In the play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, what is meant by the phrase "then I defy you stars"?

This quote is actually set up in the , when thetells the audience that this play will
focus on "A pair of star-crossed lovers" (Prologue, 6). Describing the lovers as
"star-crossed" is another way of saying that an inescapable fate brings them together
and, therefore, brings them to their tragic ends.

In act 5, scene 1, the
readers hear this "star-crossed" idea come up again in 's line,

Is it een so? Then I defy you, stars!

Romeo has learned of 's "death" just before this line, and he believes
himself to be defying destiny as he quickly decides to join his beloved in death:

Well, Juliet, I will lie with thee tonight.
Lets see for
means. O mischief, thou art swift
To enter in the thoughts of desperate men!

The dramaticis that, in making this choice, Romeo runs straight
toward the destiny whichpredicts in the Prologuehis own deathwhich then also prompts Juliet to
kill herself as well.

Romeo's actual defiance of the "stars" would
have been...