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what are the main themes of romeo and juliet?
Fate
Love
Violence/conflict
death
Age and maturity
family
gender roles
marriage
What is Juliet’s quotes on fate?
‘Methinks I see thee, now thou art below // As one dead in the bottom of a tomb.’
What are the fate quotes from the prologue?
‘star crossed lovers’
‘forth the fatal loins of these two foes’
What are romeos quotes on fate?
‘O,I am fortunes fool’
‘Defy you stars’
‘consequence hanging in the stars’
‘yoke of inauspicious stars’
How does Shakespeare use fate throughout the play?
fate is the reasoning behind everything
Allows the series of unfortunate events to happen (late letter,murders,faster arranged marriage)
Fate is used to foreshadow the play
Linked with context
What are romeos quotes on love?
‘this holy shrine,the gentle sin in this: // My lips,two blushing pilgrims’
‘Thus with a kiss i die’
‘O brawling love! O loving hate!’
What are juliets quotes on love?
‘O,I have bought the mansion of a love // But not possessed it,and though i am sold // Not yet enjoyed’
‘my only love sprung from my only hate’
‘My bounty is as boundless as the sea, // My love as deep’
‘swear by thy gracious self, // Which is the god of my idolitry’
What is the friars quote on love?
‘For this alliance may so happy prove // to turn your households rancour to pure love’
How does Shakespeare show love throughout the play?
courtly love (Rosaline)
Religious love (romeo and juliets first meeting)
Love vs hate
Sex and marriage with love
The power of love is not more than the power of death
What are the quotes on death in the prologue?
‘Whose misadventure’d piteous overthrows // Doth with their death bury their parents strife’
PRIMARY EFFECT
What are the personified quotes about death?
‘Death lain with thy wife’
‘Deflower’d by him’
‘Death lies on her like an untimely frost’
What does shakespeare show about death?
Death is inevitable
Death is used as a source of tension
‘Thou womb of death’
Tybalt and mercutios death is used as a catalyst
Mercutios death is used as a transition from comedy to tragedy
Mercutios death is also used to link the feud with the youth/apart of romeo and juliets life
‘A plague o’ both your houses’
How does Lord capulet show violence?
He cannot handle being disobeyed
‘Hang thee,young baggage’
‘Disobedient wretch’
‘fingers itch’
‘hang,beg,starve,die in the streets’
‘saucy boy’
‘Am I the master here,or you?’
What characters enjoy violence?
Mercutio and Tybalt
Both are fiercely loyal and want to show their masculinity
How is the theme of age/maturity shown through Juliet?
she is described as too young for marriage at the start
‘a stranger in the world’
However she somewhat matures throughout and is forced to marry Paris
She is shown as mature a she proposes to Romeo instead of having sex out of marriage
Although, marriage is a big risk and can be seen as foolish
The nurse shows how Juliet has grown by referring to stories from her childhood in remembrance.
‘too rash,too unadvised,too sudden’
How are romeo and Juliet shown as immature?
They are spontaneous:
fast marriage
false death
murder
suicides
How is gender roles shown for the male characters?
men have a sense of honour to live up to
this is shown by tybalt and mercutio
‘thy beauty hath made me effeminate’
Men need to be the head of the house
This is shown by lord Capulet who holds power over everyone apart of the house
This shows his reaction to Juliet and Tybalt as justified and as him protecting his role
Very much linked with social status and reputation.
They use bawdy jokes as they were allowed to be sexual
how is gender roles shown for female characters?
Lady Capulet being below Lord Capulet
Females were below men and had little power
Juliet goes against normal roles by speaking about sex and proposing
Women were sexual objects viewed by men
‘thrust to the wall: therefore I will push Montague’s men from the wall and thrust his maids to the wall’
‘her fine foot,straight leg and quivering thigh’
How does Shakespeare present the theme of family?
Uses lord Capulet to show traditional male roles
‘hang thee young baggage’
He shows family to be very important for young people
Biblical beliefs: ‘Honour your father and mother’
Conflict between large families is very powerful
Loyalty
Marriage
‘good Capulet- which name i tender as dearly as my own,be satisfied’
How does Shakespeare present the theme of marriage?
Uses Juliet to show that marriage should be about love
this is shown as she refuses to marry Paris as she doesn’t love him
Links to sex and their wedding night
Distinguishes real love from courtly love
creates different expectations in their relationship
this is shown when she forgives romeo after he murders tybalt
‘O serpent heart,hid with a flowering face’
Juliet suggests marriage showing her strong headed character and maturity
No bigamy
Marriage is a concern for Lord Capulet
What were the Elizabethan beliefs on fate?
