Stars and Fate

In the 16th century, many people believed in the influence of the stars on their daily lives. Every sign of the zodiac had its own property, its own way in which it influenced the world. The stars caused the instability and uncertainty of all things on the earth, so of plants and animals as well as humans. However, this chaos that the stars created, was all part of God’s great project. It was the fall of mankind (the entrance of sin into the world) that was responsible for the influence of the stars. Despite the fact that the stars were influential, a human was never simply a puppet and a victim. It very much depended on your physical state (theory of the 4 humours) how much the stars could affect you. A melancholic person for example could be much more influenced than a person that was in a well-balanced physical state. Some even thought that fate (the power of the stars) could be resisted. However, most people believed that humans were destined, that their fate was controlled by the stars and not much could be done about it.

In the literature of the Renaissance, we find these ideas about the stars. Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet for example are called “star-crossed lovers”². In the play it becomes clear that the stars that appeared when both of them were born, had an influence on their lives, these stars controlled their destinies. They had a bad influence because Romeo and Juliet were born under “crossed”, that is, bad or angry, stars. The love between Romeo and Juliet is seen as a love that is doomed to lead to their deaths. Their love is described in the prologue of the play as “death-marked”³. Throughout the play Romeo and Juliet see bad omens. Omens that remind them that their love is not supposed to be and that point to the tragical ending that is waiting for them.