Romeo and Juliet – Themes

Shakespeare uses a number of methods and themes to illustrate the atmosphere in this play. He uses the methods and themes to make the play more effective and motivating. The themes that he used are as followed: Love Love plays a major part in the play Romeo and Juliet. Throughout the play we can analyze the different types of love that Shakespeare explores. There is lustful love which is basically for the purpose of sexual pleasure. A lot of lustful love is shown in the play mainly by the nurse and several other characters.

Go girl; seek happy, nights to happy days. ‘ The reason hat Shakespeare includes lustful love is to create a funny and happy atmosphere at times to show us that the play is not all about coldness and sadness. In Act 5 scene 3 Shakespeare shows us the major part of love – True love. When Romeo enters the tombstone where Juliet who is pretending to be dead is laid, he speaks of words that are written ever so poetically and romantically that it draws us totally into the scene. Shakespeare makes this scene ever so beautiful by using words of true love and feelings.

The language that he used to communicate their love for each other was written ver so poetically. ‘Death that hat’d the honey of thy breath That had no power yet upon thy beauty Thou arnt not conquered, beauty ensign yet Is crimson in thy lips and in thy cheeks. And deaths pale flag is not advanced there. The love that Shakespeare illustrates in this scene is great. The love between Romeo and Juliet is so extreme that they are willing to die for each other because they cannot imagine living without one another. ‘Well, Juliet, I will lie with thee to-night.

Let’s see for means: O mischief, thou art swift To enter in the thoughts of desperate men! I do remember an apothecary,–‘ In this quote Romeo has made up his mind straight after he has been informed that Juliet is dead that he is going to commit suicide by drinking as poison. He didn’t even stop to think about the decision he is making and the consequences. This just shows the love he has for Juliet. Once Romeo has drunk his poison and is laid dead next to Juliet, Juliet suddenly wakes up.

‘Poison, I see, hath been his timeless end: O churl! drunk all, and left no friendly drop To help me after? Juliet here finds out that Romeo is dead because he drank poison and she lso straight away makes up her mind that she will die too rather then live without the man she love. The atmosphere changes rapidly when Shakespeare illustrates the different kinds of love. When he shows the sadness and grief between the two lovers the mood changes to unhappiness and misery but when it comes to the lustful love the atmosphere changes to a humorous mood. There is also happiness when we are shown the two lovers; Romeo and Juliet kissing passionately and are planning to get to get married.

The mood here changes to joy and relief. Misunderstanding/ Confusion The misunderstanding here is that Paris completely thought the wrong reason of Romeos presence and he refused to listen. When we read this we start to think ‘If only Paris knew’ or if only Romeo didn’t start a fight. This is exactly what Shakespeare wants us to think like and it certainly worked throughout the whole scene. Romeo then moves to the tombstone where Juliet is laid and speaks to her as if she was still alive. ‘For here lies Juliet, and her beauty makes This vault a feasting presence full of light.

Death, lie thou there, by a dead man interr’d. ‘ The atmosphere here sounds as if it’s a fascinating scene with loads of ight and colours even though the scene is taking place in a place of death and doom. This creates a pleasant imagery when it’s supposed to be dark and gloomy where the dead are buried. After Romeo drank his poison, Juliet wakes straight up after him. Another misunderstanding is placed here Romeo and Juliet is a play about love and passion between two young people. It is also about the fate of the two “star-crossed lovers,” who eventually take their own lives because of misunderstandings.

You could say that Romeo and Juliet had just too much bad luck and the play leaves you thinking “if only… If only the messenger had delivered the letter, if only Juliet had woken up sooner. But there is a reason why is a reason why Shakespeare included all these confusion between the characters. He wants to inspire the readers and create tension to draw them totally into the play and leave us stunned with the outcome of all the misunderstandings. He wants us readers to think about the play and learn a lesson from it. Fate Fate as a dominating force is evident from the very beginning of the play.

The chorus introduces the power fortune in the opening prologue when we are old that Romeo and Juliet are ‘star crossed lovers’ They have fate against them. We get an idea from there that the couple is not going to end up living happily after. In that time people were very wary about what the starts said. If two people’s stars were crossed in the sky they would never remain together. There were many unfortunate things happening that led to their death. Fate is shown a number of times in Act 5 scene 3. One of the quotes that show the fate is the reaction of Romeo when he finds out that Juliet is dead; ‘Is it even so? hen I defy you, stars! ‘ These are the exact words that Romeo shouts out to the skies.

The quote shows religious imagery, disappointment and grief. Romeo feels as if he has been let down by the stars and God because he believes that it was not fair to take away the life of such a young girl who had a whole future to look forward to. All the odd things that have been happening to the young couple shows the lack of fate and belief even though they had a strong believe in religion. I have just explained the themes that Shakespeare uses in order to make the play more effective and illustrate the atmosphere.

Now I will be doing xactly the same but use instead of themes I will use the methods that Shakespeare has used. Religious imagery Throughout the whole play we are shown the religious imagery that the characters had within them. In the time that the play was set people were extremely religious and believed in fate. Shakespeare shows a lot of religious imagery as its one of the main methods to show the identity of the characters. Each and one of the characters have a strong believe. For example, Romeo. In act 5 scene 3 Romeo admits that he has committed many sins and is trying to avoid committing anymore. ‘Put not another sin upon my head,’