` Theme Statements in Romeo and Juliet

                    

                   Romeo and Juliet are two of the most famous lovers in history, but some people doubt that their historic love lives up to its reputation. The first theme that is seen throughout the story of “Romeo and Juliet” is Love vs. Lust.  Romeo starts the play infatuated with Rosaline as the play begins and he complains, "She'll not be hit with Cupid's arrow. She hath Dian's wit, / And, in strong proof of chastity well armed." (Act 1, Scene 1). The mythological allusions to Cupid, the Roman god of (physical) love, and Diana, the Roman goddess of chastity, allude more to hormonal acceleration than true feelings of love. Another example proving the theme of Love vs. Lust would be what Romeo says in Act 1, Scene 5. “Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight!/ For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night.” With this quote he is saying that he never really loved before this moment, and that this is the most beautiful girl he has ever seen. Romeo's "love" for Juliet is more a sign of infatuation than love. He loves her, in fact, based solely on her beauty than what is on the inside conveying the act of lust.

                    The next theme is what is known as the root of the many conflicts that occur throughout this famous play; family royalty. This is seen when Mercutio curses the young men because he was not a part of either The Capulet or Montague family, yet he was the one who suffered for the quarrel between them. He was stabbed by Tybalt while he was standing up for Romeo, and therefore he was angry with both of them for fighting hence the quote "A plague o' both your houses!” (Act 3, Scene 1) The family feud not only cost the life of Mercutio, but it also led to the deaths of Romeo of the Montague family and Juliet of the Capulet family later on in the play.

                     In conclusion, the themes that are recognized from the play are all seen from the quotes the many characters use. These quotes show us that the theme could be Love vs. Lust, and family royalty.

` Who was responsible for Juliet’s death?

*quick summary*

"The tragedy of “Romeo and Juliet”, by William Shakespeare, is a romantic and suspenseful story enjoyable to all. Romeo and Juliet fall in love, later to find that they are enemies. They continue their love secretly, until things become complicated, and in the end they both end up dying as the story comes to a close."

              When looking at this question at first glance, it’s hard to believe that it is such a hard question to answer because it requires a lot of thought. Surely in a world where lawsuits can be brought against anyone, we can blame anyone for any misfortune. Knowing this knowledge, we can now also understand that blame is not an objective concept, nor a particularly useful one. It is quite possible to build a case that almost everybody in the play is in blame for the death of the couple. I believe they all do not have a proper alibi to prove themselves innocent in the death of both the two protagonists.

Firstly, I would blame the two feuding families, the Montagues and Capulets. Their hatred towards one another made Romeo and Juliet have to meet in secret leading too Friar Lawrence having to invent the whole plan of Juliet's fake death so they could run away together. It is because of the two families' bitter rivalry that Romeo and Juliet had to keep their love in secrecy, later leading to both their deaths.

Her entire life, Juliet is regulated by her parents. Lord Capulet yells, “Hang thee, young baggage! Disobedient wretch,” (III. iv. 180). Her parents want her to marry Paris for their own personal benefits. By marrying Paris their family would have relation to royalty. Juliet discovers that her parents have arranged her wedding even though she has no love towards Paris. Juliet was forced into a tight situation. Her love, Romeo, is exile and her father wants her to marry Paris, who she does not like. Then, an important factor that caused her to kill herself is Lord Capulet, her own father. He threatens to throw her into the streets and never asks if she wants to marry Paris. He just wants to profit from their marriage in some way. Along with family pressures and the death of Romeo, she cracks and kills herself.

Romeo is also to blame for Juliet’s death. Romeo's hastiness causes their deaths. We can see this when he attacks Tybalt with rage and violence. This ends up in his banishment from Verona. Romeo then believes the first thing he hears of Juliet's death and immediately rushes off to buy some poison thus leading him into his death, When he hears of Juliet's death while in Mantua, it is his hastiness that leads to Juliet's death.

Pointing the finger of blame is very, and does not help us or anyone in the least. I can continue naming characters in the story, and showing proof that they too are equally as guilty as anybody else. Unfortunately, at the end of the play, we do not see the characters blaming each other. The message is reconciliation and forgiveness. Another belief of mine would be not who killed her, but WHAT killed her. It could have been love. The love between Romeo and Juliet not only gave them happiness, it caused them pain and heartache, and eventually their lives. 

Romeo & Juliet dead together

`Rhetorical Device ; Oxymorons

A rhetorical device is a technique than a writer uses to convey to the listener a meaning with the goal of persuading him or her towards considering a topic from a different perspective. Famous playwright, Shakespeare is well known for using various rhetorical devices throughout his work.  In the popular play “Romeo and Juliet” I seemed to recognize many of the rhetorical devices used, but one that caught my eye at first glance were the oxymorons used. An oxymoron is a literary figure of speech usually composed of a pair of neighbouring contradictory words often within a sentence.  In Act 1, Scene 1, Romeo states “O Brawling love! O loving hate! / O anything of nothing first create! / O Heavy lightness, serious vanity! / Misshapen chaos of well-seeming forms! / Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health!” Shakespeare chooses language that reflects youthful, idealized notions of romance. Romeo describes his state of mind through a series of oxymorons setting a series of contradictory words together. He does this by blending the joys of love with the emotional desolation of unrequited love: “O brawling love, O loving hate.” With this claim, he expresses such extreme emoticons towards a woman he hardly knows thus demonstrating both his immaturity and his future potential towards a deeper love.

