What premonitions occur in the play Romeo and Juliet?What is the dramatic effect of each and how would you present them effectively on stage?

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Amanda Rogers 10J                                                               GCSE English Coursework

 

What premonitions occur in the play Romeo and Juliet?

What is the dramatic effect of each and how would you present

them effectively on stage?

        In my essay I will be studying the play Romeo and Juliet, written by William Shakespeare in 1595. I will be discussing the premonitions that occur within the play and their dramatic effect upon the other storyline, the other characters and an audience watching the play.

        The play dramatizes the fate of two young lovers whose tragic deaths occur due to feuding between their families. The play tells the story of how fate bought them together and the path it takes.  

This Shakespeare play is written in the genre of tragedy. Structures involving love and death and personal experiences are used in Shakespeare’s form of writing tragic plays. And Romeo and Juliet is written in verse, as many of Shakespeare’s plays are.

        The Capulet family consist of Juliet, Capulet (her father), Lady Capulet (her mother), Tybalt (her cousin), Juliet’s nurse, Peter (the nurse’s servant) and Sampson, Gregory and Clown (Capulet’s servants). The Montague family consist of Romeo, Montague (his father), Lady Montague (his mother), Benvolio (his friend) and Balthsar (Romeo’s servant). Mercutio is also Romeo’s friend and Friar Lawrence is on neither side.

        From the prologue, fate is introduced when the chorus describes Romeo and Juliet as a pair of ‘star- crossed’ lovers who are fated to die because of their ‘death marked love’. Fate is further emphasised when Romeo says that he is ‘fortune's fool’, with his future ‘hanging in the stars’. The feeling of inevitability is being reinforced throughout the play, but a Shakespearean audience would rely more on fate to affect the way they perceive the play’s incident, whereas a modern day audience tend to do the opposite.

The first prediction occurs in Act 1 – scene 4. Mercutio and Romeo have been discussing Mercutio’s dream about Queen Mab. Romeo is deciding whether or not to go to Capulet’s party to see Rosaline (the women who he loves).

        ‘I fear too early, for my mind misgives

        Some consequence yet hanging in the stars

        Shall bitterly begin his fearful date

        With the nights revels, and expire the term

Join now!

Of a despised life closed in my breast,

        By some vile forfeit of untimely death.

        Direct my sail! On, lusty gentlemen.’

This quotation means that relying on fate, what happens tonight will precipitate to Romeo’s untimely death. The quotation tells me that Romeo is nervous about the evening, as he is likely to see Rosaline. Mercutio’s talk with him about dreams may have made him suspicious and apprehensive about the party and what fate might lead to. This premonition encourages us as a modern audience to consider what might happen to Romeo as a consequence. A Shakespearean audience however, may ...

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