The opening chorus of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet leads us to believe we are to witness the death of two lovers whose fates were dictated by astrology not self-will “A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life…Is now the two hours’ traffic of our stage” (Shakespeare, Prologue, 6; 12). However, while this love drama revolves around the ill-fated relationship of Romeo and Juliet, the respective offspring of two warring families, more than the stars are responsible for the destruction of the lovers. Still, this theme plays a central role in Shakespeare’s timeless tale of young passion and love.
The ill-crossed stars of these two lovers appear to set in motion one ill-fated event after another. Despite their total and true commitment to each other, there is nothing in the drama that is in favor of the lovers. Everything works against them. Their families do not approve of the relationship or even presence of the child of their enemy. The state, therefore, is opposed to their union. Nature is indifferent to their plight. The Nurse and Mercutio have natures that work against the lovers. All of these elements conspire against the lovers in a way that suggests nature itself is against the union. Nothing is more poignant in the drama than Romeo’s wailing against the indifferent forces of the universe “More light and light: more dark and dark our woes” as he must take leave from his beloved (Shakespeare, III, v, 37).
The reason the cosmological forces are given credit for the ill-fated love of Romeo and Juliet is because no love in the universe can withstand all of the forces that work against the two. Even well-meaning but meddlesome characters like Friar Laurence inadvertently do more harm to the couple than good. As the Friar tells Romeo when he is in hiding “Thou art wedded to calamity” and so it appears (Shakespeare III, iii, 3). By the time Romeo must depart from J
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