Drama and Tension in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet In 'Romeo and Juliet' drama and tension is presented throughout. In the prologue we are warned about death and misery. Shakespeare uses traditional old Elizabethan English and metaphoric language to build up tension. Shakespeare also uses dramatic pauses and action between characters to increase tension. The storyline between feuding also builds on the tension. A powerful example of drama and tension is shown in Act 3 scene 1. In the scene Mercutio and Benvolio are lazying about when the capulets come, with Tybalt approaching towards them. Tybalt asks 'Mercutio thou consort'st with Romeo?' Mercutio reacts with shooting rage, 'Consort! what dost thou make us minstrels ?' At this Mercutio reacts with more rage and saysthat ' I will not budge for no mans pleasure, i' At this point Romeo comes into the scene. Shakespeare using dramatic irony as the audience knows that Romeo has just married Juliet. Romeo is confronted with Tybalt, who wants to fight him because he 'gate crashed' the party. Tybalt shows his rage by calling him a villain. Romeo cannot hurt one of his family, he is forced to surpress his rage. Tybalt although is very angry with Romeo for 'gate crashing' the party. Romeo explains to Tybalt that 'Good Capulet- which name i tender as my own; be satisfied.' Mercutio is angered by Tybalt and challenges him to a duel. Mercutio Mocks him as 'rat-catcher,' and ' Good king of cats,' Tybalt reacts saying 'i am for you.' At the sight of the two of them fighting Romeo tries to stop them fighting, in that moment Tybalt stabs Mercutio under Romeo's arm. Mercutio reacts, shouting 'A plague on both your houses.' To show his courage he hides his true emotion from everyone saying 'A scratch, a scratch.' Romeo reassures Mercutio 'Courage man, the hurt cannot be much.' Mercutio explains that he will die and that the feuding between the houses has caused his demise. Romeo at this point feels full extent of guilt and responsibility for
Conflict has many different meanings for both physical and verbal abuse. Conflict could be a viscous feud or a full on physical fight. These days in television soap dramas we intend to see more verbal conflict than physical violence. But over the last couple of years new television programmes have been released which contains a lot of action-packed fighting and physical conflict of some kind. Some programmes include physical and verbal conflict including, “Eastenders”, “The Bill” and other programmes similar to these. The releasing of films such as, “Indiana Jones”, and “Rambo” catches the audience’s attention by involving action-packed, exciting features such as heavy arguments or thrilling battles. Some films are made to include action and excitement but when audiences watch it they cannot help feeling sorry for the victim or just generally sad for the people having the fight. In the same way Romeo and Juliet presents conflict more intense than most soap dramas. When the play was first performed in “The Theatre”, in Shoreditch in the mid 1590’s, the Elizabethan audience was shocked at how Juliet disobeyed her father and also how Romeo and Juliet disobeyed their families. Sympathy must be felt for the audience because they would have never known the idea of a son or daughter disobeying their father. The law at that time stated that the daughter was the property of her father until the daughter got married then her husband “owned” her as property. From this sympathy must be felt for Juliet because she is a victim of arranged marriages. When the play was first performed it got massive great responses which then lead to the play being transferred to The Globe theatre at the start of the 1600’s. Props and different costumes helped ...
Dramatic Tension in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet There are many reasons for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. For example, fate, the feud, domineering fathers, adolescent passion, Friar Lawrence, Friar John for failing to deliver the letter, or was the tragedy caused by love itself? This creates tension because, although the audience is omnipotent they never quite know what will happen next, or who will be held responsible for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare creates dramatic tension with his creation of the characters and the language he uses pertaining to love, hate and fear. He uses oxymorons, repetitions, metaphors and similes to formulate imagery, puns and sonnets.
Dramatic Tension in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet William Shakespeare's, 'Romeo and Juliet', tells us the story of two feuding families, the Capulets and the Montagues; whose children fall in love with each other and eventually take their lives. The prologue is a brief description of the play. As the play was written in the 16th Century, a time when many people who attended the theatre were inattentive, they needed help with the context and meaning of the play; this is what the prologue is for. The prologue also makes the audience want to know what happened in between the beginning and ending; which they already know. Dramatic irony is introduced this way.
of a book a person may want to know what’s the basic outline of the
The use of drama throughout the play is most prevalent in the last few acts but is also shown thought the rest of the play. When Romeo is...
The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare is a love story that has been read for hundreds of years and is still studied today. The story is about a young boy and a young girl who are in love with each other but both of their lives end in tragedy. Many of the play’s character’s actions affect the outcome of the play, but no character can be put to blame of the outcome. The one thing that these events can be credited to is fate. Fate did many things in the play, such as caused Romeo and Juliet to meet and it caused Romeo to believe Juliet was dead.
The vial brushes fingertips, one snatching the glass bottle. Contained within the crystal clear barrier dances the liquid with the property of fleeting death, and enchants two naïve lovers to an early parting in "The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet" by William Shakespeare. Two star crossed lovers take the stage, bound by their endless love but separated by the ancient hate of their two families. In desperate endeavors to be able to spend their days together, terrible communication distorts their arrangements, and the horror of living without the other ends the lives of Romeo and Juliet. The characters of this play all contribute to the deaths of the two young lovers. Amongst the characters, Friar Laurence stands as the most to blame for the deaths of Juliet and her Romeo because of the secret the Friar keeps, his knowledge of the inevitable, and the encouragement and plotting of pitiable decisions.
What are we made of? I mean humans of course, but what are we made of. We know what our bodies are composed of but what is in our souls or spirits. Are humans really superior to other living things. Yes we can talk, but what are we made of? We are made of our feelings. Our standards, our way of life, our way of thinking and everyone is different. Some may be straight A students with a normal life while some have had a rough journey and less than perfect grades. But there are some things that I think most people have in them. It’s a positive spirit. Now, everyones is triggered by different stuff but we all have one. But, of course where there is a positive spirit there is a negative spirit which is much, much easier to catch. Even though The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet doesn’t scream positive messages about human spirit there are still some in it such as, love can make you do crazy things, in hard times people can unite, and that even when everyone is against you, you can still do what’s right.
Language and Dramatic Devices in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Introduction Shakespeare’s play ‘Romeo and Juliet’ is known as a love tragedy. features many rhymed verses, especially when Romeo and Juliet first. speak.
The Ways Shakespeare Makes Act Three Scene Five Full of Tension and Exciting for the Audience
Act 3 scene 1 is one of the most important parts in the play; there
Act 3, scene 5 is one of the most dramatic and crucial scenes of the
Scene 2 act 2 is one of the most important scenes in the play. This is
In conclusion, Shakespeare successfully manages to make Act 1 Scene 5 very dramatic because of the language he uses for the characters, and the contrasting he makes between the characters creates a huge amount of drama holding the audiences interest throughout the whole scene. This scene is very much crucial to the rest of the play because the sonnet form, religious imagery, historical context, dramatic irony and how tension is sustained stands out from the rest of the play, Shakespeare manage to bombard all these effective dramatic devices into only one scene keeping the audience impressed and satisfied throughout the whole thing.
As a Shakespearean tragedy represents a conflict which terminates in a catastrophe, any such tragedy may roughly be divided into three parts. The first of these sets forth or expounds the situation, or state of affairs, out of which the conflict arises; and it may, therefore, be called the Exposition. The second deals with the definite beginning, the growth and the vicissitudes of the conflict. It forms accordingly the bulk of the play, comprising the Second, Third and Fourth Acts, and usually a part of the First and a part of the Fifth. The final section of the tragedy shows the issue of the conflict in a catastrophe. (52)