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What role does fate play in contributing to the deaths of Romeo and Juliet?

The Prologue to the play foreshadows the role fate will play in the death of the two lovers in the following lines:



From forth the fatal loins of these two foes


A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life;



The phrase "fatal loins" suggests that the feud leading to the death of the two lovers, like the conflicts of Greek tragedy, was some sort of fate that was transferred down across generations. 


The phrase "star-crossed" refers specifically to astrology, a theory that one can discover people's fate by looking at the position of the stars at their birth. "Star-crossed" specifically means that the unfortunate fates of the two lovers were predestined and readable in their stars.


One sees this reflected in the plot, in the way that coincidences, accidents, and misunderstandings seem to conspire to keep the two lovers apart, suggesting that their relationship was indeed doomed by fate. 

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