Was it Romeo and Juliet's fault that their love turned out to be a disaster? Was their love not supposed begin in the first place? In the story Romeo and Juliet, many factors influence the outcome the cause of the teenagers' deaths. Among these factors are fate and circumstance, the feelings and actions of other characters, and Romeo's and Juliet's feelings and actions.

Although fate seems to play a major role in the outcome of the story, quite often what appears to be fate is just unfortunate circumstance. At the beginning of the play, Shakespeare refers to Romeo and Juliet as "star crossed lovers" (Prologue.3). As if fate determined that the two should meet, fall in love, and die. In actuality, the two live in a very small town, so small, in fact, that the members of the two feuding families meet quite often in the town square...