The Friar’s plan, however, soon takes a turn for the worse, when Romeo is banished from Verona, after the marriage, for murdering Tybalt, who is a Capulet. This would have shocked an Elizabethan audience because they had not yet seen Romeo take part in the feud, even though he was drawn into it against his will. Romeo’s reaction when he learns that he has been banished by the prince, creates tension. The audience can sense, that by this he is not only being torn away from Verona but also, the woman he loves.
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(Act 3 scene 3, line 17) “There is no world without Verona walls”
(Act 3 scene 3, lines 29-30) “Heaven is here/Where Juliet lives” and (Act 3 scene 3, line 58) “Unless philosophy can make a Juliet”
The Friar needs to change his plan to end the feud, when things go wrong, such as Romeo’s banishment. Romeo is devastated by the news, of his banishment and threatens to take his own life, in the cell.
(Act 3 scene 3, line 107)“Tell me, that I may sack/ the hatful mansion.”
This adds to the dramatic tension because the audience wanders in suspense if the death of Romeo will come soon in the play. This also increases the speed at which events in the play happen, because if Romeo does not escape Verona and is caught, he will be killed. After the Friar arranges for Romeo to go to Mantua, he hears about the arranged marriage of Juliet and Paris.
Juliet, emotionally beside herself, begs the Friar for the prevention this second marriage otherwise, she also, would attempt to kill herself. “with this knife I will help it presently.” Juliet would rather “lurk/Where servants are;” be hidden “with a dead man” and many other abhorrent things to escape this unwanted marriage.
Both lovers would sooner kill themselves than be separated from each other. This creates dramatic tension because the audience is waiting in anticipation to see what the Friar decides to do, for better or for worse. There have been various opportunities where the lives of Romeo and Juliet could have been taken. For example, in the Friar’s cell both Romeo and Juliet threaten to kill themselves, or the fight between Mercutio, Tybalt and Romeo. The audience knows that the deaths of Romeo and Juliet will come as they were foretold in the prologue, but they do not know when, thereby continuously building up dramatic tension and suspense.
In act 1 scene 1, a fight breaks out between the families and servants of the Montagues and the Capulets. This battle establishes the notion of the age-old feud. We can tell Benvoilio is a peacemaker because of his first words,
(Act1 Scene1, lines 55-56) “Part fools! Put up your swords.”
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The coarseness the language that the servants use contrasts with Romeo and Juliet’s love affair, which is to be played out against a background of
hate. The Prince put an abrupt end to the battle, but for how long? There is tension, the audience wander how long the families can contain the hatred and violence that they have against each other.
In act 3 scene 1, there is yet another outbreak of violence between the two families, only this time Tybalt kills Mercutio, who is then slain by Romeo. It is a hot, summer’s day, which creates tension because the warm weather shortens people’s temper and men from both households are looking for trouble. Benvolio’s efforts to keep the peace once again fail because of Mercutio’s stubbornness and refusal to listen. After being stabbed, Mercutio cries
(Act 3 scene 1) “A plague a`both houses!”
This, also, is related to fate. Even up to his death Mercutio cannot resist turning this disastrous situation into a joke by using puns,
(Act 3 scene 1, lines 89-90) “Ask for me tomorrow and you shall find me a grave man.”
Benvolio brings Romeo the news of Mercutio’s death.
Romeo, feeling guilty of the death of his best friend, blames his cowardliness on Juliet.
(Act 3 scene 1, lines 104-105) “O sweet Juliet,/Thy beauty hath made me effeminate”
He says that he has weakened his manliness on Juliet. His marriage began with the reconciliation between the two families, but Romeo desires to be a man, not a coward, and as a result murders Tybalt.
In act 3 scene 4 the Capulets assume that Juliet pines over the death of Tybalt rather than the banishment of Romeo, her husband. Consequently, Lord Capulet arranges the marriage with Tybalt.
(Act 3 scene 4, lines) “a`Thursday, tell her,/She shall be married”
When Juliet is confronted with the plan, she is horrified and refuses to cooperate. Lady Capulet is shocked by this and ironically implies that she is already married. A hasty marriage that is quietly introduced, adds greater momentum to the pace of events, and the velocity of the play increases, as there is desperation to escape this unwanted marriage.
Capulet’s first words to Juliet are that of sympathy for the grieving of Tybalt. This is quickly replaced by an incoherent rage, when he realises
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that Juliet will not obey him. He says, if Juliet will not go to the wedding
come Thursday, he “will drag thee on a hurdle thither.” and if she still refuses to wed Paris. “never after look me in the face” he will repudiate her.
In Romeo and Juliet there are people fighting duels, this was all common practice in those days. Daughters in Elizabethan times would not have had much control as to what happened in their lives. They had no say in where they lived, whom they married, or where they went.
Romeo and Juliet is a play anchored by time and fate. The timing of each action influences the outcome of the play.
Timing is very important in the play, it falls under the idea of fate. It may have been fate that the illiterate servant of the Capulets first came across Romeo to read the letter, the timing of the servant and Romeo was important. Romeo is suicidal in the tomb just moments before the friar arrives to collect Juliet who comes around seconds after that.
To the audience certain aspects of the play seem to be slower than others. For example, time seems to stand still for Romeo and Juliet when they exchange their vows in the orchid. From this moment on the play appears to rapidly speed up. As the Friar paradoxically said, when things are rushed, mistakes are made,
(Act 2 scene 3, line 94) “Wisely and slow, they stumble that run fast.”
As time moves more quickly, the tension increases. The whole play is set over a time period of five days. Romeo and Juliet meet and fall in love on the first day, wed on the second day, parted on the third day, and died on the fifth.
As the audience is omnipotent, we see Romeo and Juliet before they meet, when they meet. This creates tension because we see the struggle both characters have to stay together after the deaths of Mercutio and Tybalt.
Romeo and Juliet die as a direct corollary of the hatreds in society in which they have found themselves. Their deaths make them permanent symbols of power of love, which is achieved through all adversity. Romeo and Juliet died and are destined to symbolise the waste in all divided societies. “All are punished.”
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Shakespeare was aware of the power of individual free will. The characters often ignore the authority of the state, family and church. Daughters should have obeyed fathers, Mercutio should have listened to the rules set by the prince but did not, the Friar teaches about the sin of suicide and yet Romeo and Juliet eventually choose this path to be reunited.
The lovers are impelled unstoppably through a sequence of events. They are caught up in circumstances beyond their control. Fate has taken over and the actions they take are written in the stars. It is the pace of events and urgency in the play that creates the dramatic tension and compelling drama. Shakespeare creates dramatic tension and an atmosphere of suspense, by generating a number of reasons for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet, such as fate, the feud and the Friar.
