I think that the idea of "theme" is the aspect of screenwriting (or analysis) that I struggle with the most. But what the heck, I will kick this off... hopefully my poorly-formed ideas will get people commenting back and adding stuff. So obviously a major theme here is LOVE. But it is not a "Love conquers all" because our protagonists don't get love in the end. So there are other things more important that love... Which brings us to DESTINY or FATE. So Viola is constrained to live out the destiny, by way of her birth - to marry this guy that she doesn't love, and forced to abandon her true love. And Will, because of Viola's situation, gets steared towards his DESTINY or FATE - having experienced true love, he now has the emotional depth to become the great writer: William Shakespeare. But, beyond that, I am at a bit of a loss. Since this story is based upon a real person, the ending is constrained... Will cannot end up being with Viola (without rewriting history). But I kind of find these themes, or their resolutions... that true love cannot conquer destiny or fate, that one (Viola) cannot exert free will and make choices in one's life... somewhat disastisfying. Especially Viola's fate. OK, that analysis was pretty incomplete... sure hope others will add to it!

Jacqueline, most writers I intersect with through the blog, teaching, consulting or even fellow professionals have an issue with 'theme.' One big reason: No one can seem to agree what it means. That's one reason why I created a course on the subject at Screenwriting Master Class. You can get a taste of my take in this post which discusses themes in the movie Gladiator. Re Shakespeare in Love: Love would certainly figure to be at the heart of at least some of the story's themes. And I spark to your idea of destiny. It reminds me of that question I like to pose: Why does THIS story HAVE to happen to THIS character at THIS time? Per Carl Jung, the universe creates circumstances that force us as individuals to confront the various aspects of our psyche, compel us to go through our individuation process. In essence that is taking a writer's perspective on a story. So why did Will have to (A) fall in love with Viola, then (B) lose her? I've already tipped my hand previously: It was precisely because he needed to experience the highs and lows of life, deep emotions, passions, feelings in order to become the great writer he was destined to be. In his life before FADE IN, he was living on the surface, playing a game. After he fell in love, then lost Viola, he became a different man. Or rather the creative self inside him finally emerged from the shadows, allowing him to write great comedies and great tragedies. So in my view, the central theme of the story as far as Will is concerned is this: He needed to find then lose love in order to become the writer he was destined to be.

There's this: Will & Viola vs. Romeo & Juliet. Although, R&J doesn't have a fairytale ending, it still has a fiction ending; i.e. Romeo cannot live without Juliet & Juliet cannot live without Romeo; so, they die together. Meanwhile, Will & Viola do love each other, but she has to go to America with her husband, and Will has to stay and write. The point I'm trying to make is the following. In the fictitious story of Romeo & Juliet, Love conquers all, they defy everyone, even death (in a way). However, in the real world of Will and Viola, their love has to weigh against social obligations... which, unfortunately, eventually win over love. C'est la vie, or do we make it this complicated? Can life be a fairytale? Nonetheless, both stories, W&V & R&J, end with "sadly ever after".

I guess the theme is that we can't be the person we were meant to be unless we experience love. Will wants to be a great writer, but he seems initially to be an uninspired hack. At the "psychiatrist's", he connects being unable to perform sexually to be unable to perform creatively. Role models and possibilities, sexual and creative, abound. Marlowe is portrayed as the poetic intellectual, all plot mechanics, and young Webster as in it for the guts and gore - two different approaches, but neither of them work for Will. Rosaline is a potential love interest, but that doesn't work out. Then inspiration arrives in the form of Master Kent - and love in the form of Viola. They turn out to be one and the same - reinforcing the theme that love and inspiration go hand in hand. The Moment of Truth is when Will realises that what he needs to be a great playwright isn't to have love, but to have had love...

Great analysis Debbie. Like your approach; it's so true.

You make an excellent point about the interweaving of the fictional story (Romeo and Juliet) and the real story (Will and Viola). And I like your point very much that in death R&J 'win' by being united, even under tragic circumstances. I wonder if there also isn't a way to interpret the separation of Will and Viola as a 'win.' In subsuming her love for Will to her marriage responsibilities, Viola enables Will to become that great writer. And he, of course, finds his muse: Viola, who will remain immutable in her perfection, always there to inspire and guide him. Had they lived together, might their love fade, her light dim? The separation keeps her 'pure' in his memories which in turns feeds his creativity. Anything there?

The Moment of Truth is when Will realises that what he needs to be a great playwright isn’t to have love, but to have had love… Ah, very well said, Debbie! "To have had love." That sums up my sense of the central theme of Will's story beautifully well. That sense that in his loss [of Viola], he is found [his creativity].

I think Will wins in this one (because he becomes the great Shakespeare) but I have trouble seeing this as a win for Viola. (Although I do agree with Anna that we can interpret R&J as a "win" for both Romeo and Juliet... even though they die, their deaths are sacrifics for their great love, which is the highest thing of all). But in Shakespeare in Love, "love" is not the highest ideal. They both sacrifice their love, and choose to be apart. And as far as what you say, Scott, about Viola enabling Will to become the great writer.... yes, she does, but I didn't get that that was the intention of her decision. I don't get that she will even know that he will become the great writer, or that it will be a result of her sacrifice. What I got was that she accepted her duty to be a wife to Wessex because that is what her society (and her Queen) expected of her. And I also found that unquestioning acceptance of her fate to be not completely believable, for the character that I had felt I was getting to know - the passionate Viola who wants love and poetry and adventure, and who is willing to disobey her parents and society and disguise herself as a man in order to act in a play... and they suddenly just accepts that she has to abandon her newly found love and go to Virginia with slimy old Wessex. So I am kinda drfiting away from theme to character motivation... but to get back to Anna's point I find the "sadly ever after" ending more believable and satisfying in R&J than I do for W&V.

Yes, excellent analysis Debbie. Thank you! And yes, "to have had love..." in other words that whole thing of artists needing to have suffered, to experience profound pain, in order to have the emotional depth to write...

Thanks Scott - I actually looked up what you have posted on the site about Theme before I posted myself, and found the one you had written on True Grit. You really do have some great stuff up here! I will take a look at the classes you offer, too. And BTW, you mentioned that you thought you had posted something about the UBC MFA program on GITS. I have googled around and can't seem to find it. Do you think it's here, or maybe it was a different program you had written about?

Re separation as a "win", I absolutely agree because I'm living a similar experience to that of Will only in reverse. My muse and I were working fine when I noticed this guy who was there in front off me for months. It turns out he has noticed me recently as well (why this happened to me now?). Now I'm lovestruck and also suffering from writer's block. All because of this emotions that are surging in my chest and which got my muse to leave me. You may say I'm living the script I read this week; it's just like those slept-a-girl-woke-up-a-boy movies: I finished reading the script, and woke up to find myself living it. So, separation will do great for me, because my script is more important than this fling right now. And as long as I see him everyday, I don't know how I'm gonna focus on my story. (Maybe this passion is what's missing in my story?)

Oh, I forgot to add: I'm living a forbidden love (by social standards), just like the story, again.

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