Romeo and Juliet

• Prologue establishes the theme of fate and that the fate of Romeo and Juliet has already been predetermined, and their death will bring about the reconciliation of the two families
• The play is set in Verona, with a feud between the Montagues (Romeo's family) and the Capulets (Juliet's family)
• Romeo and Juliet was written between 1594 and 1596 during the Elizabethan era
• During the Elizabethan era, there was a patriarchal society where men were dominant and had control over women
• The Elizabethan era believed the body contained 4 humours: blood, phlegm, yellow bile, black bile, and the amount of each determined your personality
• The name "Romeo" means "wanderer" or "restless"
• Romeo's love for Rosaline

  Fickle and superficial
• Romeo: '"O brawling love, a loving hate."'
• Brawling


  To fight or quarrel
• Romeo's conflicting feelings and emotional turmoil could reflect the chaos of Verona, which is divided by the feud
• Serious vanity


  Lack of real value
• When Romeo and Juliet first meet, they speak in a shared sonnet using religious language to describe their feelings for each other
• Sonnet form


  An idealised poetic form often used to write about love
• Romeo describes Juliet as a "holy shrine" and worships her, deifying her
• Romeo: '"Juliet is the sun"'
• Blazon poetry


  Poetic features used to compare the female body parts to nature
• Romeo: '"Can heaven be so envious"'
• The juxtaposition of light (sun) and dark (moon) references suggests the gods are jealous of Romeo and Juliet's love
• Romeo: '"I defy you stars!"'
• Fate


  The notion that people's lives are controlled by a higher power
• Romeo: '"Shake the yoke of inauspicious stars"'
• True knight


  A knight who saves a damsel in distress
• Romeo's love for Juliet is passionate, whereas Paris's love is more socially acceptable and patriarchal
• Romeo and Juliet's love takes place under the cover of night, suggesting it is fanciful and not meant to last
• Romeo: '"That I should love so fair a creature dead"'
• There is dramatic irony as the audience knows Romeo's destiny is death, not being able to be with his true love
• Juliet


  • Obedient and sheltered at the beginning
  • Mature beyond her years
  • Transitions from innocent to passionate
  • Emphasis on her youth despite growing maturity
  • Gains courage and defies her parents by the end
• Juliet's age


  Stands on the border between innocence and maturity
• Juliet: '"God of my idolatry"'
• Juliet's use of religious imagery


  Presents their love as pure and sacred
• Romeo: '"You kiss by the book"'
• Juliet: '"O, swear not by the moon, the inconstant moon"'
• Juliet's direct language


  She is direct in confessing her love and encouraging Romeo to be genuine
• Juliet: '"O, I have bought the mansion of a love, But not possessed it"'
• Juliet's maturity


  Shown through her use of triadic structure to tell Romeo their love is moving too fast
• Juliet: '"The shall set make me there a joyful bride"'
• Juliet


  • Gains confidence and stands up to her father, unlike typical Elizabethan women
  • Her disobedience shocks her parents
• Juliet: '"My grave is like to be my wedding bed"'
• Juliet's death


  Foreshadowed by Shakespeare
• Juliet: '"Thy dove trooping with crows"'