Examples Of Dramatic Irony In Romeo And Juliet

In Romeo and Juliet there are many instances of dramatic irony. Dramatic irony is when the audience knows something the characters don't. One example of dramatic irony is when the Friar tell Juliet about the plan so she doesn't have to marry Paris. Also in the Prologue when Shakespeare says that the Romeo and Juliet are going to die. Shakespeare does this to have the audience more involved in the play and make them feel like they're in it.

When the Friar tells Juliet about the plan to get out of the marriage with Paris the audience knows the plan but Romeo doesn't. In (IV,I,92-95) the Friar tells the plan “Tomorrow night look that thou lie alone.Let not the Nurse lie with thee in thy chamber. Take thou this vial, being then in bed, And this distillèd liquor drink thou off.” This is only one part of the plan the second part is in (IV,I,117-120) when the Friar says, “ Shall Romeo by my letters know our drift,

And hither shall he come, and he and I Will watch thy waking, and that very night Shall Romeo bear thee hence to Mantua.” The plan that the Friar comes up with is only known by the Friar and Juliet and will be known to Romeo but no one else knows. I think shakespeare does this to create suspense and anticipation to see if this plan really works or not.

Another example of dramatic Irony that Shakespeare uses is in the prologue when he talks about how that both Romeo and Juliet are going to die.

“A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life, Whose misadventured piteous overthrows. Doth with their death bury their parents' strife.”(prologue,6-8) When Shakespeare says this in the beginning of the book it gives away the ending and what's going to kill Romeo and Juliet but doesn't say why. He does this so when the play is being watched and all of these good events are happening in the back of the audiences mind they’re wondering how are they going to die? This keeps the audience involved in the play and keeps them interested in it

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Shakespeare uses dramatic irony to help keep the audience watching the play and also to have them thinking about what is going to happen next. There are two good examples of dramatic irony used in Romeo and Juliet. One of them is the Friar's plan to get Juliet out of her marriage to Paris and also in the Prologue when Shakespeare says that Romeo and Juliet die and why the are dead. He does all this to draw attention to the play and also the make the audience feel like they are in the play because they know more than the characters do.