The Eternal Problems in Romeo and Juliet

The fable used by Shakespeare was used more than once in the ancient literature. This is the love of two young people from hostile families. It is used by William Shakespeare, not only in “Romeo and Juliet,” but also in the play Midsummer Night’s Dream (the ancient story of Piram and Fisby in Metamorphoses by Ovid).

“Romeo and Juliet” is one of the most famous works of Shakespeare, because the imaginative concentration of motives and eternal themes of humanity in it reaches a maximum. This is the theme of love, blood revenge, death, enmity, and chance.

“Romeo and Juliet” is one of the most famous works of Shakespeare, because the imaginative concentration of motives and eternal themes of humanity in it reaches a maximum. This is the theme of love, blood revenge, death, enmity, and chance.

The theme of love is the main one. And it affects not only the context of the relationship between Romeo and Juliet but also it also acts as an important sphere of human life. Many characters talk about it, everyone sees his own things in it. The fifth scene about a ball in the house of the Capulet is especially distinguished in the love line. Here this theme is concretized to the motive of love at first sight.

The love of Romeo and Juliet was bright, pure and sacrificial and it flourished in times of feudal hostility. Under those conditions, it was a challenge to the whole society. Without exaggeration, it can even be called heroic. The families of Montague and Capulet were irreconcilable enemies; every generation took part in the struggle when suddenly nature itself gave their descendants an unexpected miracle: the two met and fell in love. Then all the conventions, the old morality, the danger turned out to be unimportant. This is exactly what true feeling should be, the victorious power hides in it.

In addition to the love between a man and a woman, a great place in the tragedy is devoted to the lines between the great feeling and amorousness, youthful passion, as well as to the theme of maternal, paternal, family love, and the care of the wet nurse of Juliet. The theme of love in the tragedy, as in all the stories and novels in Italy, from which Shakespeare took the plot, is painted in dark colors. Here the theme of love has the motive of the wedding, committed in secret, against the will of the parents. Towards the end of the tragedy, there appears the motive of exile.

And finally, one of the keynotes of all Shakespeare’s plays and almost all of the English Renaissance is the motive of the chance. All the problems, themes, and motives in the tragedy are related to each other. Revenge and anger give birth to death which in turn can be overcome by love. But the case is an unknown and omnipotent force; it still overtakes those who dared to go against the system and order, against the Masonic Great Architect of the Universe, in the image of which Shakespeare hints at God, pointed out by Masons and theologians, introducing a new concept. We see throughout the play we can see God-fighting and liberty in the observance of church laws: Romeo, who dressed for the ball as a monk, Montague and Capulet repeatedly violate the most important commandment “do not kill”, and the father and mother of the heroes of the tragedy are almost not respected by them.

Universe, in the image of which Shakespeare hints at God, pointed out by Masons and theologians, introducing a new concept. We see throughout the play we can see God-fighting and liberty in the observance of church laws: Romeo, who dressed for the ball as a monk, Montague and Capulet repeatedly violate the most important commandment “do not kill”, and the father and mother of the heroes of the tragedy are almost not respected by them.

The sin of his father Lorenzo also is worthy of attention. He marries the lovers without the consent of their parents. Violating the law, he shows humanism, cares for Romeo and Juliet, and he is the only one in Verona who understands that enmity and death can be stopped only by love.

An important place in the play is given to the authorities and to those concepts that are closely associated with it such as duty, law, and honor. The Duke of Verona is dissatisfied with the families of Montague and Capulet, because they violate the law, putting blood feuds and placing it above the law. That is, not observing the law, which is unique for all, the characters of the tragedy are true to their internal principles, to the debt that they took for themselves. The main goal for Tybalt is to protect the family at all costs, even by aggressive and incorrect methods.

The tragedy of “Romeo and Juliet” as life itself is full of themes, problems, and their solutions. But if the problem poses a problem clearly, since it comes from the characters themselves, there are always several ways to solve it. Heroes choose only one of them. The value of the play as the experience of generations, as illustrations of the universal, eternal problems that are faced by new epochs, is the reason for its survivability.

References

• Romeo and Juliet, Edward L.Rocklin – Palgrave Macmillan – 2010
• Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet: facsimiled from the edition printed at London in the year 1609, William Shakespeare – Edmund William.Ashbee – For private circulation only – 1869