Dramatic Tension in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet

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. The prologue has been written as a sonnet and has

a formed rhyming scheme. Sonnets are usually about love and always

have 14 lines. This is an appropriate style to write the prologue in

as one of the main themes of the play is love versus hate. However,

hate isn't appropriate, hence Shakespeare raises a question.

Furthermore, the prologue is written in verse and iambic pentameter;

this is where each line of a verse has 10 syllables. It shows the

importance of the prologue by being structured and rhythmic. By being

rhythmic it makes the message they are presenting more memorable.

Similarly, throughout the play Shakespeare uses many linguistic and

structural devices which contribute to the rhythm and dramatic tension

of the play. The techniques that Shakespeare uses help us, the

audience, to understand the themes that he explores throughout his

play. These themes include love versus hate, conflict, status, fate

and timing. The themes of love versus hate, conflict and fate...

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... does this by playing on his words, 'What, dost thou make us

minstrels?', which is also an example of a rhetorical question. This

definitely mounts tension within the audience, as they have already

seen Tybalt to aggressive, and they wonder whether he is going to rise

to Mercutios taunting.

In conclusions, Shakespeare effectively introduces dramatic tension by

changing timing and pace, style of writing and verse, to be

appropriate to the mood. By giving the audience a pre-view, the

prologue, of what is to come supports the building of the dramatic

tension. The audience know that there will be a big climax at the end,

everything during the play builds up to this final climax. Through the

dramatic tension being built, it helps the key themes, love versus

hate, conflict, fate, status and timing, to be fully explored.