Romeo and Juliet Key Ideas and Quotes

The use of a sonnet  in the prologue is used to neatly explain the tragic love story that follows; the fourteen-line structure was a classical form used in Elizabethan love poetry and suggests to us, before the play even starts, that love will be a recurring theme throughout. 

The last fourteen lines of the play also use the sonnet form - cohesive structural feature - to end the play using the same form with which it started. 

These last lines, however, are spoken by the lovers' fathers, with the concluding six lines narrated by the Prince, reminding us of the loss of two young lives and their love, which could have been a force for peace. 

The prologue uses the theme of fate in that it allows the audience an insight of the actions of Romeo and Juliet before they happen, almost as if everything that happens throughout the play has been planned or preordained by fate. This suggests that their destiny is fixed from the moment of their births as if refers to the 'fatal loins' of their parents. 

Prologue also refers to the two as 'star crossed lovers' - suggests that their destiny has been written in the stars. The prlogue also suggests that their deaths will be the only way that their 'parents' rage' will end. 

The prologue offers insight into the oncoming action when we are told, 'From forth the fatal loins of these two foes/A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life' . This establishes the dramatic tension for the audience - pre-warned. 

In act I Scene 2, Paris discusses his proposal to marry Juliet with her father, however Lord Capulet is aprehensive/reluctant to agree to an early marriage. He feels his daughter is still a 'stranger in the world'. 

He continues to disagree with the proposal - even when Lady capulet points out herself that she was married at a similar age - when he argues 'too soon marred are those so early made.' this seems to indicate that he would not want to risk Juliet's life in any way - perhaps this shows his care for her. 

Patriarchal society - men take precedence over women and therefore hold all of the control within the reationship. Although Lord Capulet seems open to Juliet having freedom in choice now, he attitude drastically changes later in the play when he forces her into marriage and leads her to (ironically) take her own, young life. 

Mercutio's Queen Mab speech is part of his tactic to persuade Romeo to stop moaning about his unrequited love for Rosaline and to join in on the fun of the evening. He talks of Queen Mab, a fairy who gallops through the night hours, showing his quick-witted, imaginative side. He describes the effect QM has on sleepers, 'And in this state she gallops night by night/Through lovers' brains, and then they dream of love', suggesting it is Mab who awakens a young girl's sexual desire. 

Mercutio enables the audience to see that Romeo's love for Rosaline is nothing but a dream, a fantasy itself. 

As the audience, we quickly warm to Mercutio; he is lively, witty and has a positive and energetic force, who cares for his friend when he is feeling down about his love life. He has little chance to establish himself in the play, so this scene is important is discovering Mercutio as a character, especially since it is his death that is the Catalyst of the rest of the tragedies that follow it. 

When Romeo and Juliet learn that they are from rival families, a sense of foreboding begins to set itself upon the play. Juliet's assertion that, 'My grave is like to be my wedding bed' is the most serious prediction in the play so far. Again, it is foreshadowing the events that are to take place as a result of their love. 

On the one hand, Juliet is referring to the fact that if she cannot marry her true love, she is likely to go to her grave unmarried. However, on the other hand, it acts as a way of connecting her marriage to her early and tragic death. 

 Act II Scene 2 presents to us a significant event within the play. As the two meet, Romeo has been dazzled by his first view of Juliet, 'O she doth teach the torches to burn bright!', and compares her to a source of light.

He continues to compare her to the sun rather than the moon, suggesting that she represents warmth and life, and further suggests that if her eyes were to shine in heaven, in place of the stars, then even the birds would be confused and think night was day. Shakespear uses the strong imagery of physical light linked to physical attributes (of Juliet) to play with and provoke personal reaction from the audience. 

We are introduced to the Friar in Act II Scene 3 when Romeo arrives to ask him to perfrom his marriage to Juliet. The Friar expects Romeo to talk about Rosaline and, upon hearing about Juliet, makes fun of Romeo, suggesting that, 'Young men's love then lies/Not truly in their hearts but in their eyes'. 