They believed in lady fortune.
They also believed you could understand what would happen to you if you could read the stars.
What were the Elizabethan beliefs on Catholicism?
It was viewed negatively as it was known for its apparent corruption and excess of passion
Therefore they would have viewed the friar as an untrustworthy character
What were Elizabethan views on Christianity?
Christians believed suicide was a sin
They had strong views on marriage and young girls should be married quickly
no sex outside of marriage
No bigamy
Strong ideas on women’s roles,eve was made second and as a helper to Adam
strong ideas that children should follow their parents (ten commandments)
What were the gender expectations in Elizabethan England?
Men were expected to be violent and aggressive and not cry/be soft
Women were expected to look after the home and children as well as their husbands.For upper class women they were seen more as sexual objects as they had maids
What is the context for Romeo and Juliet about love?
Petrarch-an love/courtly love
Unrequited love
Petrarch wrote sonnets for a woman who he loved from afar
this includes putting the women on a pedastool
Elizabethan views on violence/death
Hangings and burnings were apart of entertainment and they were therefore used to violence
Death was very common and they understood that not all their children would make it adulthood.This is from illness,plagues etc.They also all feared death but did believe in an afterlife
‘I’m chief. I was chosen’
‘You voted me for chief. Now you do what I say’
Ralph as a leader and democracy
‘Jack’s in-charge of the choir’
Ralph delegates responsibilities and gives Jack power.
He tries to avoid conflict with Jack at the start.
What are quotes about the fire?
‘we must make a fire’
‘The fire’s the most important thing on the island, because, because—’
Fire is started by piggy’s glasses
Fire kills the boy with the mulberry birthmark
‘They had smoked him out and set the island on fire’
‘the rules are the only thing we got’
Ralph shows the need for order and a rule-based society
‘Don’t you want to be rescued? All you can talk about is pig, pig, pig!’
Ralph attacks jacks hunters and begins to question the boys
‘That was Simon...That was murder.’
Ralph is the only one to admit it was murder.
He shows guilt and brings the brutal reality in.
Not a complete savage?
‘I’m frightened. Of us. I want to go home. Oh God, I want to go home.’
Ralph begins to understand the capability of the boys.This scares him.
He starts to understand who the beast is.
‘Which is better, law and rescue, or hunting and breaking things up?’
This shows the conflict between Ralph and Jack and their different beliefs.
‘We want meat’ and ‘We want shelter’
Jack talks only of meat and enjoys the thrill of hunting.He quickly disregards rescue
Ralph wants shelters.He tries to think logically and ahead.He wants rescue.
‘I ought to be chief’
Jack is arrogant and takes it upon himself to be a leader.
‘His specs – use them as burning glasses!’
Jack then aggressively takes piggy’s glasses showing his dominance over him.
This also foreshadows the importance of piggy’s glasses.
‘We’ve got to have rules and obey them. After all, we’re not savages. We’re English, and the English are best at everything. So we’ve got to do the right things.’
Jack says this but quickly goes against his former words.
We see this first presentation of Jack breaks down as he disregards society and embodies savagery.
This also foreshadows the tribalism later on.
‘Bollocks to the rules! We’re strong – we hunt! If there’s a beast, we’ll hunt it down! We’ll close in and beat and beat and beat - !’
This contrasts his earlier character as he said they need rules.
This shows his leading technique as he entices the hunters and empowers them.
‘I’m not going to play anymore. Not with you..’
This shows Jacks view of the island as a game.
Shows immaturity and reminds the reader of their young age.
‘Kill the pig,Cut her throat,Spill her blood!’
The hunters chant.
Shows violence and the pronoun ‘her’ contrasts the male characters.
‘compulsion to track down and kill that was swallowing him up’
Shows jack as savage.
He enjoys the thrill of hunting and is overcome by blood-lust.
‘Bloodthirsty snarl’
‘Acting like a crowd of kids!’
Shows how piggy separates himself from the other boys with maturity.
Ironic because they are all kids including piggy.
‘he was shorter than the fair boy and very fat’
This shows piggy as an outsider and his name as well as Jack's violence towards him because he is different sets his role as a victim.
He is bullied by the group.
‘What are we? Humans? Or animals? Or savages? What's grownups going to think?’
Piggy is scared the boys are going to descend into savagery.
Ironic to refer to grownups as they are currently having a nuclear war.Mirocosm.
‘Life is scientific,that’s what it is’
Shows piggy’s view on life and how he is rational unlike the littleuns.
