Thoughtful Ideas about Romeo and Juliet Flashcards
Fate
Fate is often used by Shakespeare as a force that operates to thwart actions and hopes. Elizabethans believed it was a powerful force which they felt they had only a degree of control over. Throughout the play, the lovers’ plans are complicated by unexpected events that we might ascribe to human action or bad luck, but for Shakespeare’s contemporaries this could be seen as fate acting to harm those who were unfortunate or ‘star-crossed’. Remember that Shakespeare denies that fate causes the tragedy – he states start the start and the conclusion of the play that the feud between the parents causes Romeo and Juliet’s death. Fate interferes with Friar Lawrence’s plan – Capulet advances the wedding to the next morning, putting Juliet under great pressure to take the poison earlier than planned – moreover there is an outbreak of plague which complicates Friar Lawrence’s plan to get the message to Romeo about the plan. Cruel twists of fate have built up against Romeo and Juliet, allowing Shakespeare to suggest that their desperate actions to be together are in many ways inevitable
Love
In Act 2 Scene 2, Shakespeare presents how two people are so in love, they cannot bear to part, hence why there are so many exits and entries of both characters. Their moonlit, secret meeting contain some of the most powerful dramatic verse ever written. The importance of the night-time setting cannot be underestimated – the two lovers recognise how night-time is an accomplice to them, helping them to meet in secret. They exchange vows of absolute, undying devotion.
Gender Roles
Shakespeare was reflecting a world where women were generally regarded as inferior to men. In common with many wealthy Elizabethans, Capulet sees his daughter as a commodity to be married to the man he choose for her: ‘And you be mine, I’ll give you to my friend’. However, the facts that women take no part in the feud that brings about tragedy might be Shakespeare subtle way of criticising how society treats women as inferior
Shakespeare suggests that a rebalancing of feminine and masculine is needed. In the Balcony Scene, Shakespeare turns gender stereotypes on their head. Romeo literally looks up to Juliet. To him she is the sun, traditionally a symbol of the male principle.
Character Connections
Characters like Mercutio are presented as loquacious (have a lot to say, and play with language). Shakespeare shows that Mercutio can switch from educated, witty speech, to crude humour in a few lines (like Act 2 Scene 1 about Rosaline’s ‘quivering thigh’). Characters like the servants and the nurse cannot do this – the nurse is often shown to be inarticulate, because of her social standing. When she does try to give Romeo a warning, ‘If you should lead her into a fool’s paradise…’ her sentences are unstructured, and no consequence is actually given – it is an empty threat.
Friar Lawrence
Friar Lawrence hopes that marrying Romeo and Juliet will end the feud between the Montagues and Capulets – he shows a keen political understanding in agreeing to marry them both – but some audience members would point out his irresponsible nature too, The idea that Act 2 Scene 6 – the wedding scene – is so short, should foreshadow the short lived marriage, and the lives of Romeo and Juliet cut short, too soon. Friar Lawrence has to run away in Act 5 Scene 3 – his first cowardly act – in order for Juliet to be alone to commit suicide. Yet his fear of the Watch seems out of character. Might Shakespeare have been subtly suggesting that Friar Lawrence knew Juliet would commit suicide – and why might this be?
Benvolio
When Benvolio explains to the Prince what has happened between Tybalt, Mercutio and Romeo at the end of Act 3 Scene 1, he tells the truth. He does not try to invent a story to protect Romeo. Benvolio translates to ‘good-will’ or ‘peacemaker’, and it is no coincidence that he one of the few young male characters to survive at the end of the play. He is above violence and prejudice, and Shakespeare allows him to live, perhaps to make a moral message about the danger and destruction of pride and aggression.
Romeo
Romeo’s behaviour when he is told that he is banished is suicidal – just like Juliet’s behaviour when she is told she must marry Paris. The Church, and therefore (we assume) Friar Lawrence, believes that suicide was a mortal sin punishable by eternal damnation. Perhaps this is why the Friar ensures Romeo can see Juliet again – and spend a night in Juliet’s bed.
Juliet
Juliet has such immense character development in the play in such short time. Although she is innocent and there is a level of naivety to her when we first meet her, Shakespeare reminds us that she has great potential to be mature and intelligent. Despite her rationality compared to Romeo in Act 2 Scene 2, and her strength to go against her father in Act 3 Scene 5, Juliet is instantly isolated by the end of Act 3. Juliet is disgusted with the Nurse’s hypocrisy when she tells her she thinks she should marry Paris, and this isolation has drastic effects. Juliet feels she has no choice but to turn to only the Friar for help, and the pair make a dangerous plan.
Contrasts
In Romeo and Juliet, the beauty and ardour of young love are seen by Shakespeare as the radiating sunlight and starlight in a dark world. The dominating image is light, every form and manifestation of it: the sun, the moon, stars, fire, lighting, the flash of gunpowder and the reflected light of beauty and love, while by contrast we also have night, darkness, clouds, rain, mist and smoke. Both Romeo and Juliet take their lives but praise each other, and kiss each other, before they do so. Recurring motifs like ‘kisses’, and ‘daggers’ serve as a reminder that despite the destruction and violence in the play, Romeo and Juliet truly loved each other, and were devoted to each other.
