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I can explain how Shakespeare demonstrates key themes through character and plot action.

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Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2023), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

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Key learning points

'Romeo and Juliet' is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare in the 1590s and it is based on an Italian story.
The plot tells of two young lovers, Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet, who belong to feuding families.
A theme of a play is a central idea that the writer intends the audience to engage deeply with.
Key themes in 'Romeo and Juliet' are love, chance, conflict, youth and death.

Common misconception

Pupils may struggle to understand why the characters take such drastic action in the play.

Explain the importance of familial obligations at the time the play is set; use analogies to describe the feud between the houses. Note also the difficulties around communication - there was no easy way to send messages!

Keywords

Play - a dramatic work originally intended for the stage
Feud - a long-lasting conflict
Tragedy - a type of play in which terrible or sorrowful things happen to the main character(s)
Theme - a central idea that the writer intends the audience to engage deeply with

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Hi there.

I'm Mr. Buckingham, and it's so nice to see you here for today's lesson.

Today, we're going to be starting an exciting new unit where we're going to be completing two pieces of writing inspired by William Shakespeare's incredible play, \"Romeo and Juliet\".

I think you're going to really enjoy exploring this fantastic story with me, and I think you're going to produce some fantastic work.

So, let's get going.

Today's lesson is called understanding themes, characters, and plots in \"Romeo and Juliet\".

And it comes from my unit called Shakespeare's \"Romeo and Juliet\" Diary and Narrative Writing.

By the end of today's lesson, you'll have explained how Shakespeare demonstrates key themes through character and plot action.

Now before you start this unit, it will be useful for you to know the basic plot of \"Romeo and Juliet\".

To do this, you might want to read an abridged children's version of the story, or you could watch the animated film, \"Shakespeare: The Animated Tales, Romeo and Juliet\" produced by Shakespeare Animated Films, which we'll be using clips of during the unit.

However, I will be summarising the entire plot of the play during this lesson if you're not able to access those right now.

If you're ready, let's begin.

Here are our keywords.

A play is a dramatic work originally intended for the stage.

And a feud is a long-lasting conflict.

A tragedy is a type of play in which terrible or sorrowful things happen to the main characters.

And a theme is a central idea that the writer intends the audience to engage deeply with.

Here's our lesson outline for today.

We're going to start off by exploring the plot of \"Romeo and Juliet\", and then we'll look at the themes we can find within the play.

So, as you might know, \"Romeo and Juliet\" is a play written by William Shakespeare and we can see him here.

And Shakespeare was an English playwright, someone who writes plays who lived from 1564 to 1616.

And he's seen as one of the greatest writers in the English language.

And he wrote at least 39 plays, including some very famous ones you might know, such as \"Macbeth\", \"Othello\", and \"A Midsummer Night's Dream\".

And he gave us many words of phrases we still use today, including a wild goose chase and what's done is done.

Those are phrases which first appear in Shakespeare's plays.

So, he's had a huge impact on our culture and on the English language.

So, as essentially, a play like \"Romeo and Juliet\" is written as a script and it's intended to be performed live on a stage by actors in a theatre.

We are not really supposed to just read it like a book.

We're supposed to go and see it live and see the actors perform the script that the playwright has written.

So, here's two theatres here.

On the left, we have a drawing and there's the drawing of Shakespeare's original theatre, which his plays were performed during at the time he was alive.

So, Shakespeare's theatre company built this theatre, the Globe Theatre in London to hold 3,000 audience members.

And you can see them tightly packed there in the stools around the edges with an open air section in the middle.

And you can see the stage there where the actors are performing.

Now, the picture on the right is a photograph of a reconstruction of the theatre and it's called the Globe Theatre still.

And it opened in 1997 in a similar location in London, and it hosts Shakespeare's plays still to audiences now of 1,400 people.

But you can see the two buildings are very similar.

The second one was designed to look just like the first, and you'd have a very similar experience here where the audience wraps around the stage and we've got the open air above and the sheltered seats around the sites.

And in both cases, we've got a lively atmosphere, an intense experience where the actors are really surrounded by the crowd and the audience is able to really feel like they're participating in the play.

