Romeo and Juliet Themes

Love and Fate

Romeo and Juliet are “star-crossed lovers,” who come from two feuding families of Verona. This concept establishes early on in the play that a love affair involving the two might be a little too untenable. Yet, in an instance illustrative of the play’s focus on the theme of fate, the two of them run into each other by chance and fall in love. The animosity between their households makes it difficult for them to pursue their love on peaceful terms. Even before the play begins, the Chorus lets the audience know that their love is doomed and there will be no blissful ending for this young couple. The intervening twist of fate ensures that the two lovers will meet and fall for one another, only to eventually die in the name of love. Although Friar Lawrence devises a plan for the young couple to live happily in exile, they end up dead owing to fate’s intervention and some poor decisions on their part. Romeo never finds out about the plan, thinks Juliet is really dead, and kills himself. Juliet, who everyone thinks is dead, wakes up only to find a dead Romeo. In turn, she kills herself.

Violence and Death

Although the play is essentially a love story, the themes of violence and death also predominate. Though the interplay between violence and death is apparent, we also see a more nuanced interplay between love and violence. The theme of death is intrinsically linked to love from the very beginning: Romeo falls in love with Juliet the moment he sees her, and Tybalt resolves to kill Romeo for gatecrashing the Capulets’ feast. Thereafter, the couple’s love seems inextricably interwoven with violence. Moreover, both Romeo and Juliet, time and again, seem unafraid and even welcoming of death: after his banishment, Romeo threatens to kill himself in Friar Lawrence’s cell; Juliet, too, threatens to kill herself in Friar Lawrence’s presence. When the Capulets force Juliet to marry Paris, she contemplates suicide as a viable alternative should Friar Lawrence’s plan fail. The interplay of love, violence, and death continues until the play’s very end—which involves the suicides of the eponymous characters.

The audience also quickly learns that the Montagues and the Capulets are involved in a rather extraordinary feud. Their feud often results in violent confrontations and death. The violence affects everyone from the lords of the families to the families’ servants. Violence is also linked to masculinity and honor in the play. Most of the male members of the Montagues and the Capulets seem egoistic. They also seem driven by the need to preserve and exemplify their masculinity, even when they know that doing so might only perpetuate the violence. Notably, the men’s preoccupation with honor leads to Tybalt killing Mercutio, Romeo killing Tybalt, and, toward the end of the play, Romeo killing Paris.

Masculinity and Honor

The central plot of Romeo and Juliet, apart from the plight of the “star-crossed lovers,” revolves around the feud between the Capulets and the Montagues. The feud seems to mainly concern the patriarchs of the families; here, too, the prominence of the idea of honor is apparent to the audience. The question of masculinity is intertwined with the notion of honor—a man is not man enough if his honor is violated. Compared with other male figures in the play, Romeo stands for a different kind of masculinity, different even from the sort of masculinity displayed by characters his age. For example, Mercutio, who is particularly prone to fits of temper, considers himself the epitome of masculinity. He also thinks that romantic feelings are not masculine enough. Tybalt’s idea of masculinity is more connected to the notion of family honor. It, therefore, comes as no surprise that he decides to kill Romeo for having besmirched the Capulets’ honor by gatecrashing their masquerade.