Another major tool that Shakespeare uses is the prologue of the play where he tells the audience that Romeo and Juliet are going to die which creates sympathy towards Romeo and Juliet before the play even begins. It says “The fearful passage of their death marked lovers” and “A pair of star crossed lovers both take their life”. These two sentences tell us that they Romeo and Juliet fall deeply in love but are destined to die, already Shakespeare has used this to create sympathy for Romeo and Juliet. I think the sympathy increases the longer the play continues as the audience watch the pair fall madly in love and they don’t know that their going to die. This is also a good example of dramatic as the audience knows Romeo and Juliet are going to die but Romeo and Juliet do not know this.
The feud between Juliet’s family (Capulet) and Romeos family (Montague) also creates sympathy for Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare mentions the families feud in the prologue saying “Two households both alike in dignity” “From an ancient grudge break new mutiny”. These two lines tell us that they are two powerful house holds but they will be betrayed. This already creates lots of sympathy for Romeo and Juliet; because if there was no conflict between the two families none of the events leading up to their deaths would have taken place, Romeo and Juliet’s relationship would have not had to be a secret. The play begins with a battle between the two houses and eventually later on in the play members of the families are killed which result in disastrous consequences. By starting the play with a fight Shakespeare immediately excites the audience and grabs their attention. This is in a way another dramatic device used by Shakespeare because Romeo and Juliet are aware of their families dislike for each other but do not know what sort of problems this will cause in the future.
Tybalts death is another important event in the play which creates sympathy for Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare creates a dramatic battle between the Montague’s and Capulet’s ending in the death of Mercutio and Tybalt. The two gangs of men meet in a public place and Mercutio and Tybalt begin to fight and eventually Mercutio is killed. In a fit of anger Romeo battles with Tybalt and Kills him enraged. Romeo says “And fire-eyed fury be my conduct now” which tell the audience just how angry Romeo is with Tybalt.The audience feels sympathy towards Romeo as his best friend has died. When Romeo kills Tybalt he is banished and Juliet is very upset that Romeo is gone. Juliet pretends that she is weeping for Tybalt’s death; she says to her mother “I am not well”. This makes us feel sympathy for Juliet as she has to hide her sadness behind her cousin’s death. Shakespeare has used dramatic irony here because Juliet’s family does not know why she is crying and think it’s because Tybalt has died. Juliet is deeply unhappy because she does not know when she will see Romeo and her wedding has been cancelled. Shakespeare has proved a point here about the treatment of women in the 16th century because Juliet is forced to hide her own true feelings and can have no opinion on Romeo banishment. This creates further sympathy for Juliet.
The letter that Friar Lawrence sent but did not reach Romeo was also a major part in the play which increased pity towards Romeo and Juliet. This creates sympathy for Romeo and Juliet as Romeo has know knowledge of Juliet’s death and this eventually leads to Romeo killing himself. On hearing that his letter could not be sent Friar Lawrence says “Unhappy fortune! By my brotherhood” this tells of his unhappiness that the letter could not be sent and he becomes worried that Romeo does not know of Juliet’s death. Shakespeare has also ironically used the word fortune as Friar Lawrence has no control over what has happened and is destined to happen to Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare has used dramatic irony here because Romeo does not know that Juliet has faked her death. This creates lots of sympathy for Romeo as he is dreadfully upset about the death of Juliet and eventually leads to Romeo killing himself. Romeo says “Well Juliet I will lie with thee tonight” telling the audiences that he is going to kill himself, creating sympathy for Juliet.
In act III scene 1 comedy takes a dramatic turn to tragedy which makes the audience remember what is destined to happen to Romeo and Juliet and creates more sympathy. When Tybalt and Mercutio die, this sets the scene for the rest of the play and the audience knows that eventually Romeo and Juliet are going to die. This makes even more sympathy for them as the audience realizes they will soon die. This is a major turning point in the play as it takes a serious turn and after this very little comedy is used by Shakespeare. He does this so there’s such a big comparison between tragedy and comedy.
In conclusion to all the events I studied in the play I found the following things. Shakespeare did nothing accidentally and all the themes of the play were purposely put there. He has clearly purposely highlighted that women were not respected well in the 16th century and had very little say in matters. He has cleverly shown that conflict can lead to needless death and that violence is not the right answer. Overall creating sympathy for Romeo and Juliet was Shakespeare’s main objective which he completed successfully in this tragic love story.