The Friar is a respected figure in the play. His advice is sought by Romeo, The Nurse and Paris, thus giving him a crucial position in bringing the peace to the streets of Verona. 

In the Friar's speech prior to Romeo's arrival, he uses many examples of opposites ad contrasting ideas, such as 'day/night', 'vile/good' but other more sinister comparisons that act as a premonition for the events to come. For example, 'mother' and 'womb' are placed alongside references to 'grave' and 'tomb', suggesting the fragility of life and the ever present threat of death. Throughout the entirety of this speech, it makes it obvious to us as readers that The Friar is a significant character within the play. 

By Act II Scene 4 we are again open to Mercutio's jokes and witty banter. Although it begins with a serious warning that Tybalt has acted on anger from the feast, Mercutio lightens the mood with his sarcastic wordplay and comical jokes that take on a sexual theme in this particular scene. He actually insults the nurse when he says, 'Good, Peter, to hide her face, for her fan's the fairer face'. 

At this point in the play Shakespear has established Mercutio as a character who is quick witted, lively but also changeable. He can go from being witty and full of enthusiasm to a dedicated friend, as is made evident when he sees Romeo in better spirits; 'Now art thou sociable. Now art thou Romeo.' 

Act II Scene 6 tells the tale of Romeo and Juliet's secret marriage as The Friar and Romeo himself await for Juliet at the Friars cell. Although this scene is supposed to be the climax of the play, it isn't. Instead, the scene simply covers the last moments before the lovers are married, where Juliet affirms her love for Romeo, 'my true love is grown to such excess/I cannot sum up sum of half my wealth.' 

Although their marriage is significant, the play is really focused on their tragic deaths. This is foreshadowed by Romeo's earlier affirmation of love when he challenges, 'love-devouring death' to 'do what he dare.' This presents another predicament laced with the soon to be tragedy of the two lovers. 

The Friar seems to have apprehensions about the suddeness of the couple's marriage, 'These violent delights have violent ends,', yet he still goes ahead and marries them. His wisdom is shown again here as his words act as a terrible prediction of future events. 

The events of the fight scene are extremely fast-paced and violent in contrast to the beauty of Romeo and Juliet's love in the previous act. However, unsurprisingly, it is Mercutio who proves to be the catalyst for the action. The men of both households are looking for trouble; Mercutio, as usual, does not listen to those trying to keep the peace and is easily provoked by Tybalt, and makes the first mention of violence, 'Make it a word and a blow.' 

After he takes the hit, Mercutio dismisses the injury as 'a scratch, a scratch' but soon realises its seriousness, 'you will find me a grave man.' Shakespear chooses to have one of the most lively characters killed at this point, not even halfway through the play. Time and time again, Shakespear manipulates the audiences' feelings of hope with twists within the plot. This is one such occasion; Romeo is caught up in events he has tried to avoid. The fact that neither Mercutio nor Tybalt are aware of the marriage between Romeo and Juliet make this scene extremely bitter and adds to the irony Shakespear is able to create. 

Mercutio leaves the stage uttering the haunting curse, 'A plague a' both your houses!' - a curse that is soon to be carried out. 

The Nurse occupies a similar position in Juliet's life to the Friar in Romeo's. She is Juliet's longstanding carer and professes to love her dearly. Yet, she indulges Juliet's sudden and rash love for Romeo and is complicit in arranging for Juliet to marry Romeo, without her father's consent and whilst fully aware her hand has been promised to Paris. However, unlike the Friar, when things go wrong the Nurse lacks the courage to face the consequences of her actions, and instructs Juliet to marry Paris. 

Capulet is clearly distressed about Tybalt's death but is also pragmatic, 'Well, we were born to die'. His view reflects the society in which he lived where life expectancu was short. This helps us to understand why girl's married and had children young. Everything in the short scene of Act III Scene 4 helps to reinforce the fact that Lord Capulet, as head of the household, is the decision maker. He decides on his daughters marriage and sets the date without consulting her and Lady Capulet accepts this as the norm. 

