Shakespeare uses the theme love and hate to make the story stand out from being just another love story, as these two people find real love, but can never be together. Even when they are exchanging vows of their love for the first time in act 2, scene3 they are in constant fear of the hate felt by their families. Juliet tells Romeo “If they (her kinsmen) do see thee they will murder thee”. Love and hate, demonstrating that, despite the fact that the hate between the families destroys not only the love of Romeo and Juliet, but them too, their love, in the end, is what unites the families, proving that love is stronger than hate, this has given hope to countless generations.
The theme of love and hate in the plot is shown to us in many forms. Verona’s streets are full of violence, fighting and death, the fighting between the Montagues and the Capulets got so bad that the prince tells them “If ever you disturb our streets again, your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace”. This contrasts with the scenes of peace and tranquillity when Romeo and Juliet are together, such as after Capulet’s party when they talk. This helps to emphasise how beautiful and perfect the love between the couple is. There is also the theme of fast and slow in the play, i.e. Romeo and Fr Lawrence’s characters have a lot of contrasts, such as Romeo is very haste whilst he was getting married to Juliet and Fr Lawrence thinks and then acts very carefully. Another character difference between Juliet, who loves Romeo back, freely announcing her love in act 1 scene 5 “my only love sprung from my only hate”, and quickly marrying Romeo, and Rosaline who is cold, ignores Romeo’s affection, and doesn’t love him back, leading Romeo to be upset in the beginning of the play. Also the difference between Benvolio and Tybalt represent the desires for peace, and the hatred between the two families. Benvolio doesn’t like the fighting, and often tries to keep the peace (“Part fools! Put up your swords, you know not what you do” act 1, scene 1), where as Tybalt (a Capulet) is passionate about his hatred for the Montagues, and is always trying to start fights and fuel the hatred between the two sides (“What, drawn and talk of peace? I hate the word, as I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee “act 1, scene 1). This shows the character differences in the play and how they vary, all leading into the trip of fate. The theme of fate and free will shows that fate rule their lives, that they are destined to fall in love but never be able to be together, even at the very beginning they are described as “a pair of star crossed lovers”. Despite this, both Romeo and Juliet struggle against their fates, Juliet is prepared to risk everything not to marry Paris, and when Romeo hears of Juliet’s death he shouts “Then I defy you stars”. This means they never got much of a chance for free will, and fate lead there way. Light and dark is often come up in the play together with day and night; this is normally known as an oxymoron. Things like Shining light things such as jewels, stars and fires, and dark, unclear things such as clouds and smoke. The difference between light and dark are often tied in with difference between life and death, such as Romeo saying he sees Juliet’s beauty lighting up the dark tomb (“her beauty makes this vault a feasting presence full of light”). There are also points where day is contrasted with night, and night is seen more positively than day, such Juliet in act 3, scene 2, saying “all the world will be in love with the night, and pay no worship to the garish sun”.
Shakespeare uses his language very cleverly, also makes the audience sometimes think what he is saying. There are many oxymoron’s (two opposite words brought together to have a striking effect) in ‘Romeo and Juliet’. These are especially used in act 3, scene 2, to express Juliet’s confusion and mood swings after hearing that her husband of only three hours has killed her cousin. She calls Romeo a “damned saint” and “an honourable villain”, which shows how torn she is between her love and loyalty to her family and that to her husband. In the language of the play there are also contrasts between life and death (Romeo: “I must be gone and live, or stay and die” act 3, scene 5). These are very striking and often dark, and have the effect of catching the audience’s attention and keeping them gripped to the events of the play leaving them in great suspense. There are also many examples of dramatic irony (where audience knows, characters themselves don’t know) in the play, often to do with the tragic deaths of Romeo and Juliet at the end of the play. Lady Capulet says in act 3, scene 5 (about Juliet) “I wish the fool were married to her grave” also in act 1, scene 5 Juliet says “My grave is like to be my wedding bed”, these are both very dramatic and strong images to the final scene. Another example in act 3, scene 5 is when Juliet says, “I would rather marry Romeo, who you know I hate, than Paris” when she is already married to Romeo. This type of language keeps us attached to the play, because we often are willing to know what will be next although we know but want to make sure. Dramatic irony is creating tension within ourselves, because we ought to inform the characters willingly but they take steps unknowingly which creates this tension of what will occur due to the specific step.
