Themes in Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

Themes in Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet was written in 1595, and with its

passionate and realistic treatment of universal themes such as love,

war, fate, hate and death, the story has become timeless. Parallels

with many other extremely successful plays and performances can also

be drawn, proving that the story can be interpreted in several

different ways, and still understood by people able to relate to it

everywhere, regardless of their culture, background or differing

lives.

Love is one of the main themes in Romeo and Juliet. Idealistic love,

physical love, mature love and paternal love all have their own place

throughout the play, and each character also describes a different

view and take on what it is. Benvolios’ view on love is

interchangeable, and he sees love as something you feel for the

duration a relationship, but also believes that a man should feel and

display no grief if he is initially rejected by a woman, or at the end

of a relationship. In contrast with this are the views of Lady

Capulet, who believes love comes from appearance, both physical and

political. She shows this when she speaks favourably for Paris looks

and nobility, also she displays that she does not love Capulet when

she publicly denounces him. Paris also has a similar view of love,

although his love for Juliet appears to be pure, he regards her more

as property and is more interested in her appearance. Mercutios view

of love in Romeo and Juliet is mainly physical, like the nurse, but he

also appears to be very level headed, in his queen mab story, this is

evident. The nurse also shows her views when she announces that Juliet

will ‘fall upon her back’ when she is older, referring to sex. Both

Romeo and Juliet’s ideas of love change drastically during the play.

Juliet has no real idea of love at the beginning of the play, and at

such a young age has only really experience the paternal love of the

nurse and her parents.