What are some examples of coincidence in Romeo and Juliet?

Answer 1

Only some of the following are real coincidence. A coincidence is something that happens unplanned and unintended by anyone. It is not an intentional action which someone else does not expect. It is not the logical consequence of another event, even if that other event is a coincidence.

-Romeo's friends seeing Juliet's Nurse at the plaza, harassing her and getting an invitation for Romeo (Not a coincidence because the Nurse was looking for Romeo, and it was not surprising that she should find him with his friends);

-Juliet hated Romeo and his family as all of her family did. Then she falls in love with Romeo, in a way, her family's enemy. The "star-crossed-lovers" mentioned since the beginning of the play (It's a coincidence that Juliet should fall for a Montague);

-Juliet's emotional transformation from a timid adolescent to a bold adult: Because she once said she would marry only the man "his family accepts", and instead she does "by chance" the opposite. Juliet Falls in Love, Gets Married, Shunned by her Family, and commit Suicide; all these things transformed her into that bold adult. (Not a coicidence. Juliet's growth is the logical outcome of her situation)

-Romeo, while hiding in the garden, sees Juliet in the balcony but remains to himself (No coincidence; it was exactly what he intended)

-Tybalt and Mercutio see each other at the plaza, and then fighting (Not a coincidence; Tybalt was searching all over for Romeo and looking for him with his friends was reasonable)

-To defend the honor of his dead friend Mercutio, Romeo fights and kills Tybalt, Juliet's cousin. From all people, it's Juliet's cousin (Not coincidental at all; Tybalt wanted to fight Romeo because he sided with the Capulets and Romeo was a Montague. Mercutio chose to fight Tybalt because Mercutio sided with the Montagues. Romeo tried to break up the fight because Tybalt was his wife's cousin. Mercutio blamed Romeo for his own death because he could not accept the blame himself)

-Romeo is exiled from Verona, away from his love, the one he wants to spend his life close to, Juliet (Nope; just the rational consequence of the fight)

-The fight couldn't happen any other day than On The Wedding Date (not coincidence because they both are consequences of what happened at the party)

-Romeo sees Juliet at the party (Perhaps somewhat coincidental, but it would have been hard to miss Juliet since this was kind of like her coming out party);

-Montague and Capulet servants cross paths in a public place; (They are not looking for each other so it is sort of a coincidence, but it must have happened all the time, Verona being relatively small)

-Romeo climbs over the Capulet's walls right next to Juliet's room (That's exactly what he was trying to do. Maybe it's a bit coincidental that Juliet chose to come out onto her balcony to talk to herself, instead of doing it in the bathtub or something)

-Friar John is unable to give Romeo the letter because he was detained due to an outbreak of the plague. (Coincidence, big time)

-Romeo hears about "the death" of his Juliet from his servant Balthasar, and runs to her to join her in death (How else could it have happened? Juliet's funeral must have been big news in Verona; Balthasar was instructed to bring news from Verona to Romeo);

-Romeo arrives to Juliet's tomb confusing as beauty the "shiny scarlet color of her skin", which meant she was coming out off of her drugged sleep, almost awake. If Romeo arrived only few minutes later he would have found her alive (The timing was indeed coincidental, not Romeo mistaking her for dead);

-Romeo meets Paris at Juliet's tomb and kills him (Not really very coincidental when you realize that someone has died and her husband and fiance are both taking the first opportunity to visit the grave);

-Juliet finds the poison but kills herself with Romeo's dagger. This is a chance because she just saw him dead, something she never planned. (That's called resourcefulness, not coincidence. If Romeo didn't have a dagger she would have taken one from one of the corpses lying about)

-Friar Lawrence arrives at the grave only moments after Romeo's suicide. (Friar Lawrence knew from the moment that he heard of Juliet's "death" that Romeo was not going to be there when she awoke. Considering he could not know exactly at what time she swallowed the potion it is inexcusable that he was not there hours before she woke up. It's also inexcusable that he did not stay with Juliet when he did get there. It's not coindidence, it's his ineptitude.)