Themes - OCRRomeo and Juliet - Themes Overview

A theme is a key idea that runs through a text. The key themes in Romeo and Juliet are love, conflict and family. All three themes interlink with one another.

Part of English LiteratureRomeo and Juliet

Romeo and Juliet - Themes Overview

Themes are ideas that run all the way through a literary text. They are great to analyse because you can discuss the writer's intentions: what have they done? Why? What are they trying to make the reader and audience think and feel? This allows your analysis to be extended and developed, allowing for you to write comprehensively about a given literary text.

Themes of Romeo and Juliet, showing a heart representing love, two fists bashing against each other representing conflict, and a tree with branches in the style of a family tree to represent family

In Romeo and Juliet there are many themes such as:

  • love
  • conflict
  • family

All three themes interlink, as Shakespeare wanted to illustrate how love, conflict and family intertwine with one another. He also wanted to show that sometimes, through love, we can also hate.