Has there ever been such a tragedy as Romeo and Juliet, two young lovers who eventually take their own lives due to their familys inability to over come long-standing conflicts. The themes used in Romeo and Juliet are as follows love, conflict, life and death, power, time, fate and two worlds.
The two that will be discussed in this essay are love and fate. Love plays an important role in Romeo and Juliet. Throughout the play, one can analyse the different types of love that Shakespeare explores. First, there is lustful love. This is basically love for the purpose of sexual pleasure.
First shown in the conversation between Sampson and Gregory, this type of love is also illustrated by the Nurse and her comments to Juliet. The second type of love is infatuation. Romeo thinks he is in love and moans over Rosaline. How many people can relate to that? Much of teenage love is simply in the head— you think that you have found the “only one,” when you have really only found an obsession. The third type of love is the one illustrated with Paris.
In the play, this has to do with the fact that marriages were arranged. Paris is the guy that Juliets parents think is fit for her. In todays society, Paris can be seen as the stereotypical guy (or girl). He/She seems perfect and your parents love him/her, but that is not love. Love is not an image; it is a commitment. Finally, we come to true, 100% pure love. When Romeo meets Juliet, he knows that she is different. Love changes people. Romeo became a more passionate, eager person and Juliet became more independent. Most importantly, love lasts through hardships. Love is not just a feeling; it is something that a person is willing to do something for.
In the extreme case of Romeo and Juliet, they were each willing to die for each other that is love. Their love was so strong that they were willing to go against years of hatred between their families and try to make things work. FATERomeo and Juliet were “star-crossed lovers,” as the prologue at the start of the play indicated. They had fate against them. In that time, people were very wary of what the stars said. If two peoples stars were crossed in the sky, they would never remain together.
Obviously, Romeo and Juliet did not live happily ever after, as their death in the end showed. However, there were many unfortunate happenings that led up to their death. Fate was not on their side. First of all, Romeo only met Juliet by chance. Only because the Capulet servant was blind and unable to read the list of guests, Romeo was allowed into the ball. By unfortunate chance, Romeo and Juliet fell in love before they realized that they were from opposing families.
After Romeo and Juliets marriage, Romeo did not want to fight Tybalt. But because Tybalt killed Mercutio, Romeo demanded revenge. Things still might have worked out between the two lovers. After enough time passed, Romeo and Juliet could tell their families what happened and Romeo could return to Verona. But, Juliets parents want her to marry Paris. The Friar concocts another plan. He gives Juliet a drug that will make her appear dead for 42 hours.
However, fate is not on their side again. The letter sent by the Friar never reaches Romeo. The Friar arrives too late to stop Romeo from killing himself. Juliet awakes only minutes after Romeo has died. The list is long, illustrating the power of fate in the case of Romeo and JulietIn conclusion Romeo and Juliet is a tragic story of two people that were prevented from living their lives together primarily due to the hostility between the two families who could not accept the relationship between their children.
