Romeo and Juliet, like many other Shakespearian plays was a Elizabethan play and therefore was written in order to please the monarch, for example, the portrayal of the lower and upper classes. Going to the theatre in the Elizabethan era was an event of much eminence. Consequently, the plays had to be that which the upper classes would approve of. Such things would be negative portrayal of the lower classes, and the positive o f the British monarchy and that which pleases the monarch.
For these reasons Shakespeare creates tension often in the words that he uses, so that people can hear them whether or not they can see. For example in Mercutio's final speech there are lots of different techniques, the first being that of dramatic irony. On line 100, in Mercutio’s final speech, we read, “you shall find me a grave” this is dramatic irony because the audience know Mercutio is about to die. Therefore this causes tension for the audience because they know Mercutio is about to die but they are waiting for it to happen; the tension climaxes in the last few moments before Mercutio’s death. Shakespeare makes use of this by using more dramatic irony, for example on line 109 we read, “A plague on both your houses!” which is dramatic irony because the audience know, but the characters don’t, that Romeo and Juliet will die, and they are from the two houses that Mercutio is referring to. This would cause a considerable amount of tension for the audience because we are only half way through the play and it is a long way until Romeo and Juliet die, therefore building up the tension until it actually happens.
A further technique that Shakespeare uses in Mercutio’s final speech is euphuism, for example on line 110 we read, “They have made worms meat of me”. This is euphuism because it is simply a nicer way of saying ‘you have killed me’. By playing down the fact that Mercutio is about to die, Shakespeare is creating tension for the audience. This is because, in turn, the understatement primarily has a counter effect of creating tension as the audience already know that Mercutio is about to die – they are just waiting for it to happen.
A last technique used to create tension for the audience in Mercutio’s final speech is when is when he takes his last chance to say what he thinks of Tybalt. He says “a braggart, a rogue, a villain, that fights by the book of arithmetic” (i.e. there is no personality to the way he fences). This creates tension because the audience would have been waiting to see what happens next.
Another way that Shakespeare creates tension is not through a literary technique, but through the story line, how both Mercutio and Tybalt die. Mercutio is close to Romeo, and Tybalt to Juliet. So in a way the score is evened when some one from each side dies. The resulting factor is that the tension is up in the audience; they are waiting to see which way it will go next. Even though the audience know that Romeo and Juliet are both going to die, the tension is still augmented because it is Romeo who killed Juliet’s cousin, and the audience are eager to see how she will react to this – she is stuck in the middle.
The role of the Prince gives added tension to the audience because he always grabs their attention whenever he comes on stage, for example in Act 3 scene 1 line 144, the prince has just arrived and immediately he says “Where are the vile beginners of this fray?”. This question is very direct, and uses strong words such as ‘vile’. So as Shakespeare has the audience’s attention, the tension is up to see what the Prince decides to do. A further example of how the Prince’s actions cause tension, is on line 154, when Lady Capulet had finished exclaiming at the deaths and was being very emotional, the Prince cuts her off and ignores what she said as he says, “Benvolio, who began this bloody fray?” this causes tension for the audience because the Prince isn’t showing any sympathy to Lady Capulet, he is just jumping straight to the point. So for this, he grabs the audience’s attention; they are eager to hear what he has to say and what news he will bring. Shakespeare chose to convey the Prince as such because he is the pinnacle of the characters, and has the ability to make decisions that everyone else has to go along with. Hence his name, Escalus, a Latin name, thus indicates superiority. For example nobody can argue with him when he banishes Romeo and fines the two families at the end of Act 3 scene 1.
Ultimately, we can see that Shakespeare creates tension for the audience in the entrances and exits of characters. For example when Tybalt enters the scene, we can see that Shakespeare creates tension by making the atmosphere strained (which can be seen by the formality). In the text, before Tybalt enters, Mercutio and Benvolio are speaking friendlily with each other, for example in lines 5-10 Mercutio uses satire to make fun of Benvolio in a friendly tone. However when Tybalt first enters the scene it is immediately clear that the mood has changed because at first they refer to each other as ‘you’, where as in Elizabethan times ‘thou’ was the friendly form of address. A further example of how the mood changes when Tybalt enters is when he then asks Mercutio, line 46, if he ‘consorts’ with Romeo, and Mercutio deliberately takes the word in it’s other sense as ‘to play music’ in order to be awkward, “Consort? What, dost thou make us minstrels? An…” lines 47-50. An additional example of when an entrance is used to create tension is when the audience meet Romeo for the first time and he is in a state of melancholy, this creates tension because the audience are keen to meet him and understand what is going on, however he is not in the right condition to do this; therefore there is tension.
To conclude, Shakespeare uses many different techniques in order to create tension for the audience. These being: dramatic irony, euphuism, the language, the story line, the Prince and entrances and exits. Throughout the scene the levels of tension increase and decrease because of these techniques. At the beginning there is only slight tension because the Capulets are about, it then increases when Tybalt arrives and even more so when Mercutio and then Tybalt die. However the tension decreases slightly after their deaths, but rises steeply when the citizens arrive and again when the Prince arrives, from then on it falls gently whilst Benvolio recounts the story because the audience already know what happened. However the tension climaxes at the end when everyone is in a frenzy about the punishments to be made and the Prince makes the decision. This is for the reason above – the Prince decides what should happen so therefore there is tension when he is about to speak; this is why Shakespeare left his speech until the end so as to end the scene on a climax of tension.
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