Forbidden Love In Romeo And Juliet

Furthermore, it is in order to strengthen the theme of forbidden love that Sater, once again chose to quote Shakespeare. For instance, when Wendla learnt that she was pregnant she sang the song ‘’whispering’’ (81), which was a direct reference to Romeo and Juliet. By referring to this play of youthful passion, Sater clearly wants to emphasize the forbidden love between Wendla and Melchior. A second example of forbidden love in the play is the incest between Martha and her father. After having admitted to her friends that she was being sexually abused by her father, Martha refused to talk about it to anyone one else, being too scared of the possible outcomes. Indeed, this feeling of fear is apparent in the song “The Dark I know Well”, where she sings “God, it’s good-the lovin’- aint it good tonight? / […] It’s just you and me. / Child you’re a beauty. / There is a part I can’t tell/ about the dark I know well.” (46). Indeed, being sexually abused by someone as close as a father is really shameful for a child. Clearly, this shame is part of what prevents her from telling her story to the authorities. The theme of forbidden love that is seen here along with the theme of shame is also later
seen along with Ernst and Hanschen.
Another important theme of the play, homosexuality, is brought up with an allusion to another Shakespearean character, Desdemona. To understand the context of this allusion, it is important to know that in Shakespeare’s play, Othello, this young women was a Venetian beauty (figure of femininity) that enraged and strongly disappointed her father because she was going against a certain great chain of beings by falling in love with Othello, a man that was not part her social class. In spring awakening, this character takes place when Hanschen discovered his femininity and was weakened by it. Indeed, when Hanschen said “Have you prayed tonight Desdemona? One of us must go-it’s you or me”(30) he clearly alludes to the fact that, in Othello, Desdemona, figure of femininity, was killed even though she was innocent. Indeed, in the play, Othello got tricked into thinking that Desdemona cheated on her even though she never had done so, this further leads Othello to kill her. It is along the same lines that Hanschen tells to the reader that he wants to “kill” his femininity. By making this comparison, Sater shows that, just like Desdemona, Hanschen’s femininity is innocent and should not be killed just because society marginalizes homosexuality. Technically, in society, even though no one loudly claims that there is a “great chain of being” guiding the choices of every one, there is one, marked by the costumes and values in place, and, homosexuality, doesn’t belongs to it. Once again, these customs and values are the direct product of bourgeois ideas. Through this allusion, the theme of homosexuality was reinforced.
The theme of homosexuality is further discussed when two of Homer’s characters were mentioned by Hanschen in a dialogue with Ernst: “We'll huddle over the Homer.
Maybe do a little Achilles and Patroclus” (26). Indeed, in The Iliad by Homer, Achilles and Patroclus were so close to one another that many people interpreted their behaviors as being like lovers. It is somehow the same thing that is happening between Hanschen and Ernest, as they were being seduced by one another. The theme of shame is also seen here as Hanschen was trying to repress his femininity because, once again, the oppressive ideas of society are making homosexual behavior unacceptable and really shameful. Even though this statement is still relevant nowadays, it was even worst when Wedekin first wrote the
play.