Romeo and Juliet

• generational conflict


  One of Shakespeare's recurring themes is the conflict between the older generation, who want to choose partners for their children, and the younger characters want to choose for themselves. This reflects the social changes that occurred during Shakespeare's lifetime. A young woman such as Juliet would need approval from her family before marrying, but expected to be able to marry someone she loved.
• Women


  Women had a subservient place beneath men in many areas of daily life. Especially, they were the property of their fathers, then their husbands.
• fate


  The plays famous description of 'star-crossed lovers' relates to a contemporary belief in astrology. As well as superstitions about fate, the Protestant faith taught a doctrine about predestination: the idea that God knew the complete path of your life in advance. The genre of tragedy could be seen as bringing a type of fate in itself: tragic figures are always destined to die at the end.
• Italy


  The play is set in Verona, Italy. During the 14th century, Verona, like many other regions in Italy, was subject to extreme violence between warring factions; this was something which raged on for centuries and left destruction within and between communities.
• Astrology


  The stars and the universe were an influential part of Italian society; many people believed the position of heavenly/celestial bodies influenced events on Earth.
• Catholisicsm


  Religion was deeply rooted in Veronese society, and it was widely acknowledged that once you uttered the wedding vows they were sacred and shouldn't be broken whatever the circumstances.
• Romeo being ruled by chance and fate (1:5)

  "For I...

  ...ne'er saw true beauty till this night"

  This is what Romeo says when he first sees Juliet at the Capulet ball. This emphasises the idea that if Romeo had not seen Juliet at the Capulet ball then he would have been deprived of true 'love'. This gives rise to theories such as free will and determinism.
• Romeo as the courtly/petrarchan lover (1:1)

  "For beauty...

  ...starved by her severity, cuts beauty off from all posterity"

  He is forlorn and despondent, and he grieves about this. The emphasis that Romeo places on Rosaline's aesthetics shows him to be materialistic and vain. His depthless, ornamental view on women depicts him as childlike and overly romantic in his perception of love.
• Romeos lack of paternal guidance (2:3)

  "Good morning...

  ...father"

  Romeos greeting to father Lawrence, though he is a priest, acts as a double entendre for Romeo seeing him as a paternal figure. Romeo does not even confide in his own father; father Lawrence is the sole receiver of romeos confession of intent to marry Juliet.
• Romeos love vs generational fueds (2:2)

  "For with loves...

  ...wings did i o'erperch these walls, for stony limits cannot hold love out"

  He is willing to clear any wall for her, and thus, by extension, he is willing to ignore his family feud with hers to be with her. The metaphor he employs makes the audience think about cupid. He makes a classical reference with 'love's wings' making it apparent that love is powerful enough to overcome physical boundaries.
• Romeo is tortured by the absence of love (act 3)

  "exile...

  ...hath more terror in his look"

  When Romeo is exiled he is most unhappy because he is to be separated from Juliet. By personifying exile he makes it more tangible therefore more horrifying.
• Romeo tortured by the absence of love

  (Act 3)

  "purgatory" "hell itself"


  He likens exile to "purgatory" which he claims is really "hell itself". In using religious imagery he compares the absence of heaven, purgatory to be similar to hell therefore the absence of love is the same.
• Romeo is violent because of the patriarchy (act 3)

  "But love thee..

  ..better than thou canst devise"

  Romeo begins the conversation with tybalt composedly. It is alarmingly serene considering tybalt is threatening a duel and shows his nature to be influences by his encounter with true love.

  However after mercutio is slewn his nature becomes noticeably more vengeful. This is the moment which spurs his capacity for violence which stems from patriarchal ideals.
• Romeo says that his reputation is....

  Romeo says his 'reputation [is] stained' which is the idea that its a patriarchal concept which is derived from men taking pride in their good repuations and acting with violence to anyone who might threaten it.
• Romeo believes that only death can surmount his fate(5:1)

  "I defy...

  ...you, stars!"

  Romeo is still under the impression that fate is trying to keep him and his love apart and addresses the stars. He uses the personal pronoun 'you' as though they might reply. This paints his mental state as disintegrating and also shows the vast impact that stars have had on him to the point they feel like a tangible force that he can address.
• Romeo and Juliet is a retelling of the tale..

  Ovid's Pyramus and Thisbe
• Romeo fate

  S a d t w r i h o u d

  Some awful destiny that will result in his own untimely death

  Awful destiny is grimly foreboding and it shows the power of fate to be so vast that even the characters in the world of the play can feel its effects.
• Romeo fate

  I a f f

  I am fortunes fool

  Inspires a nihilistic reaction on the audience in the sense that if romeos actions are pre determined and doomed for death then the concept of control is an illusion
• Romeo hastiness

  T l m p i h e / t t o t s

  There lies more peril in (her) eye than that of twenty swords

  He implies love to be a dangerous thing capable of causing him more pain than any physical weapon which shows he is hasty in the way he loves and he is willing to sacrifice his entire life for a woman he met.
• Romeo Generational feuds

