Think back to high school English class. Do you remember reading the first pages of Romeo & Juliet? If you do, you may remember Shakespeare writing in the very first passage about how Romeo and Juliet are star-crossed lovers, doomed from the very start. Part of the emotional impact of Shakespeare's eponymous play comes from the fact that we know exactly what is going to happen to the couple. We know they are going to die from the beginning, but it doesn't lessen the drama at all — if anything, we feel frustration, because we just want to swoop in and tell the character to avoid their grisly fate.