romeo and juliet hate theme essays

Love and Hate in Romeo and Juliet

By Chris Nayak Globe Education Learning Consultant

I love you! I hate you!

Have you ever said those words? Did you mean them? Have you had them said to you? How did that make you feel?

In Romeo and Juliet, the emotions of love and hate are the lifeblood of the play. Everything that happens seems to be caused by one, or both, of these two forces.  Shakespeare frequently puts them side by side: ‘Here’s much to do with love but more with hate’ , ‘my only love sprung from my only hate’ . Such juxtaposition of conflicting ideas is called antithesis, and Shakespeare loves using it. In every one of his plays, this clash of opposing ideas is what provides the dramatic spark to make the play come to life.

But in Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare makes frequent use of a particular type of antithesis: the oxymoron. This is when two conflicting ideas are contained within a single phrase, maybe in just two words.  We use oxymorons in everyday speech:

‘Act naturally’, ‘organised chaos…’

Romeo uses many of them:

‘Cold fire, sick health…’

Later, Juliet joins in:

‘Beautiful tyrant, fiend angelical…’

But this play has many more oxymorons that any other Shakespeare play. Why does he choose this literary technique for Ro meo and Juliet ?

For me, it’s the perfect way of capturing how you feel when you’re young. The extremes of new and worrying feelings and the fact that you can flip from one emotion to the opposite in a heartbeat.

How can you in one moment having  carefree and happing conversation with your parents, brother or sister or friend and then because of a look or a comment, you are filled with anger and hatred for people you know that you love/ Although it was a long time ago, this is exactly how I remember being as a teenager. And an oxymoron is just that – two extremes expressed in a second. Adults tend to qualify, quantify, and have more shades of grey. Perhaps they grow out of having feelings like this. But for some young people, this is how life is experienced.

Romeo shares this last viewpoint. When the Friar tells Romeo to see the positives in his banishment, Romeo attacks him, saying ‘thou canst not speak of that thou dost not feel’ . And why doesn’t the Friar feel this way? Because he’s old, says Romeo. ‘wert thou as young as I…then mightst thou speak’ .

The type of love and hate that Shakespeare is depicting in this play belongs to young people, and oxymorons are the way to show it. Of course, some of the older characters feel their version of these emotions (Lord Capulet and Lord Montague join the brawl in the first scene), but Shakespeare’s focus is on the younger generation.

But are love and hate really opposites?

Even though Shakespeare sometimes places them in opposition, maybe they are not as different as we might think. In the play, there seem to be a lot of similarities between people when they are full of love, and when they are full of hate.

Romeo’s describes the hate he feels when Tybalt kills his friend Mercutio as a fire raging inside him. ‘Fire-eyed fury be my conduct now’ he says. The Prince is similar, ordering the families to ‘quench the fire of your pernicious rage’ .

But Romeo uses similar imagery when burning with passion for Juliet. ‘She doth teach the torches to burn bright’ , he says. ‘Juliet is the sun’ , a ‘bright angel’ . Juliet also expresses her love in the same way: Romeo is her ‘day in night’ .

The author Elie Wiesel once said that ‘the opposite of love is not hate, but indifference’ . Despite all the opposites and contrasts in this play, maybe Shakespeare thinks the same.

What do you think?

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Romeo and Juliet Themes

This page discusses the Romeo and Juliet themes that are evident in the play.

Whilst the play features the meeting and falling in love of the two main protagonists, to say that love is a theme of Romeo and Juliet is an oversimplification. Rather, Shakespeare structures Romeo and Juliet around several contrasting ideas, with a number of themes expressed as opposites. To say that the tension between love and hate is a major theme in Romeo and Juliet gets us closer to what the play is about.  These – and other –  opposing ideas reverberate with each other and are intertwined through the text.

7 Key Themes In Romeo and Juliet:

Historical time vs the present.

The first thing that strikes one is the feud , mentioned in the Prologue as ‘ancient grudge.’ Here we have a story about happy carefree young people, living in the modern world and enjoying it. The action moves very fast. All that is set against something that happened in the far distant past – an ancient grudge – and, on that level, time is moving very slowly. There is constant mention of time in the text. The nurse recalls Juliet’s early childhood, contrasting it with her young adulthood, using a crude reference to her current sexual maturity. Romeo imagines his life as a long sea voyage that ends in a shipwreck, in contrast to the pace of the life he is living in the present. So the fast-moving, optimistic life of the moment against the power of a toxic history and how it affects the present is a major theme.

Light and Dark

The interplay of images of light and darkness, often placed together, bring the text to life with illumination and shadows. Flashing and sparkling eyes, jewels fire, lightning, stars, exploding gunpowder, torches, the sun and the moon, are set against images of night, smoke, clouds, and a pitch-black tomb. The images, many of them of celestial bodies, connect with the  prologue’s assertion that these are star-crossed lovers . The struggle of bright young hopes against the inevitability of the dark tomb is an important theme. In the midst of the brightness of youth, we are constantly reminded, in the way that Shakespeare juxtaposes those images with images of darkness, of the closeness death.

