Themes of Love and Conflict in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet

Themes of Love and Conflict in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet

William Shakespeare was born in 16th century England, on the 23rd of

April 1564. He was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire.

Shakespeare was a very famous poet & playwright. During his life he

produced 37 plays, ‘two gentlemen of Verona’ being the first. He is

regarded as one of the best English writers of all time. ‘Romeo &

Juliet’ remains one of his most popular plays & was written in around

1597.

During Elizabethan times when Shakespeare was alive things were done

much differently than compared with today. For example, teenagers &

especially girls were treated completely differently. A girl like

Juliet wouldn’t have been able to go out by herself & she wouldn’t

have gone to school. As well as this a girl in Juliet’s position would

have had her husband chosen for her, as is shown in ‘Romeo & Juliet’.

Parents had such strict ideas about what their children should be like

that Juliet’s father would rather totally disown her than let her be

with a man other than Paris.

Romeo & Juliet is about two lovers who strive to be together despite

the obstacles that are put in their path by both of their families.

At the start of the play a fight occurs between the two houses,

Montague’s & Capulet's, The prince of Verona threatens that if any

more fights happen in the streets the ones responsible will be

punished with death. Romeo & his friends hear about the ball at the

house of the capulet’s, & even though they are not invited they

deicide to attend. The ball is where Romeo & Juliet meet for the first

time.

The next day the two lovers are married by ...

... middle of paper ...

... friend. ‘Tybalt

lies ‘ere slain, whom Romeo’s hand did slay‘.

The theme of conflict plays as big a part as that of love. Although it

is love which first brings Romeo & Juliet together, it is the conflict

between the two feuding families which pulls them apart & is the other

factor which leads to the end tragedy.

This concludes my essay on the ‘themes of love & conflict’. These two

themes are an important part of ‘Romeo & Juliet’. Many, if not all, of

the events have either, or both, of the two themes to trigger it off.

If one of these aspects of ‘Romeo & Juliet’ were missing the end

result would definitely be different, & you should be able to see this

by taking into account the examples which I have given throughout.