What is the message behind the play Romeo and Juliet?

Answer 1

Shakespeare did not try to teach anybody anything with his plays. They were written for entertainment; they are not lectures or sermons. Part of what makes the plays great is that they are not trying to teach, and so therefore are complex and multifaceted instead of being plodding and didactic. Nor did Shakespeare ever intend that there should be "readers" of his plays. His plays were meant to be watched in theatres by people who had paid to get in. Thinking that Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet for "readers" is like thinking that Metallica wrote Enter Sandman for "readers".

What lessons an audience member or reader wants to take from the play is up to them, but Shakespeare was not trying to put them there.

Answer 2

in romeo and Juliet, shakespear is trying to display that idea that love always overpowers hate. the example comes at the end of the book when the lovers are dead, and the two enemy families (montegues vs. capulets) realize that they have both lost one of their family members, because they were forbidden to love because of the mutual hate. no one gained, everyone lost. ultimatly, hate causes death, and destroys love (in this case, both the love the families had for their children, and the love romeo and Juliet had for each other)

Answer 3

Shakespeare's meaning behind the play is that love is blind and that although there are many different types of love, they can all lead to disaster. He also deliberately set the play over a short space of time to make it clear that Romeo was an indecisive character who was forever changing his mind and if Romeo and Juliet had been left alive a bit longer, the chances are the same thing would happen to them as to what happened with Romeo and Rosaline. Shakespeare also shows the obstacles that love faces and how Romeo did the wrong things and that is why it ended with his death. He also showed how much some people would do for love, even suicide and how a simple misunderstanding can destroy everything.

Answer 4

Good question! I think the message is you shouldn't let your personal feelings get in the way of your children

Ajk337: Don't commit suicide until you knowyour spouse is dead.

Maybe he's trying to say that only love can end a feud.

Or possibly, he is saying that Montague and Capulet were ready from the get-go to end the feud, but the servants kept on biting their thumbs at each other. If Romeo and Juliet had revealed their love from the first, maybe their tragedy would not have occured. Maybe the message is that children should trust their parents more. (They never do, though)

Answer 5

Shakespeare did not write plays to send messages. When a character expresses an opinion, that is a reflection of the character, not Shakespeare. Sometimes the plays do show a reflection of widely-held opinions. For example, in Shakespeare's day as in ours, arranged marriages were not looked at favourably. Contemporary stories are filled with tales of parents selecting unsuitable husbands for their daughters, and of the daughters thwarting their parents and running off with the man they want. Although in some cases these unarranged marriages can lead to tragedy (in Othello or Romeo and Juliet), there is no question that the general opinion was that parent-selected husbands were worse than bride-selected ones. We know that Juliet would not have been happy as Paris's wife; she would rather die, and she gets her wish. We feel that the joy of being married for a short time to Romeo was a happier result than a long, uneventful and loveless match with Paris.

Answer 6

Shakespeare's message for the play is that love is blind and that although there are many different types of love, they can all lead to disaster.