Fate's impact on Romeo and Juliet is made clear from the outset of the play. The Chorus tells us that the lovers are "star-cross'd", and thus hindered by the influence of malignant planets (note that Renaissance astrologers used the planets to predict plagues and other such calamities, in addition to predicting the outcome and quality of individual's lives) . Throughout the play Fate's role is reaffirmed as the lovers sense its interference. Romeo, just before he attends Capulet's ball, has a premonition:
Moreover, their predictions extend into their dreams, as Romeo says "I dreamt my lady came and found me dead" (5.1.6). So in keeping with tradition set down by the likes of Seneca and Boethius, Fate controls Shakespeare's doomed