Theme Through the Play
Follow a big idea from first scene to last. Learn to track the theme of fate across Romeo and Juliet and build a clear line of argument.
Use it, the way the marks are given
Free interactive practice at using the material, which is what the marks are for.
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A big idea, start to finish
A theme is a big idea a writer explores across a whole play, such as fate, love, conflict or haste. Top answers do not just spot a theme; they track how it develops from the opening scene to the ending. We will follow fate through Romeo and Juliet.
Theme is not plot
Confusing the two is the single commonest way to lose marks on a theme question, because a plot answer can be perfectly accurate and still earn almost nothing:
Which idea does each event explore?
- Friar John is quarantined, so the letter never reaches Romeo
- Tybalt kills Mercutio under Romeo's arm
- Juliet agrees to marry Romeo the day after they meet
- Romeo forgets Rosaline the instant he sees Juliet
- Fate and chance
- The family feud
- Haste
- Love
Fate in Romeo and Juliet
Shakespeare threads fate through the whole play: the lovers are doomed before it starts, sense the grip of it as they go, and are destroyed by it at the end. Four moments carry it: - Prologue, before the play begins: "a pair of star-crossed lovers". - Act 1, on his way to the Capulet party: "some consequence yet hanging in the stars". - Act 3, having just killed Tybalt: "O, I am fortune's fool!". - Act 5, on hearing Juliet is dead: "Then I defy you, stars!". Notice they are not four versions of the same point. Romeo's relationship with fate CHANGES across them, and saying how is the difference between a list and an argument.
Fate across the play
Put these moments in the order they develop the theme of fate, from first to last.
- The Prologue names the "star-crossed lovers"
- Romeo fears "some consequence hanging in the stars"
- Romeo cries "O, I am fortune's fool!"
- Romeo declares "Then I defy you, stars!"
Fortune's fool
When Romeo cries "O, I am fortune's fool!", what does it show about how he sees fate?
- He feels controlled and toyed with by fate
- He believes he fully controls his own future
- He thinks fate does not exist
- He is delighted with how things are going
How a theme develops
A theme rarely stays still, and an essay that traces its movement writes itself. The four stages, and what each one is for:
What has changed?
In Act 3 Romeo calls himself "fortune's fool". In Act 5, hearing Juliet is dead, he cries "Then I defy you, stars!". What has changed in his relationship with fate?
- He has moved from feeling helpless before fate to trying to fight it
- He has stopped believing in fate altogether
- He has become calmer and more accepting of it
- Nothing has changed: both lines simply blame fate
Link theme to characters
A theme has no life of its own: it exists in what happens to people. Fate is felt personally by Romeo, made inescapable by the feud that forces the marriage into secret, and hurried along by sheer chance, as when the letter never arrives. This is what separates a specific answer from a general one. "Shakespeare presents fate as powerful" could be written about almost any tragedy. "Fate reaches Romeo through an undelivered letter" could only be written about this one.
Who feels it?
Fate is felt most personally by _____, who calls himself fortune's fool. It is made inescapable by the _____ between the two families, which is why the marriage has to be secret at all. And it is hurried along by pure chance, as when the _____ from Friar Laurence never reaches him. Tying a theme to who feels it, and how, is what makes an answer _____ rather than general.
Tracking or retelling?
Here is part of a student's essay on fate. Tap the TWO sentences that RETELL the plot instead of tracking the theme.
- Shakespeare plants fate in the Prologue, so the audience watches the whole play already knowing how it ends.
- Romeo goes to the Capulet party, where he meets Juliet and falls in love with her at once.
- By Act 3 he no longer merely fears fate but feels crushed by it, calling himself "fortune's fool".
- Then Tybalt kills Mercutio, and Romeo kills Tybalt, and the Prince banishes him from Verona.
- By the final act his despair has hardened into defiance, though "I defy you, stars!" only hurries him towards the very ending fate had promised.
Plan the essay
The question is: how does Shakespeare present fate in Romeo and Juliet? Plan your answer.
- How should the answer open?
- In what order should the body paragraphs go?
- What should the conclusion do?
The theme frame
A _____ is a big idea like fate, not a single plot event. To track it, follow how it _____ from the start of the play to the end, anchoring each point to a _____. The commonest way to lose marks is to _____ the plot instead, so make every paragraph say something about the idea rather than about what happens next.
Trace the theme
Trace how the theme of fate develops across Romeo and Juliet, from the Prologue to the ending.
- Open with an overview of the whole arc, not with the first event of Act 1
- Say how fate is introduced, and what that does to the audience watching
- Show how Romeo's relationship with fate CHANGES, using a quotation from the middle and one from the end
- Finish by saying what Shakespeare achieves by shaping the theme this way