Things to Think About: Themes

As in all of Shakespeare's plays, Romeo and Juliet is full of recurring motifs and images. In addition to the more obvious themes of love, war, and death apparent in the Bard's tragic tale, there are other concepts that Shakespeare refers to again and again, all of which work to enrich the already engaging plot and characters. To supplement your reading and understanding of Romeo and Juliet, we have explained some of these themes below.

Light and Dark

Throughout Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare utilizes light or the absence of light as a motif that enhances and/or contributes to the mood of a particular scene. As we watch Romeo and Juliet fall in love, and we watch as more and more obstacles get in the way of their burgeoning love, Shakespeare has alternately included light and dark images in the text of his play. When Romeo first encounters Juliet in the Capulet house, he exclaims "O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright!" and when he sees Juliet later in the famous balcony scene, the smitten Romeo says, "But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks? / It is the east, and Juliet is the sun."

But this optimistic light fades when situations start to go awry. In Act III, scene 5, Romeo and Juliet have met secretly in the Capulet orchard during the night. In this case, the light is not a friend to the young lovers, because as soon as day breaks, they must part. Indeed, when Juliet persuades Romeo to leave, she states, "O, now be gone; more light and light it grows" and Romeo replies, "More light and light; more dark and dark our woes!" At the end of Romeo and Juliet's lives, and the play itself, darkness has completely taken over. The Prince exclaims, "A glooming peace this morning with it brings; / The sun, for sorrow, will not show his head . . . For never was a story of more woe / Than this of Juliet and her Romeo."

These are just a few examples of references to light and darkness in Shakespeare's play. See if you can find more.

Time

Also ubiquitous in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is the motif of time. In the very first scene after the Prologue, Romeo proclaims, "Ay me! sad hours seem long." In this early scene, Romeo mourns his unrequited love of Rosaline, and the feeling is so intense that time is affected. But these long hours do not last for much longer.

When the action picks up in the play—when Romeo and Juliet meet and soon realize their relationship cannot develop without a reconciliation between their families—the characters note that time passes more quickly. The love of Romeo and Juliet has developed at an accelerated pace: As Juliet says in Act II, scene 2, "It is too rash, too unadvised, too sudden; / Too like the lightning." As their love has developed quickly, so does the approach of the day Juliet will be married to Paris. Time has become an enemy of Romeo and Juliet's love, as Old Capulet has decided to hasten the marriage of Juliet and Paris in order to help her overcome what he believes is her grief for Tybalt's death. Paris tells the Friar: "Now, sir, her father counts it dangerous / That she do give her sorrow so much sway, / And in his wisdom hastes our marriage / To stop the inundation of her tears." The timing of the marriage is off, as was Tybalt's death. Time is passing at such a fast pace that it must also take the lives of young Romeo and Juliet. In Act IV, scene 5, Old Capulet observes, "Death lies on her like an untimely frost."

Fate

Another theme Shakespeare incorporates in Romeo and Juliet is that of fate. In his play, Shakespeare toys with the idea that fate or destiny is a supernatural power predetermining the path of one's life. As the Chorus states immediately in the Prologue of Romeo and Juliet, "A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life." In other words, the young Romeo and Juliet are doomed from the very beginning: their "stars" are misaligned. No matter what they do to attempt to repair their tragic situation, something always inhibits them from prevailing: Although they fall in love, their families prevent this love; although they get married, Tybalt is slain by Romeo, and Juliet must marry Paris; although Juliet escapes marriage by pretending to die, Romeo does not get the Friar's note and believes she is dead.

Near the beginning of the play, in Act I, scene 4, Romeo aptly predicts his own fate:

I fear, too early: for my mind misgives

Some consequence yet hanging in the stars

Shall bitterly begin his fearful date

With this night's revels and expire the term

Of a despised life closed in my breast

By some vile forfeit of untimely death.

Indeed, even though Romeo attempts to challenge fate, stating "I defy you, stars!" in Act V, scene 1, later in the play (Act III, scene 1), Mercutio is killed by Tybalt, and Romeo attributes his death to "this day's black fate." Shortly afterward in the scene, when Romeo kills Tybalt, the exasperated Romeo exclaims, "O, I am fortune's fool!"

The reference to fate in Romeo and Juliet is not specific to this particular Shakespearean work—it is a popular theme in many of his plays. To increase your understanding of commonly used devices in Shakespeare's works, you can explore how the Bard uses fate to enhance the plot in Macbeth and King Lear.