“Romeo and Juliet” has many themes. Love, hate, violence, passion, selfishness with love being the predominant. There are several types of love in the play. There is the earlier love that Romeo had for Rosaline, which actually turned out to be infatuation and the love that Romeo and Juliet have for each other. The differences in these loves can be seen by the way Romeo speaks. “It is my Lady; O it is my love...” He says this about Juliet and we can see that it is totally different from what he said about Rosaline, “She’ll not be hit with Cupid’s arrow; She hath Dian’s wit….. O she is rich in beauty…” It is as if discovering true love has made him speak from the heart with just simple but heart-felt words. He doesn’t have to think of clever metaphors or come up with smart answers. He just has to say exactly what is in his heart. The two comparisons also show the difference between Juliet and Rosaline. Rosaline is called Diana, goddess of the moon while Juliet is the Sun. “Arise fair sun and kill the envious moon…” This shows us that as soon as Juliet entered Romeo’s life, he forgot all about Rosaline. The comparisons also show us difference in their characters. Juliet is very giving, “The more I give thee, the more I have, for both are infinite…” while Rosaline is keeping all her beauty, “when she dies, with beauty dies her store”
There is also the love that exists between the families like the love the Capulets have for Tybalt which is shown by the extent to which they mourn his death. And finally, there is one-sided love in the play, which is shown in Paris who loves Juliet but is totally ignored by her. This is also shown by the way that Juliet talks to him. “… my Lady and my wife” “That may be sir, when I may be a wife” This tells us that Juliet hasn’t the faintest inclination to marry him and is telling to lay off her until they are married, which she intends to make sure never happens.
There is a lot of hate in the play too, mainly the hate between the Montagues and the Capulets. This is shown to us with all the brawls that take place between the two families, they way they talk to each other, the way that Tybalt killed a Montague ally without hesitation and the way Romeo killed Tybalt without any hesitation as well. We are also given what Shakespeare thinks of their feud through the Prince. He clearly thinks that it is childish and immature to carry on hating each other when they have even forgotten why they do so. He feels sorry for their loss when Romeo and Juliet die but he also emphasises that it is their fault that their children were driven to such desperate measures. The Prince shows all this by talking in harsh, brisk tones. I think that the hate is there also to show us what a fine line there is between love and hate and how too much of either can affect the people around us.
There is a lot of selfishness in the play as well. Romeo and Juliet are selfish for getting married without even hinting anything to their parents. Juliet’s parents are selfish for arranging their daughter’s marriage without asking her and then threatening to throw her out if she doesn’t agree with it. Romeo is selfish for killing Tybalt without thinking of the consequences and without realising that Tybalt didn’t know about his relationship with Juliet. Perhaps if Romeo had told Tybalt that they were related, Tybalt wouldn’t have killed Mercutio. Juliet is selfish for drinking the potion and letting her parents think that she is dead. She has doubled their grief as they think that now both she and Tybalt are dead.
There are many key scenes in the play. The scene that I have chosen to analyse is Act II, Scene 2 or more commonly known as the balcony scene. I think that it is very important, as it is the scene where Romeo and Juliet declare their love for each other. It is also the scene where they decide to get married. And finally, it is the scene that gives us most insight into their characters. The language in the scene is filled with imagery and Shakespeare uses a lot of metaphors, similes and personification. It also the scene where the iambic pentameter, which was Shakespeare way of writing, is most unbroken.
The scene starts with a soliloquy given by Romeo. A soliloquy is when the character says his thoughts out loud to the audience. In Romeo’s soliloquy, he talks of Juliet’s beauty and compares her to the sun, “It is the east and Juliet is the sun…” This is an important concept that runs throughout the whole play, the concept of light. The first time that Romeo sees Juliet, he says that “she doth teach the torches to burn bright”. Again, a comparison to light. This comparison gives continuity to the whole play. It also implies that Romeo’s life was dark and gloomy before Juliet came and filled it with sunshine and warmth. However, the light is also used to describe how fast their romance is moving along later in the scene, “Too like lighting, which doth cease to be…” This shows us the Juliet is still insecure about Romeo’s love for her. She is afraid that she is only exciting because she is new and unknown to Romeo. Interestingly enough, Romeo does nothing to assuage her fears.
