Romeo and juliet

Authors Avatar
"Analyse How Shakespeare Creates an Atmosphere of Tension and Excitement in Act 3 Scene 1."

Shakespeare creates an atmosphere of tension and excitement, in Act 3 Scene 1 of Romeo and Juliet, to emphasise the hatred between the Capulets and the Montagues. We see how Shakespeare portrays to the audience about how rivals were treated in the 13th century between the Montecchi and Capelleti families. We can compare this play with Arthur Brooke's poem "The Tragicall Historye of Romeus and Juliet" (1562)

Shakespeare creates an atmosphere of tension and excitement as soon as the audience see the characters are in a public place and the prince has warned the two families not to fight, Benvolio says "....Mercutio lets retire the day is hot, the Capulates abroad" this stresses that Benvolio is sensing an unwanted fight and the audience are feeling somewhat anxious due to Shakespeare's foreshading which creates tension as the audience can sense a climax will appear. Also Benvolio uses the word "hot" which shows anger and relates to hot tempered or hot headed. A director would stage this scene by making the mood and theme hot, a director would do this by placing the scene in a public place and making the audience feel very apprehensive, this would therefore create a theme of heat, tension and anger. Shakespeare creates an atmosphere of tension and excitement when Mercutio accuses Benvolio of being a quick tempered quarreler "thou will quarrel with a man that hath a hair more" This emphasises that Mercutio is being very provocative which again suggests that the situation is reaching its climax which cause tension and excitement within the audience.
Join now!


Shakespeare creates an atmosphere of tension and excitement in Act 3 Scene 1 when Tybalt starts to be polite to the Montagues which makes the audience curious about Tybalt as he is an arch enemy against them, this creates an atmosphere of excitement, because in Act 3 Scene 1 Tybalt says "gentlemen, good den" Which means good day this emphasises Tybalt being civilized but in a sarcastic way, this is also odd for Tybalt to be polite to the Montagues and the audience can sense a climax being created, which therefore creates tension and excitement which is done ...

This is a preview of the whole essay