Romeo and Juliet - Thematic Dissection

Romeo and Juliet is a classic tale of two “star-crossed lovers” (Shakespeare 736) whose destinies were pre-determined. As the scenes unfold, the main theme of love dominates above all else. As a matter of fact, Romeo and Juliet is the most famous love story there is in English literature. The audience is taught to accept the realm of variations of love such as love at first sight, lust, and infatuation. Throughout the decades, many more versions of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet were created including the Zeffirelli and Luhrmann versions. As the audiences changed along with the decade, some of the themes, key issues, symbols, and morals in all three versions of Romeo and Juliet changed as well. During the prologue of Romeo and Juliet, the Chorus comes in and describes the two noble households, the Montagues and the Capulets. The Chorus indicates that two star-crossed lovers will emerge from the two households. These lovers will exonerate an ancient grudge between their families by taking their own lives. The main focus of this play will be the famous tale of these two lovers, Romeo and Juliet, and of the inexcusable rivalry between their families. The prologue plays a huge role in not only setting up the scene of the play, but also in setting up the theme of this famous tale. The Chorus refers to the two lovers as star-crossed, which means that fate is not on their side and they are against the stars. Stars were believed to have the divine power of determining people’s destinies. The prologue reveals the ill-fate of Romeo and Juliet which causes the audience to truly grasp the value of fate which is unchangeable as depicted in the play. The theme of fate is shown in the same sense within the play, the Zeffirelli version, and the Luhrmann version of Romeo and Juliet. In the Zeffirelli version, a man states the prologue in the form of a narrator, whereas in the Luhrmann version, the prologue is a telecast. This is one of the early signs of modernization

Citations: Romeo and Juliet. Dir. Franco Zeffirelli. Perf. Olivia Hussey, Leonard Whiting, and Michael York. Paramount Pictures, 1968. Videocassette. Paramount Home Video, 1980. Shakespeare, William. “The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet.” Elements of Literature, Third Course. Ed. J.A. Bryant, Jr. Orlando: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1997. 734 – 851 William Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet. Dir. Baz Luhrmann. Perf. Leonardo DiCaprio. Twentieth Century Fox Home Video, 2002.