A while after, there is another soliloquy by Romeo. This has a lot of imagery of angels and heaven, which imply purity and innocence. “…bright Angel…” and “…winged messenger of heaven…” This also tells us that both Romeo and Juliet are very religious. In these two soliloquies, Shakespeare uses metaphors and similes as direct comparisons so that the audience is left in no doubt as how the characters are feeling. There is also dramatic irony, which is where the audience is aware of something that the characters are not. In this case, the audience can see that Romeo is there and can see Juliet but Juliet doesn’t know that Romeo is there and therefore she ends up blurting out her feelings to him. Dramatic irony is used as a device to involve the audience in the play, maintain tension and lead to a climax. It is used later on in the play too when Juliet’s parents arrange her marriage or when Tybalt kills Mercutio or when Juliet takes the potion.
“O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?” This tells us that Juliet is despairing at the situation. She realises that there is no way that their parents are going to accept her and Romeo as a couple. She realises that for them to be together, they would have to shed their names, “Deny thy father and refuse thy name…….. And I’ll no longer be a Capulet” However, the fact that she is prepared to so this shows us the depth of her love. “Tis but thy name that is my enemy…… What’s in a name?” By saying this, Juliet shows us that she is very mature for her age. She realises that a name is a meaningless thing and that she loves Romeo, not the Montague name, therefore it has no impact on her feelings. In response to this, Romeo says, “Call me but love and I’ll be new baptis’d…” His feelings of love and passion are so strong that sacrificing his family name seems like no hardship to him. As long as he has Juliet’s love, he doesn’t need anything else.
“I have night’s cloak to hide me from their eyes…” This is a direct opposite of the earlier comparison to light. This type of conflict between day and night continues later in the play when the coming of the day tears the lovers away from each other after their wedding night.
“My life were better ended by their hate…” This could be seen as a premonition of the disaster about to strike. This is another important concept in the play; the concept of destiny. This is only one of many premonitions in the play and it promotes the idea that fate is what controls the life of humans. This idea shows us the lingering effects of Shakespeare’s childhood influence by writers like Seneca, who promoted the idea of destiny in their work. In the case of Romeo and Juliet, there was no villain who created misunderstandings, no character flaw in either one of them; simply a matter of wrong things happening at wrong times to the wrong people. The idea of destiny is furthered later in the play when Romeo says, “I am fortune’s fool” and when Juliet says, “I have an ill-divining soul”
“He lent me counsel and I lent him eyes…” The “he” that Romeo is referring to is love. Romeo is saying that love gave him advice and he gave love eyes, in relation to the expression that love is blind. This is an example of personification because love can’t actually see. It is simply a way of saying that Romeo and Juliet’s love is stronger than most loves because they are walking into it with their eyes open. They know of all the problems they are going to face and don’t expect to be forgiven or accepted by their families.
“And not impute this yielding to light love, Which the dark night hath so discovered…” This furthers the idea that Juliet is feeling insecure and apprehensive as far as their love is concerned. She is worried that Romeo will think that she is fickle and too easily won, that her words of loyalty don’t mean anything. She feels like this because it was fashionable in those days to make men wait and sweat before giving your declaration of love; it still is today! Juliet says that if she had known that Romeo was listening she would have never revealed her feelings like that. This tells us that she is probably feeling very embarrassed that Romeo heard her.
However, this time Romeo rushes to comfort her, “Lady, by yonder blessed moon I vow…” He is trying to show her that his love is so strong that he is prepared to swear by something that he sees everyday. Therefore there is no way he can break his oath. However, Juliet misunderstands him and says, “O swear not by the moon, the inconstant moon…” Again, she shows her maturity by pointing out that the moon changes everyday and that swearing by it would mean that his love is as inconsistent as the moon. When Romeo asks what he should swear by to prove himself to her, she replies, “Or, if thou wilt, swear by thy gracious self…” This shows us that she feels that he can only be true to her and others if he is true to himself first.
We see continuation of Juliet’s anxiety when she says, “no joy of this contract tonight; It is too rash, too unadvis’d, too sudden…” It shows us that she is basically a good girl who isn’t used to disobeying her parents or defying their wishes. However, since meeting, Romeo, we see that she has become more assertive as she now dares to rebel against her Nurse not once but three times when she is called. Later, we also see, in direct contradiction to what she says above, that she proposes marriage to Romeo, “love be honourable, Thy purpose marriage…” This shows us that her love has changed her and made her a bit bolder and aware of what she wants. All in all, we see that the story is moving forward very quickly in a very short space of time. This too furthers the idea of destiny, as time is another that humans can’t control.
