Authors often have their characters make decisions rather than rely on the notion of fate to explain the cause, effects, and endings of their stories. This leads to better developed plots and fewer questions about why a major character just died or other similar events. Fate is rarely present in the real world, and people's decisions generally lead to what is perceived as their "destiny." This rule is present in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Ovid's Pyramus and Thisbe and in the honor killings of a remote Indian village. Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet relied heavily on a web of intertwining choices and effects. An excellent example of this is when Friar Lawrence decides to give Juliet a sleep-inducing potion in an attempt to prevent her suicide. He tells her: “Wait, daughter. I see a kind of hope, / that craves as much desperation and execution / as that which we would prevent is desperate. / If, instead of marrying the county of Paris, / you have the strength of will to kill yourself, / then you will probably undertake / a thing like death to reproach this shame” (4.1.69-75). In...