Shakespeare was arguably one of the best playwrights of all time. Between the years of 1589 and 1613 he had written his most known plays, and in 1596 he wrote one of his most renowned, Romeo and Juliet.
This tragic story of two star-crossed lovers was believed to be inspired by Arthur Brooke’s narrative poem ‘the Tragicall historye of Romeus and Juliet.’ in 1562.
Many of the more relevant ideas in the play explore the theme of love, loyalty and revenge. These ideas can be used to show how the themes are mostly relevant to a contemporary audience.
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Love, like the love experienced in Romeo and Juliet can be tragic or cause tragedy. …show more content…
This is a mostly relevant idea to modern day society. Although in todays society it is less likely to go to the extreme of suicide over a lost love.
But in the play when Romeo and Juliet’s love is taken by death it caused tragedy for both the Montague and Capulet family. This tragic loss ends up uniting the two families and bringing peace.
“For there was never a story of more woe than this of Juliet and her Romeo.” This statement itself tells us that there has never been a sadder love story with such a tragic ending for everyone involved.
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The play also introduces the idea of loyalty as a result of love. When Romeo and Juliet met they were unaware of one anthers identity or family.
But once they had found out, it was to late because they loved each other. This raises the idea that love is stronger than hate as well as love can be complicated.
This is expressed in the play when Juliet says “ My only love sprung from my only hate! Too early seen unknown, and known too late.”
This is still relevant to modern day society because people still believe love trumps hate and that love can influence your thoughts and cause them to become unclear.