So, can you now correct these incorrect statements about Shakespeare? These are all wrong.

What should they say? Pause the video and see if you can correct them.

Well done.

Good thinking.

So, A says, Shakespeare's best known as an actor.

No, that's not true.

He's best known as a playwright, someone who writes plays, but he certainly did act, but he's better known now as a playwright.

B says, Shakespeare only wrote a handful of plays.

Well, now we know he wrote at least 39 plays, which is a lot more than a handful.

C said Shakespeare lived around 100 years ago.

No, it was a bit more than that.

He lived around 400 years ago in the 1500s and 1600s.

And then, D says, the original Globe Theatre is still standing.

No, that's not correct.

There's a reconstruction of the Globe Theatre in London in a very similar location and using a very similar structure.

Very well done for your ideas there.

Now, \"Romeo and Juliet\" is one of Shakespeare's most famous plays, and I think one of the most exciting.

In fact, it's also been made into several films, because the plot is so exciting and dramatic that people still want to hear that story hundreds of years later.

So, let's review the setting and some of the characters we're going to see in this play.

It's set in the Italian city of Verona, where two families, the Montagues and the Capulets are locked in a violent feud and a feud is a long-running struggle between two people or two groups of people in this case.

Now, this feud is crucial to the whole play and to the plot in general, because the two families hate each other so intensely and they've been arguing and fighting for years, including with violent confrontations.

So, there's absolute hatred between the two groups of people, and that's so important to understanding the plot.

So, who are these two sides? Who are the Montagues and who are the Capulets? Well, on the Capulet side, we have Juliet, one of our two main characters, and then Capulet or Lord Capulet, her father, Lady Capulet, who's Lord Capulet's wife, and then her nurse, and then Tybalt, who's her cousin.

Now, the nurse is not related to Juliet, but she works in that household.

Then, we've got the Montague side.

We've got Romeo, our other main character, and then Montague, or Lord Montague, his father, Lady Montague, Lord Montague's wife, Mercutio, who's his friend, and then Benvolio who's his cousin.

And then, we've got Friar Laurence and the prince who aren't part of either family, but play important roles in the play.

And the prince is the person who's in charge of Verona as a whole.

So, he's responsible for keeping the peace.

So, which side of the feud does each of these characters on? Are they a Montague or a Capulet? Pause the video and decide.

Well done.

Good job.

Yes.

Romeo is a, well done, Montague.

Tybalt is a Capulet.

He's Juliet's cousin.

Juliet is a Capulet.

Mercutio is a Montague.

He's Romeo's friend.

And Benvolio, also Montague.

Well done.

He's Romeo's cousin.

Really well done.

We need to remember those names, because they're gonna come up a lot during our discussion of the plot.

Now, let's start talking about the plot.

I'm going to recap it over a few different slides and we can split the plot into a few key sections.

First of all, we have a feud and a meeting.

So, the place starts with the servants of the two feuding families, the Montagues and the Capulets brawling and fighting in the streets.

And then, the prince of Verona arrives and he says that any more fighting between the two families will be punishable by death.

So, if they fight each other again, they're going to be executed.

And then, Romeo Montague is pining for Rosaline.

He's in love with this woman called Rosaline.

But by chance, he then learned about a masked party, which is going to be happening at the Capulet household.

And he attends secretly, because his friends, Benvolio and Mercutio, decide to persuade him to come along to try and cheer him up, because he's pining for this lady, Rosaline.

And here, he sees a beautiful woman across the room and he instantly falls in love.

And he goes over and they talk and they ultimately start kissing.

And then, it turns out that that woman is Juliet Capulet.

She's from the enemy household, and they both discover this and they realise they've fallen in love with someone who should be their enemy.

And of course, that is the setting for the whole rest of the plot is the love that they share, which we know is going across this divide between these two feuding families.

So, can you explain why Jacob might be mistaken? He says, I don't really see why this is a problem.

People fall in love with people who are different to them all the time.

Why might Jake be wrong about this particular case? Pause the video and decide.

Well done.

Good job.

Here's an idea.

Sophia says, this is a bit more complicated.

