Another method Shakespeare has used to create dramatic tension is his language. He uses words like blood and death to create dramatic tension because they are opposite to what is usually in a sonnet and we know what is going to happen in the rest of the play. Also he tells us they were dignified people of a high class who were fighting. This happened more often in Elizabethan times but it is still relevant to us in the modern day.
Shakespeare uses a pun (play on words) to create tension as soon as the play starts. He uses the words ‘coals’, ‘colliers’, ‘choler’ and ‘coller’ to suggest insults, anger and the noose. This creates tension because the audience hear the first part of the play has the theme of violence and fighting so they are prepared for the rest of the play.
Women are used to bring dramatic tension into the play. This is because women are not usually associated with fighting. Rape is mentioned by Sampson and Gregory and although they are only joking it is a very serious matter and this will shock the audience. “or they’re maiden heads, take it in what sense thou wilt”. Sometimes when events become serious people often joke about it. If the audience realise this tension will be raised.
Banter between Sampson and Gregory increase tension. His fellow servants know Sampson as a coward but Sampson says he will not be a coward to the Montague slaves. “I will take the wall of any man or maid of Montagues”. Shakespeare is using the slave’s hate for each other to show how deep the feud goes.
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Tension is brought into the play when the servants say they will be civil to the maids by cutting off they’re heads, “I will be civil to the maids, I will cut off they’re heads.” This is not really being civil, the servant is being sarcastic. This raises tension because he is talking about death in a jokey manner, when really it is very serious.
Benvolios attempt to break up the fight together with lady Capulet and Lady Montague’s pleas for their husbands not to join and for the fight to stop, “down with the capulets, down with the Montagues,” shows the fight is stupid and people die for no reason. If there was a reason for the fight and everyone thought the fight was worth it the maybe Romeo and Juliet’s death would not be so dire. It turns out that few people want the fight and this highlights how futile the deaths of Romeo and Juliet were, further adding to the tension.
The Prince’s speech adds dramatic tension because Shakespeare has the lowest and highest of classes involved in the feud. It is also raised with the language that Shakespeare uses. “ Beast” and “rebellious subjects” are words not usually used by the higher class of people in reference to people of similar status.
Dramatic irony is introduced when the prince threats to kill the parents “Your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace” when the audience knows it’s the children are going to die. If he had said your children’s lives would be taken if this happens again they probably would have stopped.
Lord and Lady Montague speak to Benvolio after the fight that happened, they are very concerned about Romeo. The reason why they were concerned is because he had been shutting away a lot and didn’t speak to anyone. They eventually find out that he is lovesick. This creates tension because the audience don’t know who the woman is, it could be Juliet. This is also irony because we know that this nearly exact same situation happens at the end that the audience knows about. This irony would also cause dramatic tension.
Shakespeare overuses oxymoron’s like bright smoke, cold fire, sick health and metaphors like “a sea nourished with loving tears” and “love is a smoke made with the fume of sighs.” This is in order to show that Romeo is not in real love with what the audience think is Juliet. They presume that Romeo is going to die for no reason. What they don’t know is he is talking about another women, which they find out later in the play is called Rosoline.
Benvolio tells Romeo to look at other women “by giving liberty unto thine eyes, examine other beauties.” We know that if he does this he will die, this is called retrospective irony. Shakespeare uses irony so much to keep us reminded that Romeo is going to die and to maintain the tension he has already built.
In the above essay I have demonstrated how Shakespeare has built up dramatic tension in a variety of ways. The audience now probably regard the feud as silly and that Romeo and Juliet died for no reason worth fighting about. By the end of this scene the audience are well prepared for the action that is to come.
