Shakespeares Romeo and Juliet deals with the central themes of love and conflict through all the characters. We see the themes of love mainly through Romeo and Juliet, and we see the theme of conflict mainly through the two families (the Montagues and Capulets). Many different themes come together including violence and conflict between the two families, death and sacrifice for love.

In this scene we see Romeo and Juliets first meeting which is when Romeo says, What ladys that which doth enrich the hand of yonder Knight? He is so insanely in love with Juliet that he forgets about his love for Rosaline. However, there is also a threat of violence from Tybalt who sees Romeo and wants to kill him .Capulet asks him to ignore it but he is still angry. As the final scene in act one, it is important that an audience feels anxious about what will happen to Romeo and Juliet as the play unfolds. The theme of love is a strong emotion between two people. Conflict is the complete opposite with disagreement between people.

In this scene there are several examples of love such as Capulet and Juliet, Juliet and her nurse, Romeo and Juliet. For example, Romeo says, Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight! For I neer saw such true beauty till this night. This suggests that he has fallen in love at first sight. We also see the language of conflict in this scene, for example, this, by his voice, should be a Montague fetch me my papier, boy. This shows that Tybalt is very angry with a Montague being at the party and wants to put his sword through him. This type of language suggests to an audience that something will happen later in the play. Shakespeare also uses religious metaphors to show how pure and sacred the love is, Juliet says, good pilgrim. When talking to him she implies that she is devoted.

The play opens with Romeo discussing love in terms of his love for Rosaline. When Romeo says, in sadness cousin, I love a woman, we can see from language he uses that he is in love with Rosaline. We are also introduced to the theme of conflict in this scene through the fight in the street between the Montagues and the Capulets. Gregory, servant of the Capulets says, drag thy tool, here comes of the house of Montague. This gives us the strong feeling of hate between the two families.

We see the language of love exchanged between Romeo and Juliet in the balcony scene (act two, scene two) when Romeo speaks of, a glove upon that hand, that I might touch that cheek! this shows that he will do any thing to be with her. Another scene where the theme of love is strong is in act three, scene five, the final farewell of Romeo and Juliet. Here they discuss not wanting to part, for example, Juliet says, therefore stay yet, thon needst not be gone. This suggests that they dont want to leave each other. Act thee scene one is clearly showing conflict where both Tybalt and Mercutio are killed.