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Act 1, Scene 5
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in Romeo and Juliet, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Love and Violence
Fate
Individuals vs. Society
Language and Wordplay
Family and Duty
Summary
Analysis
The chorus enters. They describe how Romeo’s “old desire” for Rosaline is now in its “deathbed.” Love has found Romeo again—but because he and Juliet are supposed to be enemies, the chorus predicts that things will be complicated for them. In spite of the difficulties ahead of the young lovers, however, the chorus informs the audience that Romeo and Juliet will indeed meet as passion gives them power, and time the opportunity to figure out a way, for them to explore their newfound love.
The chorus’s second and final appearance sets the stage, yet again, for what’s to come. Because the Chorus's first appearance establishes the fate of Romeo and Juliet, this second appearance of the chorus, coming immediately after Romeo and Juliet meet, suggests, again, that Romeo and Juliet were bound by fate to fall in love—and are bound, still, to move through a series of actions and consequences neither can control.
Themes
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