The Montagues and the Capulets have a really serious feud.

There's this huge hatred between their families.

And in those days, your family would be very involved in your relationships, and most marriages would be arranged by the family.

So, there's no way either family would let them marry.

It would be a huge scandal.

So, Sophia is saying, well, this is a bit different to just falling in love with someone who's different to you, which would be normal.

But this is about falling in love with someone who's from a family, who's opposed to your family completely, who is an enemy of your family.

And there's no chance these families would agree to their marriage.

And as Sophia said, families would've been very involved in marriages in those days in a way that often families are not so much involved these days.

Really well done for your thoughts there.

So, let's look at what happens next, and we'll call this section a secret marriage.

So, after that ball, Romeo sneaks into the Capulet orchard and he hears Juliet up on her balcony, bemoaning the fact that he's a Montague.

So, she's saying, oh, I can't believe I've fallen in love with someone from my enemy's family.

He hears her speaking and he speaks to her and they start to declare their love for each other despite their family's feud.

And they agree that they want to get married the next day.

And then, the next day, Romeo visits Friar Laurence and tells him he wants to marry Juliet.

And the friar agrees, hoping that them getting married will help to end the feud, because it might unite those two families together.

So, Romeo sends a message to Juliet through her nurse, and she comes to Friar Laurence's cell to be married in a secret.

So, they haven't told their families, but they know that they're in love, so they've decided to get the next day after meeting each other at the ball the previous night.

So, at this point in the plot, are Romeo and Juliet being brave or foolish? What do you think and can you justify your opinion? Pause the video and decide.

Well done.

Good ideas.

And I'm sure that everyone has different opinions on this and that's fine.

Here's what Lucas says.

He says, they're being brave.

They know their families wouldn't let them be together, but they're in love and they won't let anyone stop them.

They're saying that their love is more important than the feud.

Well, Sam disagrees.

She says, no, they're being foolish.

What's the point of being married in secret? How is that different to not being married at all? Anyway, they only met yesterday.

Why not wait a while until things calm down? So, Sam's saying, well, they're rushing into this a little bit.

They only met the previous day.

What's the rush to get married so fast? And I bet you shared some really interesting views on that too.

Welcome done.

Now, from this point on, unfortunately, things go wrong quite quickly.

So, we'll call this section, death and exile.

And exile is when you're sent away from somewhere.

So, Tybalt, who's Juliet's cousin, knows that Romeo was at that party and he's furious that Romeo chose to come to the Capulet house, and he tries to start a fight with Romeo, Mercutio, and Benvolio, who are just standing around in the town.

Now, Romeo refuses to fight, because to him, Tybalt is now part of his family, because he's just married Juliet secretly.

But Tybalt and Mercutio have a duel, and Mercutio is stabbed to death by Tybalt after Romeo gets in the way.

Romeo tries to stop the fight, and as he does so, Tybalt manage to stab Mercutio who dies.

And in revenge, Romeo is obviously incredibly angry with Tybalt, and he then kills Tybalt.

Now, remember that the prince had said that any further fighting would be punishable by death.

And he finds out that Romeo has killed Tybalt and that Tybalt killed Mercutio.

And Romeo is exiled.

He's sent away from Verona.

The prince shows some mercy, because obviously, Mercutio had been killed by Tybalt as well, but he chooses to exile Romeo, sent him away from the city, of course, where his wife, Juliet, still lives.

Now, Romeo goes to see Juliet for a final time before leaving the city.

And once Romeo has left, Juliet's parents inform her that she is going to marry a man called Paris in three days' time.

So, they've arranged for her to marry this man.

And she says she won't, because obviously, she knows he's already married to Romeo.

She can't marry two people.

But her father insists that she has to.

So, there's lots going on now.

Let's see if we've got it all in the right order.

Can you put these events in order from one to four? Pause the video and have a go.

Well done.

Good job.

So, first of all, we saw Tybalt wanting to fight Romeo, because he was at a Capulet party.

Then, we had Romeo refusing to fight, but Mercutio fighting Tybalt instead.

Then, we have, when Romeo tried to intervene to stop the fight, Mercutio is stabbed to death by Tybalt.

