Dramatic Tension in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet

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.

The prologue is written in the form of a sonnet, a fourteen line, and

poetic piece of writing. Shakespeare uses phrases like “A pair of

star-crossed lovers take their life” and “Death marked love,” this

helps to create an atmosphere of dramatic tension, which also shows

the audience that their love was doomed from the start, their death

perhaps, was written in the stars. The audience is foretold the

outcome of the play which allows them to have an overview of the

actions of Romeo and Juliet. The audience sees them struggling to

attain a peaceful marriage and the audience knows that their marriage

will be a failure.

Shakespeare created the character of the Friar to take the majority of

the blame and responsibility for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. He

devised a plan to marry Romeo and Juliet, and assumes that he has the

power to change the course of history. The Friar believes that if he

weds Romeo and Juliet the age long feud be...

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... aware of the power of individual free will. The

characters often ignore the authority of the state, family and

church. Daughters should have obeyed fathers, Mercutio should have

listened to the rules set by the prince but did not, the Friar teaches

about the sin of suicide and yet Romeo and Juliet eventually choose

this path to be reunited.

The lovers are impelled unstoppably through a sequence of events.

They are caught up in circumstances beyond their control. Fate has

taken over and the actions they take are written in the stars. It is

the pace of events and urgency in the play that creates the dramatic

tension and compelling drama. Shakespeare creates dramatic tension

and an atmosphere of suspense, by generating a number of reasons for

the deaths of Romeo and Juliet, such as fate, the feud and the Friar.