Dramatic irony is created in the prologue when we read the quote ‘A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life’ This suggests that we know the devoted couple in the play will kill themselves as an act of fate. ‘Star-crossed’ implies a doomed influence of the stars, that this couple will be controlled by an ill-fated destiny.
The audience would feel as if they would want to discover why the pair of star-crossed lovers take their life. They would also want to know why the families hold an ancient grudge against each other. There are a lot of questions the audience will want to know as the story goes on.
The mood and tone of the prologue is quite dark and miserable. It provides an air of destiny and fate throughout the prologue. It has its highs and lows but overall it is very mysterious and confusing.
In Elizabethan times through the application of science, for the first time there was a move towards doubt and away from religion. The telescope had been invented and the stars could be seen in detail. With the realisation that the earth was not at the centre of the universe came the belief that man’s destiny was in fact shaped by the cosmos. Fortune tellers or soothsayers were common together with the perception of fate as a controlling factor in people’s lives. Shakespeare used this theme in a number of plays including Julius Caesar, Macbeth and the Winter’s Tale.
When Romeo first talks about Rosaline he speaks ‘O brawling love, O loving hate, O anything if nothing first create, O heavy lightness, serious vanity. Misshapen chaos of well-seeming forms feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health, Still-waking sleep that is not what it is, This love feel I, that feel no love in this.’ Romeo states he is love, but is not loved in return.
Contrasting Juliet he says ‘Did my heart love till now? Foreswear it, sight, for I ne’er saw true beauty till this night’. This quote clearly suggests he didn’t love anyone until this moment, forgetting about Rosaline it shows that he doesn’t have a true love and passion towards her, but Juliet is shown out to be a beauty by Romeo.
When the audience hear that Romeo has feelings for Juliet they can see right through that he never had a heart for Rosaline at all. They feel confused and quite angry that he has already forgotten about his first love Rosaline. After first kissing Juliet, she tells him “you kiss by th’ book,” meaning that he kisses according to the rules, and implying that while proficient, his kissing lacks originality. In reference to Rosaline, it seems, Romeo loves by the book. Rosaline, of course, slips from Romeo’s mind at first sight of Juliet. But Juliet is no mere replacement. The love she shares with Romeo is far deeper, more authentic and unique than the clichéd puppy love Romeo felt for Rosaline. Romeo’s love matures over the course of the play from the shallow desire to be in love to a thoughtful and intense passion. One must ascribe Romeo’s development at least in part to Juliet. Her level-headed observations, such as the one about Romeo’s kissing, seem just the thing to snap Romeo from his superficial idea of love and to inspire him to begin to speak some of the most beautiful and intense love poetry ever written.
Romeos feelings deepen the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet because Romeo feels his life will end at a young stage because he has a premonition that he will die as a result of events a night earlier, earlier he describes a troublesome dream which may be the reason that Romeo fears his life will conclude early. ‘Some consequence, yet hanging in the stars, shall bitterly begin his fearful date’. This quotation shows a sense of fate and gives off images that something bad is about to happen. There is also a lot of alliteration in the text, the quotation I have chosen for example is ‘mind misgives’ and ‘bitterly begin’ this is used for effect on the audience. It effects them by a series of fated words with most of them consisting of death written over them.
The words that suggest Romeos life will end are: ‘bitterly begin his fearful date’, ‘with this night’s revels, and expire the term’. Other words are: ‘Despiséd life, untimely death’ these words all relate to death in many ways, it demonstrates highlights that Romeos death will be a fearful and he will die at night.
The dramatic device that Shakespeare uses to gain the audiences attention is alliteration. I have collected a quote to back up my essay: ‘Mind Misgives’ is an alliteration technique which Shakespeare uses it to contribute euphony to the passage. Tension is created by this device and is used throughout the play continuously.
When the audience hear Romeos speech they feel happy that he has fallen for Juliet. They can sense that Romeo feels deeply for Juliet when he says ‘O she doth teach the torches to burn bright!’ which means she teaches beauty to burn brighter than anything. He loves her very much and the audience can feel the dedication Romeo is willing to commit towards Juliet.
The quotation ‘but he that hath the steerage of my course ’makes the audience feel fate take a tighter grasp on Romeo. This is one of my examples to back-up my work:
This text is a foreshadowing of what actually happens in the rest of the play. A fateful chain of events does begin its appointed time that night, and that chain of events does terminate the duration of Romeo's life with premature death. But, despite his premonitions, Romeo does go into Capulet's house. He says that he is doing so because he is entrusting his fate to "He, that hath the steerage of my course. “He” is presumably God, but Romeo seems more melodramatic than religious. Mercutio has lightheartedly urged him to be lighthearted, but Romeo has steadfastly held onto his image of himself as a victim of hopeless love and implacable fate.