Fate and Free Will

The Prologue refers to the protagonists as ‘star-crossed lovers.’ The belief that Fate determines human life reverberates through the play. Fate versus free will is the theme here. Romeo and Juliet struggle to break free of the threats that Fate represents, expressed in their dreams and premonitions, and the imagery, throughout the text. Romeo is frustrated by the intervention of Fate at every move he makes to assert his will. ‘O I am fortune’s fool,’ he cries when he realises that he has killed Tybalt . When he hears of the death of Juliet, he shouts up to the heavens, ‘Then I defy you, stars!’

Love and Hate

The intensity of the love between Romeo and Juliet is pitched against the hate-ridden society in which they live. In  the balcony scene , Juliet tells Romeo that if her kinsmen find him in the orchard they will murder him. It is that hatred that is going to destroy them. Not only them but  Mercutio , Tybalt and Paris as well. The hatred generated by the ancient feud is just as intense, as we see from the emotional behaviour of Tybalt, as the intensity of the love between Romeo and Juliet.

Death and Hate

Death is ever-present in Verona. The old folk mutter about it all the time: ‘we were born to die,’ ‘death’s the end of all,’ and young lives are abruptly cut short – so abruptly that the speed of it is a shock in itself. The word ‘death’ pervades the text. Death is even personified: we see him shutting up the doors of life, eating the living, fighting on the battlefield. Most horrifying is that he is Juliet’s bridegroom. ‘Death is my son-in-law/Death is my heir/My daughter he hath wedded,’ wails Capulet as he weeps over Juliet’s body. Against all that are the hopes of the lovers for a life together doomed by the stars.

Youth Against Age

The youthful impetuous emotion of the lovers bumps up against the cautious, mature wisdom of the older people.  Friar Lawrence cautions Romeo ‘love moderately, long love doth so.’ Tybalt’s rage at finding Romeo at the Capulet party and wanting to fight him there and then is put down by the older Capulet. This contrast is far more complex, however, when one thinks about the folly of Friar Lawrence in his support for the young lovers’ marriage, and also Capulet’s mood swings and outbursts of violence in his efforts to deal with his daughter. Such things throw doubt on the wisdom they proclaim, against the go-for-it approach of the younger generation. This is a major exploration of the relationships between the generations and feeds strongly into the time theme.

Language vs Reality

This is one of Shakespeare’s main thematic interests in all of his plays. He was intensely interested in the uneasy relationships between the words we use to describe things and what those things actually are in reality. In  Romeo and Juliet  Romeo is described as ‘Montague.’ The word creates prejudice and hatred, the impetus for revenge and violence. Tybald is blinded by malice at the very sound of Romeo’s voice. The word ‘Montague’ has nothing to do with what Romeo is in actuality: if he had been described as ‘Capulet’ the tragedy would not have happened. The text is full of sentiments that express this theme. ‘ What’s in a name? ’ Juliet says. ‘ A rose by any other name would smell as sweet. ’ That completely encapsulates this theme. This play emphasises the tension between words and action, language and life, that we find in all Shakespeare’s plays.

Shakespeare Themes by Play

Hamlet themes , Macbeth themes , Romeo and Juliet themes

Shakespeare Themes by Topic

Ambition, Appearance & Reality , Betrayal , Conflict , Corruption , Death , Deception , Good & Evil , Hatred , Order & Disorder , Revenge , Suffering , Transformation

What do you think of these Romeo and Juliet themes – any that you don’t agree with, or would add? Let us know in the comments section below!

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Cool to be dead.

THanks TYbalt.

Why do you family’s have to be fighting all the time?

Cause they assholes

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Romeo and Juliet: Themes

Have a look at our analysis of all the major themes in Romeo and Juliet, then read some example essays to help generate your own ideas.

Love and Hate

The two themes are intertwined right from the start. Referring to the two families, the Chorus states: “From forth the fatal loins of these two foes/ a pair of star-crossed lovers take their life.” The play begins with violence, a feud so deep-rooted that no-one seems to know how it started. There are early hints that things could improve- Lord Capulet comments “ ‘tis not hard, I think,/ For men so old as we to keep the peace.” He also accepts the presence of a Montague – Romeo – at his party, despite Tybalt’s rage. Events run away beyond anyone’s control, destroying the future of the two families, and the two become, in Capulet’s words, “Poor sacrifices of our enmity.” 