Oxymorons are an insight to the future, they hint at us, such as ‘Dreaming and reality’; Shakespeare uses this through the use of poetic language, similes, metaphors and imagery used and the more real life language. Dreams are often talked about, and although they may not be true (“Dreamers often lie”), they can hint at, or be an insight into future events; therefore they often use dramatic irony. In act 5, scene 1, Romeo tells his messenger “I dreamt my lady came and found me dead”. This is dramatic irony as in the final scene Juliet wakes in the tomb to find Romeo dead, and a contrast between dreams and reality and life and death, as the messenger has come to tell Romeo that it is Juliet who is dead. Shakespeare often uses the language to reflect the themes of the play. Many of these things which occurred later we knew about through dramatic irony this made us see further to see if our thinking is correct. Shakespeare shows how something as simple as a name can create prejudice and hatred, so much as hearing Romeo’s voice in act 1, scene 5 at Capulet’s party angers Tybalt, although Capulet telling him that Romeo is “a well governed youth”. This is with the love of Romeo and Juliet, which looks beyond names, to the people they represent. Juliet shows how she loves Romeo despite the fact he is a Montague in act 2, scene 2 when she says, “That which we call a rose by any other word would smell as sweet”. This is clearly showing the strong love between them and especially Juliet’s love and also when she chooses him rather than her family. This has a deep impact on the audience as they are left in confusion, they realise that how the language used earlier can impact later in the play.
The character difference of ‘Romeo’ and ‘Juliet’; Romeo seems careless, hasty, young and naive and Juliet is portrayed as inexperienced in life and love. Juliet is totally compliant to her parents shown in act 1 scene 3 Juliet speaking to her mum “madam I am here, what is your will?”, until she meets Romeo who proves to be a bad influence. However there are some similarities between Romeo and Juliet: They both show great meaning of love together, they have a lack of hatred for their enemy compared to hatred filled Tybalt, and they both feel that fate is against them. However Juliet is shown as the stronger character overall, and Romeo to be slightly a weaker character, because Romeo kills him self with a potion whilst that was known as a women’s way back in the day and she kills herself with a dagger which is more pain and more of a male way of dieing. Romeo also is weak because he always thinks the first option for things is to die, without thinking i.e. when he found out he was being banished from Verona because of the death of Tybalt, he said in act 3 scene 3 “ Ha, banishment? Be merciful, say death”. Whereas Juliet take time thinks of other ways to deal with a problem i.e. when she was to marry Paris instead of the option to die she looked for another way out. Romeo’s character has a tragic flaw (a defect of a character which downfalls) he does not take time to think, and is very haste which works against him i.e. when he kills Tybalt without thinking a hastily action. Romeo also seems to be unsure of what he wants, because at the beginning of the play he likes Rosaline’s and thinks he has fallen in love, when the next day he loves Juliet. Juliet’s only loved the first time and she isn’t shown as an uncertain girl, she knows what she wants and she will get it in a clever and appropriate way and not to be hasty. Juliet’s always been quite and isolated from the outside world, Romeo is the first person she meets and falls in love with at first sight which means she isn’t very experienced either shown in act 1 scene 5 “ay pilgrim, lips that they must use in prayer” showing she doesn’t know much and she never experienced a kiss on the lips. Romeo’s oxymoron’s confuses the audience because they wonder what he means i.e. when Romeo says “love v hate” (an oxymoron) we don’t know which one of the words he means, and makes the audience think twice were as Juliet’s speech is clear. Also Juliet changes her character during the story, she use to be a girl who obeyed her parents will, but as soon as she fell in love with Romeo she changed and did things against her parent will. She also chose Romeo before her family which was one of the most unexpected things. Romeo has more or less been the same throughout the play, hasty, unsure and against grudges, although he becomes sure of what to do nearer to the end, when he decides to marry or even kill himself. The only dramatic change I seen in Romeo was that he loved Juliet immensely and didn’t slip off her like he did with Rosaline. So the impact of characters Romeo and Juliet changed over the course of the play.
Overall I think that Romeo and Juliet is an interesting and worth watching play. It’s even appealing to today’s society. If Romeo and Juliet never had so many themes it may not have been so successful. Romeo and Juliet as characters, not being able to live happily ever after, leave the audiences in thoughts and automatically empathising on Romeo and Juliet. Romeo and Juliet’ breaks the mould, as the lovers do not end up happily together, which is what makes it so powerful. I also think that it is the contrasts, between love and hate, peace and violence and difference in character that makes it such an enduring play. This difficulty of uniting for Romeo and Juliet has seriously made the audience empathise with them which for the story is admired and enjoyed even 400 years after it was written. This has also shown us the real love, and arose questions within ourselves e.g. “would you die for someone you loved?” Consisting of all this I don’t blame the audience for appreciating the play Romeo and Juliet even today, and William Shakespeare has made a great impact on the audience through the language, structure, themes and characters.
