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Main Themes in Romeo and Juliet
- Love
- The play's main theme is
most definitely: Love.
- Romeo initially portrays
courtly love for Rosaline in
Act 1 Scene 1, however this
quickly changes when he
meets Juliet
- 'Deny thy father and refuse thy name' (Act 2 Scene 2)
- Juliet says this because she knows that the feud between the
Montagues and the Capulets will only worsen if she tries marry
Romeo after asking her parents.
- Juliet says this because she knows that the feud between the
Montagues and the Capulets will only worsen if she tries marry
Romeo after asking her parents.
- 'My only love sprung from my only hate!' (Act 1 Scene 5)
- This is Juliet describing how she feels
after the Nurse tells her that Romeo
is a Montague.
- 'My only love...' i.e. Romeo.
- 'Sprung from my only hate!' i.e.
the Montague family and the long
running feud that no-one seems
to know anything about.
- This is Juliet describing how she feels
after the Nurse tells her that Romeo
is a Montague.
- Love causes irrational acts throughout the play.
- Romeo abandons Mercutio and Benvolio
after the Capulet party to go to Juliet's
Garden.
- Romeo returns to Verona
during his banishment order
to be with Juliet.
- Romeo abandons Mercutio and Benvolio
after the Capulet party to go to Juliet's
Garden.
- Romantic imagery portrayed by the
love between Romeo and Juliet is very
spiritual and religious.
- And is also described as a type
of magic: 'Alike bewitched by the
charm of looks' - Prologue from
Act 2 Scene 1.
- And is also described as a type
of magic: 'Alike bewitched by the
charm of looks' - Prologue from
Act 2 Scene 1.
- The relationship and romanticism between
Romeo and Juliet is linked throughout the play
with the inevitability of death as the outcome.
- For example, Tybalt is ready to kill
Romeo at the Capulet feast at the
same time Romeo and Juliet fall in
love.
- For example, Tybalt is ready to kill
Romeo at the Capulet feast at the
same time Romeo and Juliet fall in
love.
- The play's main theme is
most definitely: Love.
- Fate
- 'A pair of star cross'd lovers'
- From the beginning of the play,
the pair are destined to die.
- Spoken by the chorus
in the prologue
- 'Star Cross'd' usually means the stars of fate
were crossed for example when Romeo and
Juliet met at the Capulet's Feast
- From the beginning of the play,
the pair are destined to die.
- 'Is it even so? Then I defy you, stars'
- Romeo is adamant that he will not
give in to the power of the stars, and
let them take Juliet from his life.
- This quote comes from Act 5
Scene 1, where Balthazar
arrives from Verona in Mantua
to tell Romeo of Juliet's
'passing'.
- Romeo is adamant that he will not
give in to the power of the stars, and
let them take Juliet from his life.
- 'One writ with me in sour misfortune's book'
- The line comes from Act 5 scene 3, where
Romeo and Paris are fighting and after Paris
dies, Romeo makes yet another speech
before drinking the poison.
- Romeo sees Paris as someone like
himself, destined to be unfortunate.
- The line comes from Act 5 scene 3, where
Romeo and Paris are fighting and after Paris
dies, Romeo makes yet another speech
before drinking the poison.
- 'And shake the yoke of inauspicious stars'
- This is continued in the speech that
Romeo says before committing
suicide.
- Meaning: to shake off the burden
imposed by fate
- This is continued in the speech that
Romeo says before committing
suicide.
- 'A pair of star cross'd lovers'
- Hate/Conflict/Death
- The two families are constantly feuding yet we don't find
out why. Are they right to continue the feud throughout
generations even if they don't know the reason why?
- Two households, both alike in
dignity/ In fair Verona, where we
lay our scene,/ From ancient
grudge break to new mutiny,/
Where civil blood makes civil
hands look unclean.
- Death plays a big part in Romeo and Juliet not just because it is a tragedy which we
know right from the beginning how it is going to end but also death reflects the end of a
long lasting feud between the 2 families and how something as tragic as the children's
deaths is what it takes to make the two families realise that it needs to stop.
- Death is also represented in love where one
cannot live without the others presence in
their lives even just in memory.
- The two families are constantly feuding yet we don't find
out why. Are they right to continue the feud throughout
generations even if they don't know the reason why?
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