  G m m s a

  Give me my sin again

  Sin implies that he knows his family society and god will be disapproving and it is unscrupulous. The word connotes temptation which shows he is willing to fey them.
• Romeo violence and the patriarchy

  F b s w h s c b o f a p

  For beauty starved with her severity cuts beauty off from all prosperity

  He lacks any violent characteristics at the beginning of the play and is a Petrarchan lover, melancholic and almost feminine in use of couplets and iambic pentameter which makes his language seem flowery and obsequious
• Romeo violence and patriarchy

  H a t

  Have at thee

  Shows the transition from being not inclined towards violence at the beginning of the play to being extremely violent at the end
• Romeo friendship

  P m p

  Peace mercutio peace

  Soothing in his tone in response to mercutios aggressively passionate speech which demonstrates how he contrasts mercutio and they counteract each other as a result

  Also 'gentle mercutio' almosts sounds parental making their friendship seem as close as if they were a family. This emphasises the devastation that catalysed romeos violence as a result of his death.
• Juliet submissive women and the patriarchy

  M I a h w i y w?

  Madam I am here what is your will?She addresses her mother formally using the pronoun madam ahd she poses a question which demonstrates the immense respect she is expected to show as a daughter.
• H I a e r b y Juliet

  Henceforth I am ever ruled by you

  Shows that she has no free will
• Mercutio thinks love is superficial

  g R

  He addresses Romeo as gentle Romeo

  Use of the adjective of gentle almost sounds condescending ( belittling) which emphasises his mocking nature towards Romeo.
• Mercutio says to romeo that he is

  a l (a h s ) b C w

  A lover and he should borrow cupids wings

  His tone is deterministic in the way he labels Romeo as a lover which sounds clinical as though people are set and have no free will to be something else
• Mercutio

  w m l o t b/ P t a l t f t b

  When women lie on their backs/ Presses them and learns them first to bear

  He speaks of love as a corrupting influence, he vilifies Queen Mab and turns her into a villian, doing so of love by extension
• The duality of mercutio

  m p l

  Madman, passion, lover

  His grouping of these words makes them sound as though they are semantics, he speaks as though madman and lover are the same thing and in this way he is mocking Romeo and shows his distaste for love.
• Friar Lawrence good vs evil

  b w

  Baleful weeds

  Uses a soliloquy describing his plants as baleful weeds, evoking the theme of death which is ever present and foreshadowing the poison we see Romeo drink at the end of the play.
• Tybalts folly is that he is quick to anger

  h a t c

  Have at thee coward

  Uses provocative language insulting benvolio with the adjective coward. He is established as quick to anger because it took him less than two lines to offer up a fight upon his entrance.
• Nurse as a substitute parental figure for juliet

  t p b t e i n

  The prettiest babe that eer i nursed

  Her tone is fond and she speaks retrospectively, reminding the audience that she was juliets primary carer when she was a babe.
• The nurse warns romeo that...

  Juliet is y a t i (h) s d d w h t i w a i t

  Juliet is young, and that if he should deal double with her truly it were an ill thing

  The alliterative language in deal double creates harsh plosives sounds which makes her appear confrontational towards romeo showing how protective she is of Juliet in a way her own mother is not
• Nurse said when juliet died

  N w s s b a d a t

  Never was seen so black a day as this

  Hyperbolic in het mourning the metaphor reflects the nurses intense grief
• Character development of Romeo in act 5


  He begged for death in his melancholic ramblings of love for Rosalind but he is truly willing to die for Juliet. This shows that he has learned how to love someone more than just on a surface level.
• Lord Capulet conflict

  "she is the...

  ...hopeful lady of [his] earth"

  When he is discussing a potential marriage between Juliet and Paris he speaks of his daughter affectionally. The word earth shows Juliet to be extremely valued by Capulet showing that he means the literal world to him. This is also a reference to the fact that Juliet is his only child, which makes her death at the end much more tragic.
• Lord Capulet as a tyrant

  "chopped...

  ...logic!"

  When Juliet refuses to marry Paris, he exclaims that she has chopped logic. He uses an exclamative and this makes him sound frightening and assertive.
• Lord Capulet calls Juliet a...

  "disobedient wretch"

  He calls her a disobedient wretch using epithets to express his anger. He says that his 'fingers itch' threatening her with violence in an attempt to scare her into submission.
• In a rage, Capulet shouts..


  "hang, beg, starve, die" when addressing his daughter whom we assumed he cared so much for with such cruel indifference that he seems tyrannous. It may seem like Capulet is the villain in the play which causes all the tragedy in the play.
• Lord Capulet fatherhood vs duty

  "look how...

  ..our daughter bleeds!"

  In the plays final scene, Capulet learns, after the death of his daughter, that fatherhood was always a more important responsibility that his duty in up keeping societal expectations and the patriarchy. This moment is brutal as the audience feels the immense pity for Capulet as he has realised his mistake, valuing his duties over his daughter's happiness far too late. This adds to the genre of tragedy that the play falls into.