“And to’t they go like lightening.”
Here Shakespeare uses a weather term to describe the characters emotions and actions. He used pathetic fallacy to give the audience a good sense of atmosphere.
Also in the first part of the scene, he uses another example of pathetic fallacy,
“The day is hot, the Capels are abroad
and if we meet we shall not scape a brawl.”
This device creates a better play than just reading a script for people; it adds emphasis.
During the previous scene, the emotions are completely different and the story had left the audience feeling that it was a happy ending,
“For by your leaves, you shall not stay alone,
till holy church incorporate two in one.”
Shakespeare made the previous scene seem like it was all over and happy as Romeo and Juliet had just been married, then he put in the fight to turn the tables and complicate the perfect end.
Another linguistic device Shakespeare uses is dramatic irony, this is were the audience know something some of the characters are not aware of,
“Tybalt, the reason that I have to love thee
doth much excuse the appertaining rage.”
This is just before the fight where Romeo refuses to fight Tybalt as he had just married Juliet and they were now cousins, Romeo knew, the audience knew but Tybalt did not. This makes the audience want to watch to see what happens when they find out.
In the play Shakespeare has contrasting characters, they are like complete opposites, the two characters are Mercutio and Benvolio, the biggest difference between them is there attitudes and views to fighting,
“By my head, here come the Capulets! ...By my heel I care not.”
This shows two different attitudes to the enemy approaching. The first half of the quote shows worry, that is Benvolio’s reaction and the second half is a proud and careless, cocky answer from Mercutio, they are so different yet they get along so well.
Another pair of contrasting characters are Romeo and Tybalt, they differ in a different way, they are sworn enemies and Tybalt is more than keen to fight Romeo whereas Romeo remains reluctant to the idea.
Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy because the heroes/main characters die, this happens after a big chain of deaths and starts a ripple effect for the better, Shakespeare uses tragedy to enhance the emotion and make the play more interesting.
Another aspect of the play is the heaven and hell reference, in Shakespearian times people were extremely religious and believed that if they were sinful, they would go to hell, Shakespeare included religious references in his plays. Shakespeare uses the image of light and dark to portray heaven and hell