Romeo and Juliet, 5.3.1-165

I enjoyed your discussion of fate and free will today. So inspired, in fact, that I decided to ask you to write about the relationship between these two forces on your test on Friday.

Getting ready to commit suicide, Romeo announces that he is ready to “shake the yoke of inauspicious stars/From this world-wearied flesh” (5.3.111-2). You discovered that inauspicious means lacking in good fortune, and we talked about how a yoke directs beasts of burden in a field. Romeo clearly feels that fate, represented by the stars, has not treated him well (though if he just shut up and paid attention to Juliet, he’s see that she’s still alive). The stars have so far steered him to unhappiness, seemingly separated from Juliet forever. You reiterated the question, though, whether one may cast off the yoke of one’s fate.

By committing suicide, Romeo believes he has taken over control of his life from “he that hath the steerage of my course” in 1.4. Romeo metaphorically compares himself to a ship being steered by another force toward “Some consequence yet hanging in the stars” before he enters the party at which he meets Juliet (1.4.119, 114). He then revisits the metaphor in 5.3, calling himself the “desperate pilot” who “now at once ru on/The dashing rocks thy seasick weary bark” (5.3.117-8). The bark, or ship, is Romeo’s life, and he is now steering, not fate or some other force, or so he believes. He decides to end his journey suddenly upon the rocks rather than wait for the ship to find calmer waters and for the seasickness to end.

Romeo and Juliet, 5.1 and 5.2

You began today contemplating Romeo’s line “I defy you stars!” (5.1.25). You noted that Romeo believes he will trick his fate by committing suicide. Romeo in this scene decides that the stars, his fate, intends for him and Juliet to be apart for eternity, so he takes matters into his own hand. Balthazar has just told him that Juliet’s “immortal part,” her soul, “with angels lives” (5.1.20). Believing that love he has for Juliet purifies his soul, Romeo decides to outwit fate and join his “immortal part” with hers. Romeo clearly does not consider his catechism, which teaches him that suicide is a mortal sin and will doom him.

Regardless of whether Romeo foolishly disregards the sinfulness of his act, he acts. Though you did not mention it, Romeo’s course raises the question of fate versus freewill that you discussed back in Act 3.

A few good bits from today: In Romeo’s opening line, “If I can believe the flattering truth of sleep,” contains an oxymoron. Flattery always has an element of untruth in it. So, “flattering truth” contradicts itself. Later, Romeo asserts that “love’s shadows are so hidden in joy” reviving the theme that darkness, shadow, gives cover to the joy of their love, reminding the reader that their love upsets the usual order of things. Lastly, Romeo echoes Friar Lawrence’s concern with the dual nature of all things as he talks about the “fatal cannon’ womb” (5.1.69). A womb brings fort life, and a cannon ends life.