hurt enough to die. This, while ironic, ends up deciding his fate, as Mercutio,
right before dying, says Ask for / me tomorrow, and you shall find me a grave manWhy the /
devil came you between us? I was hurt under your / arm, depicting how it was Romeos act of
friendship that killed him (III.i.101-102, III.i.106-108). Another example of this is in the
character of Capulet, which can be seen by how Juliet is [kneeling] after he seriously gets
angry at her for refusing to accept his choice for her husband (III.v Stage direction under line
163). This shows how the two do not exactly have the best relationship as a result of Juliet
having to hide her marriage with Romeo. This relationship ends up deciding his fate and the fate
of the two families, as once he learns of his daughters true purposes and motives, he remarks,

Agarwal 4
As rich shall Romeos by his ladys lie, / poor sacrifices for our enmity, referring to how they
could have prevented all of the death if they had stopped fighting between Montagues and
Capulets, showing remorse for his bad relationship with his last living daughter (V.iii 314-315).
To wrap it up, the explicit stage directions in Romeo and Juliet shows just how relationships can
decide fate by showing, by actions rather than words, just how one character feels about another
generally at that point, which ends up directly and indirectly deciding their fate.
In the end, indirect characterization, stress in pronunciation, and explicit stage directions
really show how relationships between Romeo or Juliet and minor characters influences the end
fate of the minor character. This sort of influence between minor characters and major characters
is quite important to modern readers. This is because of how it just gives the lesson that
everything is connected and two events are not separate but linked in some way. In addition,
speaking for the story generally, the play is important because of how it teaches readers to look
deeper into the books that they are reading, which would help the analysis process greatly, as the
reader would be able to support bigger and more significant conclusions. To finish it off, the fact
that the relationship of Romeo or Juliet with a minor character influences their fate really shows
how the death of a major character in a piece of literature affects the overall cast, shedding light
on what feelings people could experience if one of their loved ones died, an experience we will
all, sadly, have to face.