Fate is something inevitable and unavoidable which has been pre-determined. The term usually involves something negative. Free will, on the other hand, means acting without the constraints of fate. One is able to choose his or her path in life without preordained outcomes.
In Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare suggests that fate rules the day. Romeo and Juliet are "star-crossed" and therefore doomed. In Act I, Romeo describes a dream about "Some consequence yet hanging in the stars" which will ultimately lead to his death. Nevertheless, he plunges forward and it could be argued that he is ruled by fate in Act II, Scenes 1 and 2 when he jumps over the wall into Capulet's orchard. He says at the beginning of Scene 1,
Can I go forward when my heart is here?
Turn back, dull earth, and find thy center out.
Romeo is ruled by love and is not acting freely. His overwhelming love for Juliet controls him. Love is actually personified in Act II, Scene 1 when Romeo says that it is telling him what to do:
By love, that first did prompt me to inquire.
He lent me counsel, and I lent him eyes.
I am no pilot; yet, wert thou as far
As that vast shore washed with the farthest sea,
I should adventure for such merchandise.
Everything Romeo does seems to be associated with fate. In the final scene of the Act, just before the marriage ceremony, he tells Friar Lawrence that he would be content to succumb to the fate of death once he is joined with Juliet:
Do thou but close our hands with holy words,
Then love-devouring death do what he dare,
It is enough I may but call her mine.
Fate is also suggested by Mercutio in Scene 4 when he tells Benvolio that Romeo is already doomed as they discuss Tybalt's challenge. The "wench" he refers to is Rosaline and not Juliet, but the sentiment is still the same. Romeo's passionate love will bring on his demise. Mercutio says,
Alas, poor Romeo, he is already dead,
stabbed with a white wench’s black eye, run
through the ear with a love-song, the very pin of his
heart cleft with the blind bow-boy’s butt shaft. And
is he a man to encounter Tybalt?
Juliet, on the other hand, attempts to assert her free will during the balcony scene when she is hesitant about the speed with which the couple is falling in love. She tells Romeo,
I have no joy of this contract tonight.
It is too rash, too unadvised, too sudden,
Too like the lightning, which doth cease to be
Ere one can say “It lightens.” Sweet, good night.
This bud of love, by summer’s ripening breath,
May prove a beauteous flower when next we meet.
Good night, good night. As sweet repose and rest
Come to thy heart as that within my breast.
She believes they should wait and let time "ripen" their affection for each other. Unfortunately, Romeo's persistence and her own excitement get the best of her and she agrees to rush into the ill fated marriage.
Another example of a character attempting to exert free will is Friar Lawrence when he agrees to marry Romeo. His motive for doing so is that he believes the marriage may end the bitter feud between the families. He tries to change fate and bring about something good. He says,
But come, young waverer, come, go with me.
In one respect I’ll thy assistant be,
For this alliance may so happy prove
To turn your households’ rancor to pure love.
Overall, however, fate is certainly the dominant element in the play. Characters seem to have little chance to predicate their own futures. All is pre-determined in Shakespeare's Verona.
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