Romeo and Juliet
How Far is Juliet a Victim?
From the start of the play, it can be seen that Juliet and Romeo are going to be subjected to cruel twists of fate, causing their eternal love to result in death. "A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life" is one of the very first lines of the story. It shows that the death of these two lovers is beyond control and is ordained to take place.
By stating this at the very beginning, the audience get a sense that the death of Romeo and Juliet cannot be changed, as death has already been predestined. As Romeo and Juliet are seen as "star-crossed lovers" it shows they have no choice whether they fall in love. From the moment these young lovers were born, they were fated to an early death - "Fatal loins of these two foes." Later, in Act One Scene Five, Juliet finds that Romeo, the one she loves is the one she is most supposed to hate.
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Romeo and Juliet, Act I-Scene_3. Lady Capulet and ...
English: Title page of the second quarto edition (..."Prodigious birth of love it is to me," Juliet's life is fated to end in tragedy just by her being born. Her birth itself was just the start of disaster. "I must love a loathed enemy" by saying "must", it seems that Juliet herself understands that her love is in the hands of fate and she is unable to decide to not love Romeo.
Juliet is a victim to her own parents in the sense that Lord and Lady Capulet are strict and controlling of their only daughter but also that they are depriving her of choice in love. In Act One, Lady Capulet is trying to have a conversation with her daughter but needs the nurse there to remind her of her own daughters age, the Nurse says, "Faith,