Piloted by Desire: The Nautical Theme in Romeo and Juliet

This article examines the nautical motif in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, offering a more comprehensive examination of this theme than has been attempted to date. Its main contention is that Romeo is piloted throughout by the god Cupid, and it discusses the significance of this in light of a common Elizabethan conceit of Cupid as a suicidal ship's pilot. The essay examines in some detail how Shakespeare develops the nautical motif relative to his main source, Arthur Brooke's Romeus and Juliet, showing that Shakespeare diverges sharply from his source in having Romeo commit shipwreck at the end. The essay concludes by examining the play's opening prologue, arguing that two of the Chorus' more important adjectives—“misadventured” and “star-crossed”—possess a nautical significance that appears to have been largely overlooked.