Who Is The Antagonist In Romeo And Juliet

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Pages: 5

The play of Romeo and Juliet had a rather peculiar antagonist. We read that the

antagonist was not an actual human being or anything we can see for that matter, but

rather the abstract work of fate. Shakespeare essentially set it in stone that the death of

the two characters was a necessary thing. Nothing could stop the death from occurring,

hence why I believe the antagonist was fate.Fate was what lead to Romeo and Juliet

falling in love with each other, although they came from feuding families . Fate in essence 

had to mend the hatred of the two families through the love of the two, fate controlled this love 

story. In Romeo and Juliet, fate proved to be an active force that played as the antagonist, ending 

their lives, to initially end the feud.
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"A pair of star-crossed lovers 

take their life,Whose misadventured piteous overthrows doth with their death bury their parents’ 

strife" (Shakespeare, prologue. 6-9).We learn five seconds upon reading that the characters are 

meant to die.This prologue shows that throughout the story no matter what series of events 

occurs and whatever actions Romeo and Juliet take would not matter. "From the opening line in 

the prologue to the last act, the characters are helpless to do anything then what fate directs them 

to do" (Hatcht 1).The prologue introduces that the antagonist will eventually win in the 

end. Like many works of fiction, the bad guy always has a reason for doing the things that