Near the end of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Romeo believes that his wife, Juliet, is dead, and he prepares to drink poison so that he can die and be with her. Bad luck has plagued them from the beginning of their relationships: they are from rival families, Romeo killed Juliet's cousin Tybalt, Juliet is betrothed to another man even after she has secretly wed Romeo, Romeo is banished for the slaying of Tybalt, and so on. Standing by her body, Romeo speaks aloud his disbelief that she could remain so beautiful even in death and his intention never to leave her side again. He says, "Oh, here / Will I set up my everlasting rest, / And shake the yoke of inauspicious stars / From this world-wearied flesh" (5.3.118-121). He means that he is preparing to die here, beside her, and, in doing so, will remove the "yoke" of unluckiness and misfortune that has afflicted him. He compares, via metaphor, his bad luck to a yoke, such as would be worn by an ox to allow him to drag a heavy load, and himself to a brute animal, like an ox, whose only purpose seems to be to pull such loads.
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