The impact of the rhyming couplets is that the reader will be dazzled by the enormous amount of love and passion comments created by Shakespeare; he wants the reader to know that Romeo and Juliet love one another dearly.
The dramatic devices Shakespeare is using to emphasise Romeo’s feelings for Juliet are infatuation and dramatic irony. These two devices are used in Act One Scene five, I will use some evidence to show this: ‘As a rich jewel in an Ethiop’s ear; Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear’. The device which Shakespeare is using is infatuation, when Romeo says ‘Beauty to rich for use’ he is describing that Juliet’s beauty is too rich for anything else in the world. We also know that Romeo is from the Capulet family and Juliet is from Montague. Now if we take a look at the prologue we can find a quote which reads ‘two households both alike in dignity, in fair Verona we lay our scene, from ancient grudge to new mutiny’. I have underlined the parts I am going to use. The ‘two household’ quote means the two families, Montague’s and Capulet’s. The ‘ancient grudge’ means the two households have a death wish against each other because something has happened between them in early years. The families despise one another, Juliet is on one side Romeo on the other, and this is where the dramatic irony plays it part. The audience know that they have fallen in love but we also know they are from different relations which hold the ‘ancient grudge’. We also know that if they are from the opposing sides something bad is going to happen in the story between them.
The mood created by Shakespeare is an excited and anxious atmosphere. He makes sure the audience get the idea that Romeo and Juliet would stop at nothing to get to see each other. This technique is called dramatic irony which Shakespeare uses a number of times in the play and especially in the prologue.
The audience will feel quite pleased for Romeo and Juliet although one is from the Capulet family and another from a Montague. It clearly shows Romeo likes Juliet a lot, the audience can see this, and this is another example of dramatic irony performed by Shakespeare.
The first time Romeo and Juliet meet, Shakespeare creates a passionate and tensional ambience. The atmosphere which he engages us with is in a very romantic and relaxed mood throughout some parts on the act. The effect that it will have on the audience is that they will be surprised how quickly Romeo and Juliet have fallen for each other; Shakespeare wants the audience to feel they re solely in love.
Religious imagery is used because Shakespeare wants the audience to know that a religious concept is used in Romeo and Juliet. He also wants to share a spiritual connection between Romeo and Juliet, ‘Holy shrine’ which means a sacred place of worship (Juliet’s hand).
Juliet was the essence of innocence in this production, and hence the character who underwent the greatest change. When we first met her she was very childlike, her young years emphasised by both her nurse and mother, and she revealed her childishness through giggles and by wringing her hands in her apron. The oranges and pinks she wore also highlighted her youth next to the red of her parents and cousins. Juliet's first meeting with Romeo was rushed and the balcony scene was unfortunately unconvincing and lacking in chemistry. Romeo stumbled back and forth across the stage, spending most of the scene discussing to the audience about Juliet's beauty while hardly looking at her.
Rhyming couplets are used to show relevance of love and passion. Shakespeare uses these to engage the audience and Romeo and Juliet together. He uses these frequently in many of his tragedies and stories. It relates to love poetry.
A dramatic device which is deliberately created by Shakespeare is dramatic irony which basically means the audience know what is going to happen when the actors don’t. An example of this is in the prologue: ‘The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love’, this quotation suggests that the audience know that there is going to be a death-marked love between two individuals. A passage of pain and fear will torment them throughout their relationship together.
The audience’s reaction when they find out that Romeo and Juliet are from different families is that they feel Romeo and Juliet have made the wrong decision as the families have a ‘ancient grudge’ against each other which was explained in the prologue.
The overall impact on the audience is a miserable result. As they are disturbed that Romeo and Juliet have departed from the play. The first half of the play started off comically for the audience but when Mercutio gets killed we find that the comedy side of the story withers away and a more tragic side enters after that.
The themes are expressed throughout the play by Romeo and Juliet falling for each other (love). Violence is used when Tybalt kills off Mercutio, then from that Romeo murders Tybalt. Fate is expressed through the prologue of the play when it quotes ‘star-crossed lovers’, and shows many more meanings inside the scenes. Hate is portrayed through the two families (Montague & Capulet’s).
When we first read the prologue we are given the idea that the play will result in death over two households. Shakespeare uses dramatic irony to clearly make the audience aware of what the story is about. He uses fate as a device to make the reader know that it will perform a vital role in the play. They prepare the reader by stating a lot of information that will be used in the tragedy. The text in the prologue uses dramatic irony, fate, imagery and other devices. All of it in the prologue is used in the play.