And finally, Romeo gets revenge from Mercutio's death by killing Tybalt.

Now, this is a really important part of the whole plot, because if Romeo hadn't killed Tybalt, then he wouldn't be sent away, which is what's happened to him.

He's been sent away exiled to a different city away from Verona.

So, what might Juliet's feelings be at this point in the play? She's just married Romeo.

He's now killed her cousin Tybalt, and he's been sent away and exiled, and she's just been told she's going to have to marry another man.

Pause the video and decide what might Juliet's feelings be at this point.

Well done.

Good thinking.

So, here's what Aisha just said.

She's probably very upset, because her new husband, Romeo, has just killed a member of her own family, Tybalt, making the feud worse, and now he has to leave the city just after they got married.

Andeep says this, not only that, but she can't marry Paris.

It's against the law to marry to two different people.

She either has to somehow avoid marrying Paris or tell the truth about marrying Romeo who just killed her cousin.

So, remember, the feud right now is going to be worse than it's ever been before, because someone on the Montague's side, Mercutio, has just died.

And someone on the Capulet's side, Tybalt, has just died, both being killed, murdered on purpose.

The feud has never probably been worse than at this moment.

This a terrible moment for Juliet to tell her family that she's married Romeo.

That just wouldn't work, would it? So, Andeep and Aisha are saying, this is an incredibly difficult situation that she's been placed in.

So, Juliet's in a really difficult situation, and she needs to find some way out of marrying Paris.

So, she goes to Friar Laurence for help, and I'm going to call this section an unhappy ending.

So, Friar Laurence has a plan.

He gives Juliet a potion that will make her appear dead in order to avoid having to marry Paris.

And he says he'll explain that he's done that to Romeo.

And then, Juliet takes the potion, and then she's found dead in her bed and she's placed in the Capulet tomb.

So, we now have Juliet looking like she's dead in the Capulet tomb in Verona.

Romeo, remember, is still exiled to a different city.

Now, Friar Laurence sends a messenger to tell Romeo what he's done, but the messenger can't reach Romeo, because the city is quarantined due to illness.

So, Romeo hears that Juliet has died, because that's what everyone believes, and he rushes to Verona to see her body in the Capulet tomb.

So, he goes to the tomb and he finds her apparently dead in the tomb.

Now, he's so upset by this that he then drinks poison, and then dies.

Then, she wakes up, because remember, she wasn't really dead, and she sees that he's dead, and stabs herself to death too.

And the two families are so horrified by this tragic situation that they decide to put their differences aside and end the feud.

So, there is one good thing at the end of this, but we can definitely say we've got a very unhappy ending here for poor Romeo and Juliet.

So, why did Romeo kill himself and why did Juliet kill herself? It's quite complicated.

So, see if you can explain both of those deaths.

Pause the video and have a go.

Well done.

Good job.

Here's what Alex said.

Romeo hadn't received Friar Laurence's message, so he didn't know that Juliet wasn't really dead.

He didn't want to live without her, so he took the poison to kill himself.

So, we can see if that messenger had reached Romeo, Romeo would've known Friar Laurence's plan, but the messenger didn't because of that quarantine.

So, Romeo just knew what everyone else knew, which was that Juliet was apparently dead.

Friar Laurence was the only person who knew that wasn't really the case.

What about Juliet? Here's what Izzy says.

When Juliet woke up, she realised that the plan had failed, and she saw that Romeo was dead and she didn't want to live without him, so she killed herself too.

And it's a very sad ending, and I think we'd all agree with Izzy there.

It's definitely a very tragic ending to this story.

So, who do you think is responsible for these deaths? Pause the video and have a think.

Well done.

Good thinking.

Well, here's what Laura says.

I think Friar Laurence is responsible.

His plan was very risky, and he didn't take any steps to make sure it worked properly.

He even left Juliet alone with Romeo's body at the end.

And if you've watched the film version, you will see that.

Here's what Jacob said.

He said, I think Romeo and Juliet were responsible.

They made their own decisions.

Juliet could have just run away to find Romeo.

She didn't have to pretend to be dead.

