How much of the tragedy of "Romeo and Juliet" is driven by fate, and how much by personality?

One dictionary definition of fate describes it as "the universal principle or ultimate agency by which the order of things is presumably prescribed; the decreed cause of events".

There are other definitions, however, they assume fate is a unchanging form, that is, that fate cannot be challenged. However, those definitions don't play into the modern sense of freedom and free will that we have come to understand.

We can view the play from two viewpoints. Treat it as a historical document which does echo many situations of the past, or view it as a entertaining social comment through which fate is universal because it was written the way it is, and thus fate will not change because the play does not change.

We will view the play as both of these scenarios, since it can be an echo of reality and serve as a comment on individual reactions to society and circumstances. Modern psychology teaches us that we all react in unique ways. Further still, research has identified various factors and patterns that an individual may take.

Fate could more more readily described as a four way traffic stop. Although the basic laws of a four way stop may hold true, any individual may break free from these principles if he/she decides. If an accident happens, how will we declare blame? While it is true that we could easily blame the causer of the crash, does this indicate a lack of responsibility of others involved? Did someone foresee a problem and attempt to prevent it? These small variables form a lattice, when built a lattice will show each individual's thoughts and most accepted course of action. If you build a lattice based on this four way stop and factor in only four cars, your degree of accuracy is low, hence fate, known as an unchangeable law, holds true.

What if we include more variables to build a more sophisticated lattice? Perhaps we add in pedestrians, more vehicles, including vehicles in mid transport. Suddenly the situation changes from fate to a foreseeable disaster based on several situations, action and reactions which combine. The accuracy of the lattice becomes greater as the degree of error is reduced by the increase in numbers.

An individual's response is always based on at least two factors: The person and the environment. Take gravity for example. If an individual jumps off a cliff to their death, is it justified as fate? Partially. How do we say that? Once they jumped, the fate, or end, unmovable result was fixed to a certain point in time. There is little that could happen to change this. However, prior to the point of no return fate could be described as a possibility or possible sequence of events depending on actions taken. Fate really then is a measurement of time, fate existing in at least 3 different stages of time. Pre, Moment Of No Return, and Destiny. In Pre, an individual has not proceeded far enough that anyone can say for certain that a particular action or end is certain. In Moment of No Return, an action has been taken that cannot be reversed. In Destiny, an action has returned results which are final.

To understand this, let's return to the variables and the lattice. Variables are points of conflict or possible points of contact. It represents any measurable span where an individual could contact another. Two people are an example of variables as they can possibly connect or repel each other depending on the situation. The lattice is a visual drawing which draws the various possibilities and pathways that might be taken. When a lattice has a connecting point, or junction, this represents a possible outcome. The deeper the lattice, the more accurate it is, as it has the ability to track any movement that could be taken. The personality of an individual will determine how they react to stimulus or a situation. Will they panic? Will they be brave? Panic spreads, so if one person panics, how many will follow suit? An individual is affected by others. If one individual breathes threats and violence towards others, others feel this and this social cue ripples across a room just like a rotten apple spreads it's condition. The lattice shows this spread as each junction point shows the connections.

So really, fate is merely a measurement of how deep or how involved an individual is. The rest is up for grabs.