In the 9th grade, my English class had to read Romeo and Juliet. Then for extra credit, Mr. Carter made us act out all the parts. And as fate would have it, I was Juliet. All the other girls were jealous. But I had a slightly different take. I told Mr. Carter that Juliet was an idiot. For starters, she falls for the one guy she knows she can't have. And then blames fate for her own bad decisions. Mr. Carter explained to me that sometimes, when fate comes into play, choice sometimes goes out the window. At the ripe old age of fourteen, I was very clear, that love, like life, is about making choices and fate has nothing to do with it. Everyone thinks its so romantic, Romeo and Juliet, true love, how sad. But if Juliet was stupid enough to fall for the enemy, drink a bottle of poison, and go to sleep in a mausoleum, she deserved whatever she got. I mean maybe Romeo and Juliet were fated to be together, but just for a little while, and then their time passed. But if they could have known that beforehand, maybe it all would have been okay. I told Mr. Carter that when I was grown-up, I would take fate into my own hands. I would not let some guy drag me down. Mr. Carter said I'd be lucky if I ever had that kind of passion with someone. And that if I did, we would be together forever. Even now, I still believe that for the most part, love is about choices. Its about putting down the poison and the dagger and making your own happy ending, most of the time. And that sometimes, despite all your best choices, and all your best intentions, fate wins anyway.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Fate/Love
In the 9th grade, my English class had to read Romeo and Juliet. Then for extra credit, Mr. Carter made us act out all the parts. And as fate would have it, I was Juliet. All the other girls were jealous. But I had a slightly different take. I told Mr. Carter that Juliet was an idiot. For starters, she falls for the one guy she knows she can't have. And then blames fate for her own bad decisions. Mr. Carter explained to me that sometimes, when fate comes into play, choice sometimes goes out the window. At the ripe old age of fourteen, I was very clear, that love, like life, is about making choices and fate has nothing to do with it. Everyone thinks its so romantic, Romeo and Juliet, true love, how sad. But if Juliet was stupid enough to fall for the enemy, drink a bottle of poison, and go to sleep in a mausoleum, she deserved whatever she got. I mean maybe Romeo and Juliet were fated to be together, but just for a little while, and then their time passed. But if they could have known that beforehand, maybe it all would have been okay. I told Mr. Carter that when I was grown-up, I would take fate into my own hands. I would not let some guy drag me down. Mr. Carter said I'd be lucky if I ever had that kind of passion with someone. And that if I did, we would be together forever. Even now, I still believe that for the most part, love is about choices. Its about putting down the poison and the dagger and making your own happy ending, most of the time. And that sometimes, despite all your best choices, and all your best intentions, fate wins anyway.
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(I've never actually read 'Romeo and Juliet', but I'm familiar with the plot and ending.)
I'd have to agree with what you said about Juliet being an idiot, though I'd extend that description to both of them - anyone over age five should be able to realize that any 'escape' plan with that many loopholes (Juliet had to not only pull of a convincing faked death, she also had to ensure Romeo got the RIGHT message, which, clearly, he didn't) is likely going to fail spectacularly. Wouldn't the smartest thing have been to just say 'Hey, you know what, meet me at >insert place here< tonight and we'll run like it's nobody's business' have worked out SO much better? Or, hey, tell Romeo you're going to fake your death so you can escape with him BEFORE putting said plan into action?
I'm not entirely sure if I believe in the idea of fate, because I think if everything really was left up to such a thing then no one would ever hold themselves accountable for their actions and would basically wander through life as a zombie, thinking 'Well, everything I do is just meant to happen, so let's just hit Life Cruise Control'.
Or maybe I'm fated to think that? Hmm... It's an interesting debate, for sure.
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