She didn't have to follow Friar Laurence's plan.

And Romeo didn't have to kill Tybalt and get sent away in the first place.

So, they definitely made some decisions that led towards this outcome.

But like Laura says, maybe if Friar Laurence had thought this plan through a bit more, then it would've been more successful.

Now, we could definitely have different opinions like that, couldn't we? And we could discuss this question for a very long time.

Really interesting ideas.

Well done.

Okay, let's do our first task for this lesson, and we're going to be talking aloud for this task.

We know there are lots of key plot points in \"Romeo and Juliet\", and we've discussed a lot of them.

So, which of the plot points below do you think is the most important to the plot and why? I've said the party at the Capulet house where Juliet and Romeo meet, the proposed wedding between Juliet and Paris, the fight between Tybalt and Mercutio, or the quarantine that stops Friar Laurence's messenger.

So, which of those do you think is the most important plot point for the whole plot? I want you to discuss it with your partner, and then be ready to share your ideas with the class, building on other people's contributions.

Pause the video, decide which you think is the most important and why.

Discuss it with your partner and be ready to share with the class.

Have a go.

Well done.

Good job.

So, here are some of the viewpoints you might have heard in your class discussion.

Gin said this.

I think the quarantine is the most important.

The plan could have worked perfectly if only Romeo had known about the potion, although I feel like the messenger could have waited at the tomb for him.

So, Gin's right.

Maybe instead of leaving the city, the messenger could have gone and stood outside the tomb until Romeo arrived.

So, there was possibly a different solution there.

But Gin's saying, if it wasn't for that quarantine, everything would've gone to plan and it would've all worked out fine.

Here's what Jacob says.

I think the fight is the most important event.

If Tybalt hadn't killed Mercutio, then Romeo wouldn't have killed Tybalt and been exiled.

Then, they could have just come up with a plan together to get Juliet out of marrying Paris.

So, they could have spent some more time working out how they were going to solve this situation.

Really well done for your ideas there.

It's a really interesting question to discuss.

So, we've talked about the plot of \"Romeo and Juliet\".

Let's move on to thinking about the themes that it raises.

So, Shakespeare wrote three main types of plays.

They fall into three categories.

Some of them are tragedies.

And a tragedy is a play in which terrible things happen to the main characters.

He also wrote lots of comedies and a comedy is a play that ends happily and usually contains lots of humorous events.

So, lots and lots of jokes and funny things happening.

He also wrote histories and a history is a play about the life of an English monarch, a king or a queen, or in his case, all kings actually.

So, he wrote tragedies, comedies, and histories.

So, which category of play is \"Romeo and Juliet\" and why? Pause the video and have a think.

Well done.

Good job.

Here's what Lucas said.

It's definitely a tragedy.

Both the main characters die along with several others, and they're not just normal deaths.

They're very sad and they also seem pointless, because they come from a misunderstanding.

Here's what Sam says.

Yes, there's no way it can be a comedy, because so many sad things happen.

And although there is a prince involved, the play isn't about his life, so it can't be a history either.

That's right.

If it had been the story of the prince of Verona, we could call that history, but it's not.

He's a side character.

This is really the story of Romeo and Juliet and their very tragic death.

So, we could definitely call Romeo and Juliet a tragedy, and some would say one of the greatest tragedies that has been written.

So, \"Romeo and Juliet\" is a tragedy in which Shakespeare explores a range of different themes.

And themes are big ideas that link to parts of the plot.

They're key ideas for the playwright wants us to think about as we listen, as we read, as we watch.

So, these might involve things like loyalty, belonging, justice, love, evil, good, youth, betrayal, family, and violence.

All of these are big ideas that we can think hard about.

For instance, we could say the plot links to the theme of loyalty, because it's Romeo's loyalty to Mercutio that makes him kill Tybalt.

We could also say that the character's loyalty to their families is a big problem in their romance as well.

So, can you draw any connections between the plot of \"Romeo and Juliet\" and one of the themes I've listed here? Pause the video and see what connection you can make.

Well done.

Good job.

So, here's what Gin says.

I think the play links really well to the themes of family and belonging.

