"By THEMES we refer to the ideas presented in a play. What does the playwright think about certain topics? What message is he trying to communicate to us about the world and about how people behave?"
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"Shakespeare's plays are still relevant to us today because his themes are universal ones. His plays deal with love, hate, war, pride, ambition, racial prejudice, the generation gap and many more ideas which concern all of us today."
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"'Romeo and Juliet' is especially relevant to students, because it deals with young people, and how they attempt to overcome their problems."
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"As in all of Shakespeare's works, many different ideas are presented. These notes deal with the main themes only, as listed below."
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"*1. LOVE"
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"*2. FATE"
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"*3. THE GENERATION GAP"
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"*4. ORDER/DISORDER"
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"*LOVE"
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"'Romeo and Juliet' is a play about love - not just the romantic love of the two young lovers, but also love within families, between friends, between parents and their children."
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"*Romeo and Juliet's love"
"There is something special and spectacular about the love that instantly develops between these two young people. It transforms both of them into deeper more complex characters, and is so intense that no audience can doubt the reality of their love."
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"Let us examine in more detail this famous romance."
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"*LOVE (cont.)"
"The two meet on four separate occasions, and each time, Shakespeare evokes the majesty and beauty of their love with great poetry. It shines in contrast to love shown elsewhere in the play, as he uses imagery of light set against darkness."
"*(See IMAGERY for further notes on this)."
"For each, their love is something very personal and unselfish. Romeo ceases to think of himself and his misfortunes and is prepared to sacrifice himself for Juliet's love."
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"She also is passionate enough to see separation from Romeo as a kind of death. Her love is so stong that she can overcome her fear of being locked in a tomb, surrounded with dead bodies, just to be re-united with Romeo."
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"*LOVE (cont.)"
"A modern audience, raised to be more practical about such matters, may find it difficult to accept Romeo and Juliet's love at first sight, and the instant depth of their passion."
"However, there is something majestic and touching about the way these two care so intensely for each other that nothing else in the world seems to matter."
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"This is what has made their love the model of passionate young love, to be imitated both in literature and life for many generations after Shakespeare's death."
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"Their love is shown up even more by contrasting it with other types of love shown in the play."
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"*LOVE (cont.)"
"Other characters in the play regard love more in physical terms."
"Notice the crude sexual references and violence of the two Capulet servants at the beginning of the play."
"Mercutio and the Nurse also think of love in terms of sex, and their speeches are sprinkled with bawdy humour."
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"Capulet and his wife, on the other hand, hardly consider Juliet's true feelings at all; for them love and marriage is more like a business partnership, where one must consider the wealth and suitability of your partner above all else."
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"Another type of love is love between friends."
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"*LOVE (cont.)"
"Romeo has three good friends who are all concerned for his welfare, and who show their love for him in different ways."
"Benvolio, sensibly tries to find the cause of Romeo's sorrow, and gives thoughtful advice. (Act I)"
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"Mercutio, jokes and banters with him, trying to cajole him into a better frame of mind, and rejoices when Romeo recovers his old self. (Acts I & 3)"
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"Friar Lawrence acts as a father figure, tempering Romeo's impulsive nature with cautious words of wisdom. (Acts II & 3)"
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"All three show the love and loyalty of true friends."
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"*LOVE (cont.)"
"The final type of love which must be mentioned is that between parents and their children."
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"Romeo's parents seem to genuinely care for his well-being in the first scene of the play. In the final scene we learn that Lady Montague died of distress after Romeo was banished."
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"Juliet's parents, on the other hand, profess to love her, but show no thought for her feelings when they force her to marry against her will. Both of them speak to her in a cruel, thoughtless way in Act III."
"This type of love is mentioned again in the notes on the Generation Gap which follow."
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"*FATE"
"The Prologue to the first Act uses the words"
"*star-crossed lovers"
"and"
"*death-marked love."
"Already the audience is warned to look out for the influence of the stars or fate in the play."
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"An Elizabethan audience would have accepted much more readily than a modern one, that our life is mapped out in the stars, that certain things are bound to happen and that there is little we can do to alter what life will bring us."
"'Romeo and Juliet' supports this view, because the tragedy seems to be caused by a series of chances."
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"*FATE (cont.)"
"Consider what might have happened if Capulet's servant had been able to read, if Friar John had not been detained, if Juliet had woken moments earlier etc."
"It seems that fate or fortune was against them all along."
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"This idea is reinforced by numerous quotations from the play:"
"*Some consequence still hanging in the stars (I,iv)"
"*Thou art wedded to calamity (III,iii)"
"*I am Fortune's fool! (III,i)"
"*Then I defy you, stars! (V,i)"
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"The only way Romeo and Juliet can escape from the unkind influence of the stars is to kill themselves."
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"*THE GENERATION GAP"
"The generation gap refers to a situation of conflict or lack of understanding between children and their parents."
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"This is most clear in the play in the case of Juliet's clash with her parents over her proposed marriage to Paris."
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"In Act I, Juliet is seen to be an obedient and filial daughter. She accepts (or seems to) her mother's suggestion that she look at Paris with a view to marriage."
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"However, after she has fallen in love with Romeo, she cannot communicate with her parents, and feels that she has to hide the truth from them and even deceive them."
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"*GENERATION GAP (cont.)"
"In fact we see that Juliet is right to mistrust her parents, as they both show insensitivity to her feelings amounting to great cruelty."
"Lady Capulet retorts:"
"*I would the fool were wedded to her grave. (III,v)"
"and Capulet threatens to throw her out of the house to starve."
"The problem in Juliet's time, as it does in ours, stems from the younger generation refusing to accept the traditional way of doing things, and the older generation not wishing to accept change."
"Shakespeare offers no solution to the problem, except perhaps greater love and understanding between the people involved."
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"*ORDER/DISORDER"
"This theme arises often in Shakespeare's plays, as it was one which the Elizabethans regarded very seriously."
"Shakespeare's own view is clearly that civil disorder was unacceptable, and in fact you may view the play as being about the tragic effects of disorder on the lives of innocent characters."
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"In an ordered society there would have been little standing in the way of marriage between Romeo and Juliet. In fact we know Capulet regards him as"
"*a virtuous and well-governed youth"
"and an alliance between two noble families would usually be regarded as highly satisfactory."
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"*ORDER/DISORDER (cont.)"
"However, at the beginning of the play, society is not well ordered and this leads directly to the tragedy."
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"Disorder is represented by the continued feud between the Montagues and the Capulets, which has already led to"
"*Three civil brawls, bred of an airy word"
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"Order in this case is represented by Prince Escalus, and you will notice that in each of his three appearances in the play, he restores order after a scene of violence or death."
"However, you may like to consider the idea that Escalus has himself contributed to the trouble in Verona by not being strict enough with the two families."
