Romeo and Juliet - Key Themes

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  • Romeo and Juliet: Themes
    • Youth
      • Capulet: "My child is yet a stranger in the world; she hath not seen the change of fourteen years"
        • Capulet denies Paris' request to marry Juliet because she is too young
        • Juliet is only thirteen,
          • Her father is looking forward to his daughters fourteenth birthday that she will never reach and this emphasises that Juliet's life has been cut short
      • Juliet: "So tedious is the day As is the night before some festival To an impatient child that hath new robes and may not wear them
        • Juliet is presented as impatient to grow up and as soon as she meets Romeo she wants to marry him
        • To the audience Juliet's hurry to grow up is tragic because we know she will  die only a few days after her marriage
        • Juliet expresses her impatience for her wedding night by comparing herself to a child. Juliet reminds us that she is still really just a child herself
    • Violence
      • Romeo: " fire - eyed fury be my conduct now"
        • The repetition of the 'I' sound is violent and aggressive this foreshadows the scene ahead
        • The personifcation of 'fury' being 'fire-eyed' depicts an image of someone not being able to see clearly. Romeo is blinded by fire, something deadly and destructive, and his wish to avenge Mercutio's death is all consuming
        • Many people in the Elizabethan era would've seen this behaviour as the right way to act
          • 'masculine' way of behaving
      • The characters in Romeo and Juliet have a strong sense of honour which results in conflict
        • The two households find it very hard to ignore insults and if an insult is made they feel their family and friends have also been insulted so they fight to defend the family name
      • We are introduced to the theme of violence at the very start t
      • The violence of the feud gradually gets worse throughout the play - this creates tension
    • Religion
      • Romeo and Juliet live in a catholic society and have to live by the moral rules set by he church
      • Romeo: "Snowy dove"
        • Romeo uses it to describe Juliet as pure and holy
        • A dove is seen as a symbol for love and peace and a sign of hope - Romeo is hopeful for the future with Juliet
      • Religion is presented as a powerful force in the play
        • It creates an escape from their damnation
      • The use of religious imagery reinforce the purity of their love
        • This makes them even more sympathetic characters
        • Highlights how Romeo and Juliet are drawn together like religious pilgrims to a holy site
      • The only time that the Capulet's allow Juliet to be alone is when she is going to 'make confession'
        • Highlights how Capulet trusts the Friar and believes that confession is very important
      • Bigamy was considered a 'mortal' sin
    • Love
      • Romeo: "arise fair sun and kill the envious moon"
        • Throughout the play we see Romeo confesses his love to Juliet by comparing her to the sun and Rosaline to the moon.
          • Personification
          • Metaphor
        • This illuminates the strength of Romeo and Juliet's love
        • Shows the theme of light and dark
        • His new love for Juliet has killed his love for Rosaline
        • Ironic because at the end Juliet does not 'arise' and it is Juliet who is killed.
      • Romeo: "O brawling hate, O loving hate"
        • Oxymoron
        • the contrast of "loving hate" suggests powerful, passionate feelings but also how quickly one emotion can turn into another
        • Shows his courtly love weakens his spirit and energy
          • By contrasting the positive feelings associated with true love against the damaging feelings associated with the process of courtly love Shakespeare is making a criticism of Elizabethan society
            • Clearly Shakespeare endorses true love and is not in support of the Elizabethan obsession with relationships based on objects, status or reputation
      • Romeo: "his holy shrine ... my lips, two blushing pilgrims"
        • Romeo uses religious imagery. He refers to his lips as 'pilgrims' and Juliet as a 'holy shrine'. This highlights how he puts Juliet above himself which was against patriarchal society at the time
          • 'The Great Chain of Being'
        • The religious imagery used here would be considered blasphemous, Elizabethan audience would've been outraged which shows that Romeo was never one to abide by society norms
      • Mercutio and the Nurse often mention sexual love this contrasts with Romeo and Juliet's emotional love and commitment
      • Shakespeare contrasts true love and courtly love in Romeo and Juliet
        • Romeo's relationship with Rosaline follows the traditions of courtly love
        • Contrasts with Romeo's real love for Juliet which is full of emotion and passion
          • Romeo's relationship with Rosaline follows the traditions of courtly love
      • The fact that Romeo commits suicide out of his love for Juliet suggests he is irrationally romantic
        • Romeo commits a 'mortal' sin and condemns himself to hell because of romantic love
    • Fate
      • Prologue: "A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their lives
        • Romeo and Juliet where doomed from the very beginning
        • There path was already mapped out in the stars
        • 'opposed by the stars'
      • There are constant references to death and curses throughout the play - the audience are never allowed to forget that Romeo and Juliet are doomed
      • Both characters experience feelings of foreboding and have bad dreams and premonitions of what is to come
      • Romeo’s fear that he will arrive at the masque “too early” points to an important theme of the play. Almost every event in the play happens too early.
      • Romeo: "Shake the yoke of inauspicious stars"
        • Prologue: "death-marked love"
    • Family And Marriage
      • Juliet is presented as having a distant and detached relationship with her parents
      • Juliet rebels against the family structure
      • Juliet's position within the family restricts her. she is a young, unmarried daughter so cannot leave without permission
      • Family and marriage where usually positive but Shakespeare uses the feud to show how strong feelings like love and honour can lead to conflict
      • Juliet struggles to make both her parents and herself happy
      • The feud creates a lot of tension in the play and so Romeo and Juliet struggle to be together because their families are enemies
  • Capulet: "My child is yet a stranger in the world; she hath not seen the change of fourteen years"
    • Capulet denies Paris' request to marry Juliet because she is too young
    • Juliet is only thirteen,
      • Her father is looking forward to his daughters fourteenth birthday that she will never reach and this emphasises that Juliet's life has been cut short

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