It's because people in Verona have so strong ties to their families and so strong feeling about other families that Romeo and Juliet can't just have a normal life together in the first place.

So, it's about how do you connect to your family and how does your family influence your life and your decisions that you make.

Gin's saying that family is a really key theme here, and people feel really connected to their family.

That's part of their sense of belonging and that influences their behaviour.

So, we can definitely see a connection to that theme in \"Romeo and Juliet\".

Really well done for the connections you made as well.

So, some themes appear in lots of different ways in the play.

For instance, love appears as a theme throughout the whole play in loads of different ways.

Let me show you some of them.

First of all, Romeo and Juliet's almost obsessive love for each other leads them to go against their families.

And this love is sudden and it immediately takes over their lives completely, doesn't it? They were one day not in love at all.

The next, day they're married and it's causing all these events, which spiral out of control for them.

And their love is so obsessive that they can't imagine life without it, and that's what leads them both to kill themselves.

We see this theme of love in other ways too.

For instance, the Capulets try to control Juliet's love by having her marry Paris, but that fails.

And we also see love between Romeo and Mercutio as friends.

And we do see a different type of love, a kind of caring love between Romeo and the friar and also between Juliet and the nurse in the play.

So, we see different types of love, but the main love we see is this obsessive, sudden love between Romeo and Juliet, which really takes over their lives and causes all these events to spiral out of control.

So, does \"Rome and Juliet\" show love as a positive or a negative thing? Pause the video and explain your ideas.

Well done.

Good thinking.

So, Aisha said this, it shows love as something which makes you lose your senses.

Romeo and Juliet are so obsessed with each other they can't make sensible choices.

I think that's a negative thing.

So, Aisha's saying, well, this love got a bit out of control.

It was a kind of negative love that we saw where they were so obsessed with their love that it led to their deaths.

Well, here's what Andeep says.

On the other hand, Romeo and Juliet's love for each other is what inspires the families to end the feud.

So, maybe Shakespeare's saying that love can triumph over hatred.

So, love was so great that it caused these events that led to the feud being resolved, just as Friar Laurence had hoped from their secret marriage.

So, there's lots of different ways of looking at this, and I'm sure you shared some really interesting ideas there.

Another theme which reappears a lot in \"Romeo and Juliet\" is the idea of chance or of a luck.

And that could be good luck or bad luck.

What are some things that happen by chance in the plot? Pause the video and have a chat to the person next to you, or I think on your own.

Well done.

Good ideas.

Maybe you thought of some of these.

First of all, Romeo learns about the Capulet party by chance after reading a notes that he shouldn't really have seen.

Then, it's pure chance that Juliet happens to be talking aloud at her window when Romeo is in the orchard.

She could have been talking in her bedroom, but instead, she was on the balcony and Romeo heard her and they were able to confess their love to each other.

It's also bad luck that Romeo's attempt to stop the fight when he pulls Mercutio back causes Mercutio's death at Tybalt's hand.

And then, it's also bad luck that Friar Laurence's letter can't reach Romeo due to the quarantine, and its bad luck that Romeo arrives at the tomb too early.

Maybe if he'd been an hour later, Juliet would've already woken up and there would've been no problems whatsoever.

So, there's lots of good luck, but also bad luck in the plot.

Another key theme is the idea of conflict.

What conflicts can you think of in the play? Pause the video and have a chat to the person next to you.

Well done.

Good ideas.

There are lots of different types of conflict we might have seen as well.

Let's have a look.

First of all, there's a conflict between the two feuding families, isn't there, as shown in the brawl at the start between the servants and the fight between Tybalt and Mercutio, and then Romeo as well.

So, we've got a big ongoing conflict in the feud.

Then, we've got Juliet in conflict with her family.

They want her to marry Paris, but she wants to be able to follow her heart and marry Romeo from an enemy family.

Then, we also could say that Juliet has some conflict inside her.

For instance, when she's standing on that balcony, she wants to be with Romeo, but she knows it's from the wrong family.

So, she's got these conflicting emotions within her.

And we could also say that the whole play is about the conflict between love and hate.

We've got the love between Romeo and Juliet set in the context of the hate between their two families.

