Freedom
In Django Unchained, freedom is both immanent and elusive. Given that Schultz purchases Django in the first scene and has no interest in slavery, Django is in some sense "unchained" from the opening of the film. However, Django enters into an informal contract with Schultz, and remains employed by him, so that he can make money and learn survival skills. Django's status as a freeman perplexes the white Southerners around him, who struggle to instruct their other servants about how best to address him. Django himself is willing to jeopardize his own freedom in order to rescue Broomhilda, leading to the desperate situation where he is strung upside down and nearly castrated. In the end, Django uses the skills Schultz imparted to him to rescue Broomhilda and destroy Candyland, ensuring freedom for them both.
Racism
From the opening frame of the film, Tarantino shows how every facet of the antebellum South is saturated with dehumanizing racist assumptions. Ace and Dicky Speck become hostile toward Schultz for even speaking to Django as a fellow human. The residents of Daughtrey, Texas, are appalled when they see Django on a horse, and John "Big Daddy" Bennett assembles a mob to hunt Django down, even though he is technically a freeman. As a German and not an American, Schultz is the only white character in the film who treats Django with respect. Tarantino also shows how internalized racism can cause African Americans to turn against one another, such as Stephen, who is more loyal toward Calvin Candie than Django, prompting Django to decide to kill him rather than free him along with Candie's other slaves at the film's end.
Capitalism
Although he has no interest in upholding white supremacy or practicing slavery, Schultz remains a capitalist, committed to enriching himself, like many of the film's other white characters. Schultz initially purchases Django so that he can identify three brothers on whom Schultz desires to collect a bounty, and even admits to Django that he has decided to use slavery "to his advantage" to acquire this sum of money. White plantation owners like "Big Daddy" Bennett and Calvin Candie only welcome Schultz and Django into their homes after they make various business propositions. Unlike those men, however, Schultz begins to realize that his neutrality as a self-interested capitalist in the face of slavery is not a tenable position, especially after watching the slave D'Artagnan get torn apart by dogs. Eventually, this leads Schultz to decide to kill Calvin Candie and sacrifice his own life so that Django and Broomhilda can escape.
Performance
In order to carry out their bounty hunting expeditions, Django and Schultz must perform an "act" in which they pose as partners—for example, as a master and valet at the Bennett plantation, or as a pair of Mandingo fighting purveyors at Candyland. Schultz stresses to Django the importance of never breaking the act, and attempts to coach him at various points, such as on their first day at Candyland, when he discourages Django from being so belligerent. At dinner, Schultz tells Candie and the other guests that he is searching for a slave with a sense of showmanship to play the part of "The Black Hercules" in the European traveling circus, another reference to acting and performance. Only Stephen is able to see through the act that Django and Schultz attempt to perform for the benefit of the others.
Revenge
Revenge is one of the central themes of the American Western, which often follows a hero's quest to avenge the death or kidnapping of a loved one, and who in the process is able to bring the villain(s) to justice. In Django Unchained, Django is the hero who, along with Schultz's help, seeks to rescue his wife Broomhilda and take his revenge against violent white overseers. Early in the film, Django is also able to get revenge against the Brittle brothers, who sadistically whipped him while he was stationed at the Carrucan plantation. Tarantino suffuses such scenes of revenge with epic overtones, such as when Django in his blue suit whips one of the Brittle brothers before killing him, or when a 2Pac song begins to play when Django takes his revenge against Candie's men.
Mythology
Django Unchained, in addition being a Western revenge drama about a liberated slave's uprising against antebellum slaveowners, is also a retelling of the German myth of Siegfried and Broomhilda. According to this myth, as Schultz explains it to Django, the god Wotan places his daughter, the princess Broomhilda, on a mountaintop inside a ring of fire, where she is guarded by a dragon as a punishment for disobeying him. Schultz calls Django "a real life Siegfried" for wanting to rescue his wife, a namesake for the German princess. Broomhilda is placed in a "Hot Box" at Candyland, a revision of Wotan's ring of fire, and guarded by Stephen and Calvin Candie, who together comprise the "dragon" that Django must slay before being able to escape with Broomhilda from the premises.
Law
Matters involving the law, and objections raised by the figure of the "outlaw," are central to Western genre. In Django Unchained, Schultz at first seems like an outlaw, flouting the authority of the sheriff, who he summarily executes upon arriving in Daughtrey, Texas. However, Schultz regains the upper hand by revealing to the marshal that the sheriff is a wanted criminal and that Schultz himself, as a bounty hunter, is essentially an executor of the law. Schultz reminds Django that they need a bill of sale for Broomhilda's purchase, lest they themselves become wanted as criminals. Schultz is arguably the most cunning character in the film precisely because he realizes that operating within the protections of the law—however deviously—is preferable to operating outside of it.
