Romeo And Juliet - ThemeA play I think focuses mainly on the theme of love is Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. In the play Shakespeare

Romeo And Juliet – Theme

A play I think focuses mainly on the theme of love is Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. In the play Shakespeare tells the story of two star crossed lovers who’s love is destined to fail because of the ancient grudge between their two families, the Montagues and the Capulets. I think that love is such an important theme throughout the play because their love ultimately destroys them and other people. They alone die for their love.

Love in its many forms is an important theme in the play. The love between Romeo and Juliet is its main form even though it is not at all one hundred percent pure. They fall in love with each other for physical beauty at the Capulet ball. Romeo always comments on how beautiful Juliet is. “Did my heart love for now? Forswear it sight, for I ne’er saw true beauty till this night.” Even though they feel it is love at first sight it is definitely not true love, it is just hyped infatuation. Romeo almost worships Juliet, he is fascinated with her beauty, he only loves her for the way she looks. “What light in yonder window breaks, it is the east and Juliet is the sun.” Juliet’s response confirms the fact that it is just infatuation it is not really love. “My ears have not yet drank a hundred words of thy tongues utterings, yet I know the sound.” This shows that even though she barely knows Romeo she recognises the sound of his voice. The few seconds that they shared together at the ball made such an impact on both of them they were falsely led to believe it was true love when it is only a spiritual, romantic love. Romeo does not actually know Juliet. He is marrying a name, not a person.

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One way the writer portrays the theme of love very well is through the development of the two main characters.
With Romeo we can see from the start that he falls in and out of love easily. At the beginning it seems that Romeo is in love with Rosaline and he becomes depressed and submissive because his love for Rosaline in unrequited. But its obvious that Romeo more liked the idea of being in love and wasn’t actually in love. “Young men’s love then lies, not truly in their hearts but in their eyes.” Juliet’s beauty strikes Romeo through the eyes, into the heart, making him fall in love with her beauty not her personality. He quickly forgets about Rosaline who before he thought was truly who he loved.
With the development of Juliet’s character we see that falling in love with Romeo has made her mature a huge amount in just one week. Her love too is superficial because she is struck by Romeos handsomeness. Juliet describes her love as “Spiritual wealth” confirming the fact that their love is not 100% pure it is a spiritual superficial love.

Also in the play the theme of love turns to conflict in the scene were Tybalt and Mercutio are both killed. When Romeo refuses to fight Tybalt because of his secret marriage to Juliet. “I do protest I never injured thee, but love thee better than thou canst devise till thou shalt know the reason of my love; and so good Capulet, which name I tender as dearly as mine own, be satisfied.” His love causes Mercutio to react to his submission and confront Tybalt. “O calm, dishonourable, vile submission! “When Tybalt murders Mercutio Romeos love changes to hate. “And fire-eyed fury be my conduct now!” He changes because his love or Mercutio is stronger than his love for Tybalt so he feels he must avenge Mercutio’s death and to do this he kills Tybalt and is made an outcast by the Prince. This is a major turning point in the theme of love because it is this act that in the end makes Romeo and Juliet’s love destined to fail.

In the play Juliet’s arranged marriage to the Count Paris represents a contractual love. Lady Capulet and the nurse both praise Paris as “a man of wax” and “the most perfect flower of Verona.“ Though Juliet does not know Paris he is chosen as her husband because her parents wished for her to marry into a family with money and not for her to marry for love. Capulet promises Juliet’s love to Paris without knowing how Juliet feels about him. His offer is reckless and thoughtless he clearly didn’t think of his own daughter before he spoke. Before he even has Juliet’s consent he considers Paris as a son in law because he thinks Juliet is ruled by him and that her love is just something he can give to Paris. “I think she will be ruled.. by me “ “Acquaint her here of my son Paris’s love.”

Love is also spoke about in vulgar terms by the nurse and Friar Lawrence when they refer to its physical side. When Romeo threatens to kill himself because he has been banished from Verona and Juliet, Friar Lawrence tells him he ought to be ashamed of himself. “Thy dear love sworn but hollow perjury, killing that love which thou hast vow’d to cherish.” The Friars point is that if Romeo dies Juliet will also die of grief and so Romeo will have violated his vow to cherish her. In Friar’s view love is a responsibility and not merely a passion. The Friar also sees Romeo and Juliet as both enemies and lovers. The Nurse and the Friar both try to help the lovers but ultimately, Romeo and Juliet suffer. . Their suffering and deaths are tragic however, without them, their families would not have stopped feuding. Verona was torn by the hatred between the two families. The sacrifice made by the lovers allowed everyone to begin healing old wounds.

I don't think Shakespeare necessarily wanted Romeo and Juliet to be a true love story. He included many themes so that the play was like a puzzle you had to piece together to understand the meaning fully. Of the many themes included like love, fate and the stars, the contrast of light and dark, youth and age and civility, love is the most important because Romeo And Juliet is still a love story if not one purely about true love and it shows love doesn’t just affect two lovers it affects many other people to. Overall I feel that Shakespeare wanted to teach the reader of what could happen with hate and when you make impulsive decisions.