So, there's lots and lots of conflict going on in the plot.

So, do you agree with Jacob and why or why not? He says, another key theme is the idea that we're not in control of what happens to us.

The idea of fate, the idea that what happens to us is predetermined.

Romeo and Juliet aren't able to overcome their family's hatred of each other and they can't avoid their fate in the end.

Do you agree with Jacob and why or why not? Pause the video and decide.

Well done.

Great ideas.

Here's what Sophia says.

I'm not sure I agree.

They never give their families the chance to change their minds, and they make lots of choices that contribute to their problems. They are unlucky, but they're not destined to die.

So, Sophia's saying, well, actually, it wasn't fate that led to this conclusion.

It was their own choices along the way that led to that situation getting out of hand in the way that it did.

So, it wasn't fate, it wasn't all predetermined.

It was about their decisions that led them to that point.

Really good ideas.

Well done.

Now, let's do our final task for this lesson.

Now, sometimes, themes might be more than just a single word like we've seen so far.

They might actually be a whole idea.

Can you explain how each of these ideas is shown in the play? First of all, love can make us behave in unusual ways.

Then, we've got, only by showing love can we prevent violence.

Then, young people will often want to rebel against their parents and against what is expected of them.

And some things are under our control, but some things aren't.

So, these are all themes which are more than just one word.

They're a whole idea.

But we could say that all of these is a theme raised by \"Romeo and Juliet\".

I want you to explain how these ideas are shown in the play.

And if you like, you can come up with your own idea like these as well.

So, pause the video and see if you can explain how each of these ideas is linked to \"Romeo and Juliet\".

Have a go.

Well done.

Fantastic ideas.

Here are some ideas for what you might have said.

For the first one, we've said, love can make us behave in unusual ways.

Well, how's that shown in the play? Well, Romeo and Juliet both behave in ways that we wouldn't consider sensible, because they don't think they can live without each other's love.

So, we could say for instance, that getting married a day after you've met someone is not a very sensible way to behave, but their love is so strong that it makes them behave in a way which we wouldn't consider particularly rational, for instance.

The second one says, only by showing love can we prevent violence.

Hmm, how does that link? Well, Tybalt's violence against Mercutio just leads to more violence, doesn't it? It leads to Tybalt's death.

Whereas Romeo and Juliet's deaths, which are driven by their love for each other, is part of what ends the feud.

So, by showing that this divide between the two families can be overcome, that you can love someone from the opposing family, they help to contribute towards ending the feud, even if they do it in a very tragic way.

For the third one, we've said young people will often want to rebel against their parents and against what is expected of them.

Well, we know that Romeo and Juliet are expected to follow the family tradition of being involved in the feud, of being enemies, but they choose not to be.

They want something different.

So, they're rebelling against the idea that they should be hating each other and they're rebelling by falling in love with each other and wanting to be together when their families very much are saying that's not something which is possible.

So, they're definitely rebelling against the expectations their families have of them.

And the last one says, some things are under our control, but some things aren't.

Well, we know that Romeo and Juliet make lots of choices here.

They choose, for instance, to get married against their parents' wishes, but they can't control everything.

They can't control that series of events that leads towards their deaths.

And there's lots of things happening outside their control which contribute towards the choices that they have to make and towards the outcome that they have in the play.

Really well done for your ideas there in making those connections so well between the plot and the themes.

Great job.

So, let's summarise our learning in this lesson.

We've seen that \"Romeo and Juliet\" is a play by William Shakespeare that follows the forbidden love between two young people whose families are involved in a long-running feud.

We know that the play is a tragedy, because the main characters experience unpleasant events and they have a tragic death.

We know that the play deals with a range of themes, including family, love, hate, chance, and conflict.

And it's important to remember that Shakespeare's plays are still popular 400 years after they were written, because they deal with themes that are still relevant to us today.

Really well done for your effort in this lesson.

I hope you've really enjoyed learning more about the plot and the themes in \"Romeo and Juliet\".

We're going to start the next lesson, delving deeper into particular scenes of the play in order to prepare ourselves to do some writing.

I'd love to see you there.

Goodbye.

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