Common Themes In William Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet

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Year 10 Shakespeare

“How does William Shakespeare explore one or two of following ideas in the text:”
 fate  love  death

The tragic love story Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare is the story of two star crossed lovers who are never destined to be together. However love has brought them upon each other in the most difficult situation for their two families Montague and Capulet despise each other and forbids their love, never approving them to be together. This leads to very dramatic scenes and events that revolve around love, death, and fate. William Shakespeare uses various techniques to express these themes, such as foreshadowing, metaphors, paradoxes, imagery, oxymorons, …show more content…
As Shakespeare is a very dramatic and poetic writer, he wrote this play with strong emotions. A technique Shakespeare uses is personification, in Act 3 Scene ii near the end, Juliet asks death to take her "maidenhead" (virginity). “Come, cords, come, nurse; I'll to my wedding-bed; And death, not Romeo, take my maidenhead!”. Death is a very common theme that Shakespeare uses to end and to build up on many acts, such as Act III when Tybalt fights Romeo, but Romeo refuses to fight which leads to Mercutio taking his place. A very dramatic event takes places within this scene for Mercutio loses the battle and dies. Shakespeare conveys the emotions of Mercutio through the use of simile when Mercutio says, “No! tis not so deep as a well nor as wide as a church door but tis enough... I was hurt under your …show more content…
This makes love Shakespeare’s most significant theme throughout the play and creates the centre of attention, due to the plays focus on the theme. Shakespeare uses various techniques to drive out the main focus point of this theme, these techniques include hyperboles, foreshadowing, metaphors, Oxymoron’s, personification and imagery. Metaphors arE strongly used to portray imagery to define Romeo and Juliet’s love for each other throughout the play, for example. Juliet offers a metaphor in Act II, Scene ii, as she compares their new love to a young flower, “This bud of love, by summer's ripening breath, May prove a beauteous flower when next we meet” Juliet is saying that their new love may have grown even more beautiful grown stronger and more fully when they next meet. Romeo uses a metaphor in Act II, Scene ii,” I have night's cloak to hide me from their eyes” He is comparing the darkness to a dark cloak. This form of imagery is pointing out that darkness and a cloak have similar characteristics in that they are both able to cover so that things cannot been seen as they might be in the light. These techniques help emphasise the theme of love within Shakespeare’s
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