Examples Of Dramatic Irony In Romeo And Juliet

“I think, in a written novel, the way in which you play with the reader's' emotion or the way in which you engage the reader's' emotions can be very indirect. You could come at it through irony or comedy, etcetera, and you could capture people's sympathies and feelings kind of by stealth if you like.”-Salman Rushdie. William Shakespeare created and wrote the play The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. Romeo and Juliet was written between 1591-1596, and was plausibly dated in 1595. It if full of different kinds of irony. Shakespeare was a genius when he wrote Romeo and Juliet. Not only is it known as one of the greatest love stories ever written, it is also full of different types of irony. When people think of Romeo and Juliet, they think of the

We as the audience know what is going to happen in Romeo and Juliet but the characters don’t. Therefore, whenever there is dramatic irony in the play, it plays with the audience's feelings because we know what’s going to happen and want to stop the characters from doing something wrong, but we can’t. An example of this takes place in Act 2, Scene 2, Lines 33-36. After Romeo and Juliet have met at the ball they go their separate ways. Later that night Juliet is on the balcony confessing her feeling about Romeo, but she doesn’t know that he is there listening to her. In Act 2, Scene 2, Lines 33-36, Juliet uttered “O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name. Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, And I’ll no longer be a Capulet”. This is a perfect example of dramatic irony because Juliet doesn’t know that Romeo is listening to her. We as the audience know that Romeo is right outside her balcony listening as she professes her love for him. Even though Juliet doesn’t know that Romeo is outside and listening to her, you can tell that she truly does love him and cares about him from the way she talks about him. She wants to let him know that if he truly does love her then she’ll marry him and she won’t be a Capulet. This is also dramatic irony because the audience knows that they will get married, but they won’t be able to be together because of their marriage. Shakespeare's purpose of this line was to make the audience feel happy and excited for the characters. Since we know that Romeo is listening to Juliet, it leaves the audience in awe and it makes us root for their love to win even though we know that they’re going to die in the end . Another quote takes place in Act 4, Scene 5, Lines 25-29. Juliet took a fake poison from Friar Lawrence so everyone thinks she is dead. When Juliet wakes up in the tomb the plan is