‘We never done nothing,we never seen nothing’
Piggy tries to maintain his sense of humanity and dignity by denying that they had anything to do with Simons murder.
‘We used his specs…He helped that way’
Simon stands up for piggy and shows the rest of the group that contributions to society are not purely physical.
‘Maybe there is a beast…Maybe its only us.’
Simon suggests that evil is inherent in the boys and there is no physical beast.
Links with Golding’s view of man
‘You’ll get back alright.I think so anyway’
Simon provides comfort for Ralph.
Ominous as he only says you showing he may think he wont survive.
Sort of physcic telling.
‘Fancy thinking the beast was something you could hunt and kill’
Simon has a blackout when he sees the pigs head on a stick which is called ‘The lord of the flies’ and imagines it speaking to him.
It talks about how it is the beast and isn’t real.
‘Perhaps we’ll never be rescued’
Roger doesn’t believe they will be rescued and so quickly adapts to this new society and disregards his old life.
He begins to test rules and become violent.
‘You don’t half look a mess’
Roger encourages the painted face of Jack .This shows rogers desire to abandon civility for savagery.
‘the taboo of old life’
"Roger's arm was conditioned by a civilization that knew nothing of him and was in ruins"
Roger throws stones at a littleun but doesn’t dare to enter an invisible forece field and hurt the boy becuase of his old life and the reminants of society.
‘Roger sharpened a stick at both ends’
Roger leads the violence at the end of the novel and establishes his sadistic and cruel nature.
‘Roger, with a sense of delirious abandonment, leaned all his weight on the lever... The rock struck Piggy’
Roger kills piggy and is the main leader for violence in the novel.
This also smashes the conch showing his disregard for a society which previously restrained him.
What does the conch symbolise?
Democracy
It is used to call meetings
If you wish to speak in these meetings you must be holding the conch
‘the conch exploded into a thousand white fragments and ceased to exist’
The conch is destroyed when piggy is killed.
This symbolises that humanity and a functional/non-violent society is no longer an option.The boys have turned to savagery.
What do piggys glasses symbolise?
scientific reasoning and wisdom
they are important for fire and can be seen to symbolise rescue (signal fire)
they are also used to shows clear thinking/being able to see clearly
As they get damaged it represents the lack of rational and thought the boys have
Once piggy is dead and his glasses are crushed with him they light the whole island on fire (stupid move) showing they have lost the ability to see clearly and the ability to reason
How is the beast used as a symbol?
The beastie is used to show the real evil inside them.
The fear they all have is a reflection of the fear of the unknown and the capability of man.
The beast takes many forms (each form turns out to be harmless including Simon)on the island and plagues the littleuns with nightmares.
‘The beast was harmless and horrible’
Simon describes the physical ‘beast’ as harmless because it was a dead parachutist and not the real beast.
‘Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood! Do him in!’
Simon is the beast here as the boys murder him.
Simon is martyred for trying to bring truth to the boys and his murder shows the reader that the real beast is the evil inside humans.
‘And i’m the beast’
The Lord of the Flies admits that its the beast.
This shows Simon that evil is the beast,evil inside humans.
what is the context for Golding being a naval officer?
He sank German ships
Shelled those on D’day
Felt guilty after and was not proud of it
suffered from guilt after shelling french towns
Why is Golding’s past position as a teacher at an all boys school important?
It showed him the true nature of boys.
what are some quotes from Golding?
“once we had the naive belief in the perfectibility of man”
“Man produces evil like a bee produces honey”
“The boys are suffering from the terrible disease of being human”
How does the quote “we have nothing to fear except fear itself” from president Franklin Roosevelt link to LOTF?
It reminds the reader that fear can be used to overpower, control and bully others.
What are the connotations of Jacks choir outfit?
Links to the black Nazi uniforms of the ‘SS’. Relates the hunters to the Hitler Youth
What does ‘The lord of the flies’ mean in Hebrew?
Beezlebub which is a satanic figure
What context does Coral Island have with LOTF?
Golding thought it was too optimistic and so used the same/similar names in LOTF and showing the realistic version.
How is biblical imagery shown in LOTF?
the island can be seen as similar to the garden of Eden with links to paradise and the eating of fruit.
Evil then enters the island through the beast/snake.
Simon can be seen as a Jesus-like character
How did Golding describe Germany?
As a “boil that could burst at any time” meaning that any society could be capable of the same evil.
What did Hobbes believe?
That without good democracy, government and rules society would breakdown.
This links to the boys attempt at democracy which quickly falls apart.
What did Rousseau believe?
That man is basically good and that it was society that corrupts people and makes them power hungry and evil.
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