`Gender Stereotyping

All human beings are created equally. There is no variation between two distinguishing kinds of genders. Any gender of people, whether it’s from a different ethnicity, culture, identity, and background, have the same thing in common; we all live together as human beings on earth. The use of gender stereotypes can date back to when the popular “Romeo and Juliet” was written by the famous playwright Shakespeare. The play perpetuates the stereotype of women being weaker than men. This is seen in the comments that Sampson and Gregory (two servants of the house of Capulet) state when they are planning an attack against the opposite group “The Montague.” In Act 1, Scene 1 Sampson says: “Women, being the weaker vessels, are ever thrust to the wall: therefore I will push Montague's men from the wall, and thrust his maids to the wall." With this degrading elucidation, he is saying that women are in a lower class compared to men.  This will probably be significant to the remainder of the text because it will linger throughout the play, and the women will continue to be treated as the “weaker ones” of the society. This stereotype is present in society today due to many outlets such as the media. Masculine and feminine images that are portrayed in media also project their own distinct mystiques. As we grow up, our culture influences us through these images - usually without us realizing it. Women are still seen as weak, and a tool, while men are seen as powerful, and the “boss.” To wrap things up, my opinion on this is that we should omit old customs, and create something that is right for one another. Everyone should disagree with any stereotype used against men or women. If we disagree on these stereotypes, our world would become better.  

`Character Assignment

[Group Members]:
Adhar Hassain
Stedman Tabiri
Usman Ali


This is our character assignment in which we compare the characters of the famous play "Romeo and Juliet" to the popular TV show  "Family Guy." Our group decided to chose the Capulet Family for this assignment.

`"Star-Crossed Lovers"

"Star-Crossed Lovers" is an archetype that describes a pair of lovers whose relationship is constantly interrupted by outside forces such as society, friends, family, or any tragic situation. Although it is not always accurate, these relationships seem to be cursed from the very beginning. Despite this thought, a handful of movies, along with novels decide to switch the plot up to keep the audience more engaged. The author makes fate play a role in helping the star-crossed lovers actually live their “happily ever after.”  This occurs in the popular fairy tale “Beauty and the Beast” (Belle and The Beast), the romance film “The Notebook” (Ally and Noah), and “Twilight” (Edward, and Bella).

The Beast, and Belle

The traditional fairy tale of Beauty and the Beast is known as one of the best examples of star crossed lovers.  It is about a wealthy daughter by the name of Belle who is dissatisfied with her life in a small French town. The Beast, on the other hand, is a prince who was placed under a spell who showed no love in his arrogant heart for others. As the story progresses, they soon fall in love. This expresses them to be star-crossed lovers because Belle is a beauty, and the prince is an ugly beast. Despite all the circumstances, the two set the differences aside and fell in love living happily ever after.

Noah and Ally

The 2004 romance film, “The Notebook” is about a young couple (Noah and Ally) whose love affair was tragically put to a halt after their separation in the midst of World War II. After being away from each other for seven years, the couple reunited. Despite having to take radically different paths, they found themselves unable to resist the call of a second chance, and end up getting married. This conveys them to be star-crossed lovers because despite how far they were from each other, fate brought them back together leading to their happily ever after.

Bella and Edward

The hit novel “Twilight” is a great example of a star-crossed lovers archetype. In the book, Edward Cullen is a vampire, and Bella Swan is a normal human being. As the story progresses, Edward starts to get attracted to Bella due to her blood mesmerizing him, and the fact that he cannot read her mind. They soon fall in love. However, Edward being a vampire, he can kill her in an instance when he cannot control himself. His intentions of being with Bella could cause her death. Despite the fact that they are totally different, they end up getting married later on in the “Twilight Saga.” This goes to show that even if they had many differences in one another, a dominant force known as fate interfered in their love story having them overcome many hurdles resulting in them being together.

The role of fate is to ultimately, give couples the second chance, or to open a door to something amazing. It helps make the “impossible” in a relationship become “possible.” This is seen in many films, and novels including “Beauty and the Beast,” the hit film “The Notebook,” and the popular novel “Twilight.” 

This withering rose is a symbol of Star-Crossed Lovers. This rose is decaying, the petals are falling off, and it is bleeding. In contrast to what has been stated above, this demonstrates another path that fate can lead to in a relationship.  ; The couple's relationship falling apart, or ending. 

`Why do we hate?

Hate…Such a powerful and overused word which is used in our everyday conversations: “I hate love,” “I hate the rain.” We all have hate within us; it is an emotion that we are all born with, and seem to overcome  in our daily lives. Our world has always been overshadowed with hatred fuelled from many individuals.  At times we do not understand why we have this sudden feeling of hatred. Firstly, we hate because we are scared. In the novel “The Help” Ms. Hilly was hated by the house maids, known as the help. Their hatred towards her was compelled by fear because she was a powerful woman in terms of wealth compared to them. Another example would be how Ms. Hilly concluded to construct a separate washroom for the help. She anticipated that if they used the same toilet as them, it would spread a disease that they carried. Secondly, we tend to hate because we have been taught to.  In “The Help” all the white people of the community hated on the blacks because they grew up learning from their families that the blacks were in a lower class than them. An example would be Miss Hilly because she grew up learning from her parents actions on how they treated their maid, who was also black.  Lastly, we hate because we think it’s right, however it is not.  This can be shown through a Yale University psychologist Stanley Milgram, and his experiment labeled the “Milgram experiment.” In this experiment he measured the willingness of people to obey a figure of authority who instructed them to perform acts that conflicted harm to another individual. A scientist would ask a person questions, and if the person did not answer them correctly, he would order someone in a different room to send a high voltage electric shock to him/her. The person pressing the switch would keep pressing it even if they knew that it was hurting a member of his/her community. They thought that it was okay to do because they were helping in a scientific study, even if they knew it would hurt someone else. This is the same with hate. People show hatred towards one another because they think it’s right, when in reality it is not. Therefore, we as individuals have hatred within us because we are scared, we have been taught to hate and because we think it is right to do so when conversely it is not.

A picture that corresponds to the topic of the paragraph written above.