R&J Themes

Question 1

Love or lust?
True love or sexual attraction?

Answer 1

Exaggerated passion
Marriage is rushed (and illegal)
- so it is difficult to tell whether it is true love or just lust

Their burning love BLINDS them from all other values
- Juliet defies her family - “defy thy father and refuse thy name”
- Romeo kills Tybalt

Shakespeare doesn’t present his audience with sentimental love, instead a realistic, passionate, brutal love
- suggesting true love is dangerous and not a positive thing
- love leads to tragedy
- although deeply in love, they are both consumed by thoughts of suicide
-> Romeo “brandishes a knife” and threatens to kill himself (after being banished)
-> Juliet “if all else fail, myself have the power to die” (after she has to marry Paris)

LOVE IS THE CATALYST FOR THEIR FATE

Question 2

Sexual innuendo

Answer 2

Mercutio does not take love seriously - cynicism
- insists Romeo is not actually in love
“Drivelling love … lolling up and down”
-> imagery suggests youth and innocence but also sexual imagery

In contrast Juliet has a more traditional view - mature ideas about sex even though she is young
“I have bought the mansion of love but not possessed it”
- marriage must be legally consummated through sexual intercourse

Also associated with violence
“Draw thy tool, my naked weapon is out”
- comical sexual innuendos

Question 3

Intentions of sexual innuendos

Answer 3

1. Shakespeare could be presenting his own unpopular opinions about sex (in a poetic way)
2. Providing audience with sexual innuendos for entertainment
3. During Elizabethan era, there were strict laws about what could be said in a theatre
   - he is using metaphors and puns to hide sexuality

Question 4

Violence

Answer 4

Play opens with sword fights ⚔️
- Shakespeare is highlighting how violent men are over petty things
Also links to toxic masculinity
“Draw thy tool” “my naked weapon is out”
- men feel like they must be violent but also sexually superior

TYBALT’S DEATH = turning point
Act 3 - mood suddenly changes from light/romantic —> tragic

“Let me be put to death” (when Romeo is nearly found in Juliet’s room)
- the punishment if he were found
- sexual pun

Question 5

Individual vs Society

Answer 5

R&J are surrounded by pressures which make their relationship impossible
- everything goes against the couple and ultimately leads to tragedy

Patriarchal society - the father controls family members (Juliet can’t marry Romeo)
Family conflict - the couple aren’t supposed to love each other (meaning they have to rebel)
Church - laws on marriage (causes them to be illegal)

Shakespeare is critiquing society and saying that societal flaws have lead the couple to their death