The main themes that run through the play Romeo and Juliet are: Love, hate and fate. The theme ‘love’ is used all the way through the play, the Capulet’s and the Montague’s really dislike each other and love is the cause of more violence. Romeo kills Tybalt out of love and guilt for his best friend Mercutio. Romeo says in the play that love has made him more of a girl than a man. In Juliet’s relationship with her parents love is not really shown as it should be, there is more cruelty and resentment than love which links their relationship closer to hate than love.
The other theme that runs through the play is ‘hate‘, this is probably the major theme. The Montague’s and the Capulet’s absolutely hate each other, every time they come face to face with each other there is violence and Tybalt is mainly the one that stirs thing up. Hate is closely linked in Juliet’s relationship with her parents for example, Juliet’s mother Lady Capulet says to Juliet
“I would the fool were in your grave.”
You can tell from this statement that Lady Capulet’s relationship with her daughter is not good. They also say to her.
“If you were mine I give you to my friend, if not die in the street.”
You can tell from this statement that the Capulet’s hate their daughter at this point, because that is not something that you would say to your own daughter.
The final theme that is used a lot in the play is ‘fate.’ We are told in the prologue that Romeo and Juliet take their lives. William Shakespeare’s idea in the play is that fate uses Romeo and Juliet to punish their parents. In our key scene Act 3 Scene 1 Romeo calls on fate are killing Tybalt and says,
“I am fortunes fool.”
That statement tells the audience that fate is in control of the events.
Love and hate run through the story. These themes are inter-related and this is shown in events such as the opening scene. The Capulet’s and the Montague’s servants meet each other and fighting shows hatred but they also show love for their masters.
“The quarrel in between our masters and us their men.”
This shows that both the servants love their master and will do anything for them. They all most like football hooligans who fight because they love their team.
Romeo is obsessed with love but doesn’t really know what it is. He has a crush on a lady called Rosaline but when we listen to him describing his feeling they are very shallow.
“She’s fair I love.”
This shows that Romeo links love to looks more than to personality. He also says,
“She wont ope her lap to saint inducing gold.”
This quote show he links love with money instead of personality. Until he meets Juliet and talks to her that he falls for her personality as well as her looks.
Act 3 Scene 1 is a important scene, it is a climatic scene of violence where love is the confronted by hate and afterwards things go wrong for the lovers. It also forms a climax in the structure. Up to this point Romeo and Juliet have being learning about what love is and now that they have found true love they think they can over come the hate between their families through their marriage, but from this point things go terribly wrong for the lover. They become, ‘Fortunes fools’ and love turns to violence and hate. This scene begins the run to death the prologue had said.
The opening scene Act 3 Scene 1 is used to create atmosphere for the audience. The audience knows Romeo and Juliet have got married but the other actors don’t. This shows that dramatic irony is being used as love is suddenly changed to hate.
“For these hot days is the mad blood stirring.” Benvolio warns the audience that blood will be spilt.
The stage setting would probably be bright, all the characters would be acting nervous and sweating, the atmosphere would be full of tension and excitement because the audience knows that there is violent coming up in the performance.
Mercutio is once again chatting, he is a character who is full of nervous energy, he is also very bright and entertaining, but Romeo’s best friend is supposed to make the audience feel uneasy because of the lack of control he has. Shakespeare would have probably get Mercutio this name because it is like mercury an unstable metal. He talks a lot about violence, death and fighting so that the audience knows that there is going to be violence coming up in the performance. Benvolio, Romeo’s peace making cousin tells us that Mercutio is “apt to quarrel” and that his life will not last very long if he keeps going on the way he is. That is ironic as Mercutio dies.
When Tybalt arrives looking for Romeo who he has challenged. The tension in the atmosphere dramatically increases mostly because Mercutio is wanting to provoke Tybalt.
“Make it a word and a blow.” he says to Tybalt when he asks if he could have a word with one of them. Mercutio might be looking to fight Tybalt but he might be acting his way out of love for his best friend Romeo. He thinks Romeo will not survive the fight with Tybalt. Mercutio has said that Romeo is “already dead….Stabbed….his heart cleft with the blind bow boys butt shaft.” This means that he has already been shot with an arrow of love and is not fit to fight. Ironically Mercutio has no idea that love for Juliet will kill Romeo in the end.
Mercutio is at the point of duelling with Tybalt when Romeo arrives. Tybalt challenges Romeo not knowing that Romeo is now his cousin but Romeo refuses to fight, he controls his temper showing that as the Capulet’s said he is a “well governed youth.”
