Fate and Destiny

MacDonald uses the belief that the characters’ lives in Goodnight Desdemona (Good
Morning Juliet) are shaped by fate and destiny. Constance, one of the characters, can be seen
working on her dissertation. She hypothesizes that Othello and Romeo and Juliet were written as
comedies by an unknown author. She claims that the assertation can be proven by decoding a
manuscript written by Gustav, an alchemist. However, the claim is quickly criticized by
Professor Claude Night. The professor goes ahead to tell Constance that he is taking a job that
she was eyeing. Constance sees this as fate. She is sad and even throws the doctoral dissertation
that she was working on and her pen in a wastebasket. She eventually sinks into the belief that
her life is ill-fated. She interprets bad events as fate and lets them determine how she views life.
However, unlike the characters in Othello and Romeo and Juliet, Constance does not
resign to her grim fate. She undertakes a journey of creating a comedy out of a tragedy. She does
not let her fate dim her quest to understand how fate and destiny affected the lives of female
characters in the history of English literature. Constance plays a significant role in saving Juliet
and Desdemona from their resignation to their ill fates. She does this while undertaking a
personal and deliberating journey towards selfhood and empowerment. She empowers herself
from the shackles of fate and destiny and makes a decision not to let them dictate how she lives
her life.

MacDonald’s use of the belief about fate and destiny in the lives of characters differs in
some sense from Shakespeare’s. This is evident in MacDonald’s use of Constance, a female
character, to interrupt some of the original scenes in Othello and Romeo and Juliet. The author
adds new meaning to the text, using Constance’s new interpretation. For example, in the original
plot, Iago successfully convinces Othello about Desdemona’s infidelity, consequently leading to
her tragic death. However, in MacDonald’s plot, Constance interrupts and makes it known to
Othello that he is making a tragic mistake. Additionally, Constance manages to save Juliet and
makes it known that Romeo and Juliet had wed. It is a huge change in how fate and destiny
affect the lives of these characters. While fate and destiny in Othello and Romeo and Juliet seem
to affect the lives of the female characters negatively, this is not the case in MacDonald’s play.
Overall, the characters in Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet) do not become
victims of fate and destiny. Instead, they fight to change their fate. They show determination
towards succeeding despite the impediments. This shows that MacDonald does not believe in the
tragic power of fate and destiny. Instead, the author believes in redefining fate and destiny and
changing one’s life for the better. It is seen n the ability of an emancipated Constance to change
the destiny of female characters. MacDonald seems to believe that the fate of female characters
does not have to be grim. Constance endures many arguments and struggles with noble men such
as Romeo and with powerful men in society such as Othello. However, in the end, she emerges
victorious. She juggles the hurdles and goes through a complicated journey of self-discovery.
Fate does not hinder her from achieving her goals, as is the case with her female counterparts in
Othello and Romeo and Juliet.