Themes ...Themes... Tragic conflict: the conflict between life and death The conflict between human desires and fate or the "stars" The conflict between passion and moderation or reason Conflict between personal values and the expectations of society The inability of good people to control events The conflict between age and youth Time and haste The difference between appearance and reality Tragic conflict: the conflict between life and death All conflict in the play is between those forces that are life-giving and life-affirming (love, moderation and good sense or reason), and those that bring death (irrational and violently destructive hatred) between the two families. The conflict between human desires and fate or the "stars" Prologue- The two lovers are described as "star- crossed" because things happen beyond their control. The Elizabethan audience believed very firmly that the stars have the power to control human lives. They did not choose to be born into rival families and to be faced with all the problems that this brings. However, they do choose to defy their families. This begins a series of events that end in their tragic deaths. . The point that Shakespeare is making in the Prologue is that there is little hope for Romeo and Juliet's relationship because the stars are against them. If these bad star signs are very strong, the result can be disastrous. Can see from the play's opening lines that everything points to tragedy, disaster and death. . The conflict between passion and moderation or reason Central theme, and one that is familiar to all of us: having to choose between what we feel is right for us, or what we want to do, and what we know rationally we should do. Characters in the play can be grouped according to these qualities. The Prince, Friar Lawrence and Benvolio can be grouped under reason and moderation. Virtually all other characters are motivated by passion. The quarrel between the two houses is caused by the strong emotion of hatred. The hatred the families have for each other may have been caused by a good reason initially- but we are never told what the reason was. By the time the action of the play takes place, this hatred has become a habit. People like Tybalt or the servants fight the members of the other family without thinking about why they do it, but simply because that is what they have always done. Even an intelligent man like Mercutio is drawn into this habit of violence. He is wise enough to see how foolish Romeo's supposed "love" for Roseline is, but he is unable to use his intelligence to see how pointless and stupid the quarrel between the families is. Mercutio, instead, gets drawn into the fighting and dies as a result. People like Benvolio and Friar Lawrence see how irrational and stupid the quarrel is, and try and stop it. Benvolio in particular, is present in all scenes where fighting between the families takes place. He tries to keep the peace. Benvolio calls people out by saying that they don't know what they are doing- they are acting completely irrationally. However, no one listens to the voice of moderation because the powerful emotion of hatred that is running through them is far stronger. Strong emotions are part of human nature. Even Juliet realises that the strength of the feelings between her and Romeo is dangerous when she says during the balcony scene. The conflict between personal values and the expectations of society The pressure for characters to hate other characters simply because they belong to a different family. The pressure to pretend to be in "love" in the traditional Petrarchan* way, as opposed to real love. *Petrarchan- A lover is one whose undying love for another is not returned. In some cases, the object of a Petrarchan lover's affection is unaware that they are the object of affection. The inability of good people to control events This is apparent even if they have the best intentions in the world. Romeo tries to stop the fight between Tybalt and Mercutio. He comes between them, this allows Tybalt to kill Mercutio. Friar Lawrence's attempts to rescue Juliet from her marriage to Paris and be reunited with Romeo. Good intentions are not good enough, and his plan actually causes the death of the two lovers, through no fault of his own. Friar Lawrence married Romeo and Juliet in the hope it would resolve the family feud. The conflict between age and youth The relationship between the old and the young in this play is not as simple as just a lack of understanding between the generations. The traditional idea of the older generation, not understanding the younger generation is found in its most obvious example when Lord and Lady Capulet try to force Juliet to marry Paris against her will. Both parents show themselves to be tyrants and bullies who not only do not understand their daughter but make no attempt whatsoever to try and do so. They try their best to help him, unlike the Capulets with Juliet, by asking Benvolio to try and find out what is worrying their son. However, the relationship between age and youth is not simply one of the generation gaps. Part of the problem in the play is that old people do not behave in the way that old people traditionally should behave. Traditionally, old people are meant to be wise and to guide the young when their emotions take control of them. However, in this play the old let their emotions control them, which is the basic cause of the tragic events that take place in the play. This is shown clearly from the first time we see the heads of the family in Act 1, Scene 1 when the two old men wanted to start fighting with each other. time and haste There is a big emphasis on time in this play. The action of Romeo and Juliet only lasts 5 days. On Sunday when the play opens- Romeo and Juliet haven't met. By the following Thursday, they have met, fallen passionately in love, got married, and died. The young lovers act very hastily (something which Juliet is aware of). Romeo and Juliet's love is too passionate- it will be sweet. But also, it is so passionate, everything happens too quickly and ends in tragedy. The difference between appearance and Reality The pressure from her parents forces her to pretend to be something she is not. In order to remove the pressure, Juliet pretends to go to the Friar to ask for forgiveness for her sin of disobeying her father when in fact she is going to ask him to help her get out of the predicament she finds herself in. For Friar's plan to work, she pretends to obey her father and marry Paris. She takes the potion the Friar gave her and then she seems to be dead when she is actually alive. The final tragedy results from Romeo believing that Juliet's appearance of being dead is actually the truth.