“Parting is such sweet sorrow, That I shall say goodnight till it be tomorrow…” This is near the end of the scene. The lovers are about to part from each other and they feel a mixture of pleasure and pain. It is very sweet because it shows that they are so much in love with each other that they cannot bear to be apart even for a few hours. However, they both console themselves by reminding each other that the next time they meet, they will be getting married.
If I were directing Act Two, Scene Two of Romeo and Juliet, I would set it in the modern-day 21st century. Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet have met each other through MSN on the Internet as countless people do today. They saw each other through web-cams and fell in love before they realised that their families were enemies. Romeo now desperately wants to talk to Juliet so he sneaks away from his friends and goes to a cyber café. He is afraid that Juliet won’t talk to him because he is a Montague so he signs on as one of her friends. He leaves his web-cam off for the moment.
On the other hand, Juliet is in her bedroom. The Capulet party is finished and the servants are winding everything down. She is very happy and very sad at the same time. Happy that she has finally found her true love but sad that he is a Montague. She goes online and sees that her “friend” is online too. Her web-cam is on. She wants to talk to someone about her dilemma and so ends up confessing her love to Romeo.
I chose to set the scene in the 21st century because it helps people to relate to the play and empathise with the characters. I also chose to use the Internet as the medium through which they meet because it is a very common occurrence today and will further help the audience to relate to the characters.
For the setting on stage, I will have a barrier across the middle of the stage to give a split screen effect. It also symbolises the barriers between their love. The barrier could be a curtain or a huge board on a stand. From the audience’s point of view, Juliet will be on the right and Romeo on the left. On Juliet’s half of the stage, there will be a computer with a web-cam and a chair at the very front. Behind, on the right, there will be an unmade bed with a teddy bear. This reminds the audience that although Juliet has fallen in love and is very mature, she is still a kid at heart. On the left, there will be a dressing table with a crucifix and masses of candles. The crucifix shows that she is very religious and the candles give a romantic atmosphere, which is what the scene is all about. The backdrop would act as her bedroom wall so it would have the picture of a door on it.
On Romeo’s side of the stage, there will be a computer with a web-cam and a chair at the very front too. The two chairs will be back-to-back, once again showing the distance between Romeo and Juliet. There will be cubicle walls behind him to show the audience that he is in a cyber café. The backdrop will show people with computers. This also emphasises that he is outside his home. It symbolises the fact that he is now walking on forbidden territory, outside the protection of his family.
For lighting, I would use a soft, golden light to symbolise that both of them are very happy. On Juliet’s side of the stage, the candles already provide some of this light. The rest would come from the sides to minimise any harsh shadows that would spoil the atmosphere. As well as this, I would have a spotlight on each of them. When Romeo is talking and typing, the spotlight will be brighter on him than on Juliet and vice versa.
As far as music is concerned, I would use modern love songs in the background. Examples of the tracks I could play are, “My Boo” by Usher or “These Words” by Natasha Bedingfield. I think that these choices are appropriate because they are modern, like the setting, and because they are love songs but they are not gushy or soppy.
For costumes, Juliet would be wearing a white vest with red straps and white pyjama bottoms with red stripes on either side. The white symbolises her innocence and purity while the red shows that she is not totally innocent, she ca be quite mischievous. Romeo, on the other hand, is still wearing his costume from the Capulet ball; a James Bond tuxedo with a gun. The white shirt shows that he too is innocent but the black blazer and gun show that there is a violent side to him too. I would to all of the above, if I directed Act II Scene 2 of “Romeo and Juliet”
In conclusion, I think that although “Romeo and Juliet” was written more than four hundred years ago, it is such a simple and powerful story that it still applies today. And even today, people fall in love with people that aren’t approved by their families. Even today, there are many gaps in our society, not necessarily as families but certainly as religions and races. Even today, there are misunderstandings between the older and younger generations as each have different ideals and ideas. Even today, arranged marriages take place all over the world. The themes of “Romeo and Juliet” still apply today and will probably apply as long as mankind continues to exist because, as long as there is man, there will be love and as long as there is love, there will be “Romeo and Juliet”