A
theme, from
Old French tesme, is a broad idea in a story or literary work or a message or lesson conveyed by a written text. This message is usually about
life,
society or
human nature. Themes often explore timeless and universal ideas. Most themes are implied rather than explicitly stated. The theme is different from the superficial outlay of the text; it is normally the meaning of the text on a deeper, more abstract level.
Themes arise from the interplay of plot, setting, character, conflict, and tone. Deep thematic content is not required in literature; however, certain types of literary analysis (like reader's response and socio-cultural analysis) hold that all stories inherently project some kind of outlook on life that can be taken as a theme.
Themes are often interpreted in diverse ways by different people or critics, regardless of whether or not the discussed theme was the original intent of the author. The same story can also be given very different themes in the hands of different authors. For instance, the source for Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Matteo Bandello's The Tragical History of Romeo and Juliet emphasizes the perils of dishonesty and disobedience.
The word 'theme' comes from the Old French word tesme (French thème), from Latin thema, from Ancient Greek ??µa (théma), from t???µ? (tithemi), meaning “‘I put, place’”, which in turn is reduplicative from the Proto-Indo-European word *d?eh1-, meaning ‘to put, place, do’.