Capulet also gives imperative orders to his wife; 'Go you to her', 'Bid her', 'Perpare her'. This presents a stark contrast between Juliet's parents and the love that herself and Romeo share. 

Here, Lady Capulet describes Juliet's marriage with Paris as 'a sudden day of joy' and suggests that Juliet will be a 'joyful bride' - she cannot understand Juliet's refusal. Neither she nor Capulet takes time in trying to understand Juliet's refusal - they both change their tones and Capulet especially takes on a violent attitude towards Juliet as he hurls threats and insults towards her, 'disobedient wretch!' 

As prominent within this period in history, her refusal to marry the man he has chosen would be a significant insult to him as a father and seemingly challenge his state of authority. Despite the Nurses' earlier trustworthy attitude, once she tells Juliet to forget Romeo and move onto Paris, she now becomes untrustworthy - marrying Paris would be unlawful as she is already a married woman. 

After proposing to the Friar that she wants to kill herself, The Friar comes up with a plan to fake her death with a special potion, which will then allow Juliet to escape and see Romeo again. This escalates in Act IV Scene 2 when Juliet adopts an innocent tone and readily convinces her father that she has repented her 'disobedient opposition'. She kneels before her father and easily convinces him that she is not capable of the 'self-willed harlotry' he has just mentioned. This is ironic, given what she has planned to do with the Friar. 

She goes on to lie to her father, saying that at her meeting with Paris she gave him 'what becomed love I might' which the audience knows is untrue. This dialogue helps the audience discover that Juliet is not as innocent as made to seem; she can be clever and manipulative, too. 

Throughout the play there are countless references to death itself, either from the older generation - Capulet says 'We were born to die' - or from Romeo and Juliet themselves threatening to take their lives for their misfrotunes in their exchanges with the Friar. Here, the image of death is personified, 'Death is my son-in law' exclaims Capulet, who goes onto use personifications of 'cruel death' and 'detesterable death', as though death were a person who visited Juliet in the night. 

The Friar's actions here would have been seen as deeply shocking. He is complicit in Juliet's faked death, but his words reveal him to be an adept liar. Perhaps Shakespear is showing how those who have taken holy orders are not always as innocent as they seem. 

The description of the Apothecary 'in tattered weeds' and worn down by 'sharp misery' makes a stark contrast to the trusted and respected Friar Laurence. Romeo visits him in desperation and we see that while the Friar uses his understanding of herbs beneficially for Juliet, the Apothecary uses his knowledge of drugs to bring a swift death. Rather than dissuading him from suicide as the Friar has done, the Apothecary, driven by his own poverty, assures Romeo his work will 'dispatch you straight'. This scene helps to reassure the audience of the good intentions of the Friar thoughout, though we may have doubted his actions before in helping Juliet fake her death. 

Though it is presented to the audience from the start that the lovers are fated to die, their deaths come as a result of of tragic mistakes. The more serious mistakes that occur are those of people  acting in haste; Romeo's rush of anger leads to the death of Tybalt. Romeo's decision to come back to Verona is equally as hasty - when challenged by Paris outside the vault, he does not hesitate but starts a fight that leads to the death of Paris. 

Paris has seemed almost marginalised throughout the play. Though the audiences' sympathies lie with Romeo and Juliet, we do not forget that in the context of the play, it is Paris who acts honourably and follows the conventions of his society. In this final scene he seems to show genuine affection and grief, laying flowers and 'sweet water' in Juliet's tomb; he is portrayed as dutiful. 

As Romeo realises he has killed Paris, he sees Juliet lying in the vault. He immediately uses an image of light to describe her; 'For here lies Juliet, and her beauty makes/This vault a feasting presence full of light'. As when they first met, all of the metaphors Romeo uses to describe Juliet's appearance are based on light, as though she is the once presence that illuminates his life for him. 

He makes a contrast between the 'grave' and a 'lantern' - to Romeo, even in the vault at her death, Juliet's beauty is a natural, beautiful source of light that he will forever be in the shadow of.