At the exact moment when Romeo sees and falls in love with Juliet, he is spotted by Tybalt, who proclaims, “Now by the stock and honour of my kin,/ To strike him dead I hold it not a sin.” Capulet stops him attacking Romeo, but Tybalt does not forget or forgive what he thinks is an insult. This leads to his confrontation with Mercutio, and his own death at the hands of Romeo- events which effectively doom the love affair. It’s no wonder that Romeo, before he’s even met Juliet, talks of “brawling love!” and “loving hate!” In the play, hate kills love. The only slight consolation is that the feud comes to an end, and the Prince’s words carry the most weight: “See what a scourge (something that causes suffering) is laid upon your hate, / that heaven finds means to kill your joys with love!” 

Love and Hate Essays

How does Shakespeare convey the theme of love and conflict in the Prologue, Act 1 Scene 5, Act 3 Scene 2 and Act 3 Scene 5 of 'Romeo and Juliet'?

How does Shakespeare Present the Theme of Love in Romeo and Juliet?

Compare and contrast the images of love in: Act I Scene V, Act II Scene II and Act V Scene III

The play opens by telling the audience that Romeo and Juliet are “star-crossed lovers” who “take their life”, referring to “the fearful passage of their death-marked love.” We are in no doubt about the outcome of the play! In the literary tradition of tragedy, the inevitability of the character’s fate is often made clear to the audience and often also is dependent on the weaknesses of character (like excessive ambition or jealousy). Shakespeare, however, made up his own kind of tragedies, not following any one model. In Romeo and Juliet, it is the feud which is the overwhelming cause of the sequence of tragic events. Because of it, the two lovers have to be secretive, and, when matters work against them, they are unable to make their love public...until it’s too late. Here, fate does seem to play an important role – hence references to the “stars”. Romeo feels this when he gets to the Capulet feast, saying “...my mind misgives/ Some consequence yet hanging in the stars...” Fate, it could be argued, ensures that Tybalt sees him at the same moment that Romeo spots Juliet. It is Mercutio’s misfortune (and Romeo’s) to run into Tybalt in the heat of the day when “the mad blood [is] stirring.” Lord Capulet’s moving forward his daughter’s wedding day similarly leads to the desperate plan to drug Juliet. Fate also intervenes to ensure Romeo gets the wrong message, killing himself when Juliet is in fact still alive. At the close of the play we understand those fateful words of the Prologue; their love is truly “death-marked.”

Essays about Fate

Romeo & Juliet 'I am fortune's fool' - to what extent is Romeo a victim of fate?

Romeo and Juliet as a tragedy of fate.

Shakespeare’s sources for the play had the action taking place over a matter of months; he compresses it into four days! It’s Sunday morning when the play opens; by Thursday it’s all over – Romeo and Juliet have met, married, and killed themselves, while Mercutio, Tybalt, Lady Montague and Paris have also lost their lives. There are specific references to days of the week within the play- Shakespeare clearly wants the audience to be aware of the how quickly the whole affair takes place. The Friar warns against this “sudden haste” when Romeo demands he marry him to Juliet today: “Wisely and slow: they stumble that run fast,” but he himself hastens events, aiming “To turn your households’ rancour to pure love.” Even Juliet herself expresses similar fears: “It is too rash, too unadvised, too sudden, / Too like the lightning, which doth cease to be/ Ere one can say, ‘It lightens’.” 

No one has time to draw breath or to stand back from events. No sooner have the two lovers married, than Romeo – before he even has a chance to tell his friends – kills Juliet’s cousin. As soon as they have spent the night together, consummating their marriage, Lord Capulet moves forward his daughter’s “wedding” to Paris. The potion only keeps Juliet asleep a certain length of time – just long enough for Romeo to think she’s actually dead. This makes the play particularly powerful on stage: a reckless rush to destruction, yes, but it’s not brought about by passionate love (which never has a chance to prove its durability), but by “ancient grudge”, whose influence no one can escape from. It’s significant that West Side Story, which places the story in a modern setting, uses virtually the same time scheme- and it works just as well. 

Essays on Time

Events in R&J take place in only a week. Discuss the significance of time.

How Juliet develops and changes in the brief time of the play

Home — Essay Samples — Literature — Romeo and Juliet — Conflict Shown in Romeo and Juliet

Conflict Shown in Romeo and Juliet

• Categories: Romeo and Juliet

About this sample

Words: 645 |

Published: Jan 29, 2024

Words: 645 | Page: 1 | 4 min read

Table of contents

Family feuds, societal expectations, individual choices, culmination of conflict.

• Shakespeare, William. Romeo and Juliet.
• Greenblatt, Stephen. "Teaching Romeo and Juliet in the 21st century." Shakespeare Quarterly 60.2 (2009): 220-231.
• Hopkins, Lisa. "Conflicts in Romeo and Juliet." Scribbendi , 2019, https://www.scribendi.com/advice/conflicts_in_romeo_and_juliet.en.html.

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