Tybalt tries to insult Romeo by calling him a “Villain” and a “Boy” but he doesn’t get the response he wanted of Romeo. He still refuses to fight and acts like a good loving friend. Romeo hints about his marriage to Juliet but doesn’t speak to openly just in case he put Juliet at risk by saying
“Good Capulet, whose l name I love to tender as dearly as my own…”
Tybalt is fuming and frustrated in the Luhrmann film version of the play. He attacks Romeo who does absolutely nothing to defend himself. The other characters don’t know Romeo motives. Mercutio is angry at what he is seeing
“Vile submission” Mercutio challenges Tybalt to defend his best friends honour, which was important in them days. Romeo tries his very best to stop the fight but as a result of that Mercutio dies.
“I was killed under your arm.” Mercutio tells Romeo
Romeo realises he bares the guilt of Mercutio’s death. “Love hath made me effeminate.”
He is saying that love has made him more or a girl than a man and it has took this pride and courage away. He ceases to be well governed and as the priest warned in his speech about plants he lets “rude will” or hate take control. Romeo challenges Tybalt and ends up killing him but immediately knew that he had made the wrong decision.
“I am fortunes fool.” he says dramatically, he realises fate had played a trick on him. If he had not acted out of hate Tybalt would had been executed because the Capulet’s wouldn’t have been able to afford the blood price for the princes cousin. Romeo now realises that bringing peace back between the two families is now pretty impossible, this is prove when Juliet’s mother acting in the most unfeminine way, demanding his blood.
Shakespeare’s plays are written mainly in ‘blank verse’. Blank verse has a regular rhythm but does not rhyme it is a very flexible medium, which is capable like the human speaking voice - of a wide range of tones.
Shakespeare used a particular form of blank verse called Iambic Pentameter.
In Iambic Pentameter the lines are ten syllables long. Each line is divided into pairs of syllables or ‘feet’. Each ‘foot’ has one stressed and one unstressed syllable - a pattern which often appears in normal English speech, for example;
Tybalt
What, árt thou dráwn amóng these héartless hinds?
Túrn thee, Benvólio, loók upón thy déath.
Benvolio
I dó but keép the péace. Put úp thy swórd
Or mánage it to párt these mén with mé
Tybalt
What, dráwn, and tálk of péace? I háte the wórd
As I hate héll, all Móntagues, and theé
Have át thee, cóward.
Here the Pentameter accommodates a variety of speech tones - Tybalt’s angry challenges, Benvolio’s steady calm, and the acorn and hatred with which Tybalt renews his attack
Most of Act 3 Scene 1 is written n blank verse however towards the end this changes to rhyming couplets
“I beg for justice, which thou, Prince, must give:
Romeo slew Tybalt, Romeo must not live”.
This is effective because it is far more dramatic and shows depth of emotion
In Act 3 Scene 1 there is a lot of opportunity to interpret stage direction, particularly in the two fight scenes.
“They fight” Shakespeare says.
The fights are very different. To help make the audience feel involved, i would stage the play outside so it makes the audience feel part of the cast as well. Mercutio and Tybalt’s fight is very different to Romeo and Tybalt’s. Mercutio and Tybalt are very skilled swords men and their fight is less violent and more like a dance. It becomes violent only when Mercutio died because Romeo interferes. On the other hand Romeo and Tybalt’s fight is extremely violent. Romeo is not a very skilled swords man so during the fight he uses props to protect himself rather than fight back. But both plan to kill not just wound, this is meant to frighten and horrify the audience.
Even though Romeo and Juliet is over 400 years old. I think It is still valid to a modern audience because of the themes. The story of the two lovers from opposing families is used again and again. Rosie and Craig are examples of characters like Romeo and Juliet who appear in a soap called Coronation Street. ’Daz and Zoe’ a book read at school dealt with the same issues but set in Northern Ireland. In our modern multi-cultural society we can easily imagine the Romeo and Juliet story happening in real life. Children also often feel under pressure from t heir parents to line up to their wishes and ideals so we can still relate to the story Romeo and Juliet.
The two versions of the play I have seen were on film, they were different: One was traditional (‘Franco Zefferli’s’) set in the 14th century, Italy. I liked the costumes they were beautiful and it helped me understand the historical context of the play. The other one was ’Baz Luhrmenn’s, it is set in modern day times in east coast America. The swords have been changed to guns but the language is the same. I enjoyed the modern version more because of the setting. I also understood the language better and the themes which had seem unfamiliar, I could suddenly relate it to parents who want you to do something you don’t want to .
