"Romeo and Juliet" is a play full of contradictions. How does Shakespeare show these to his audience? Why?

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“Romeo and Juliet” is a play full of contradictions.  How does Shakespeare show these to his audience?  Why?

        In the play “Romeo and Juliet”, Shakespeare uses contradictions both to involve his audience in the action and to highlight the important themes and events.  The play was written on several different levels of understanding.  It could be viewed as a simple, tragic love story but the conflicts within and between the characters give us a fascinating study of human nature.  The contradictions within the text in the form of oxymorons and puns counter this simplicity and lead us to examine each line for its true purpose.  The variety and interest capture and entrance the audience.  The twists and turns of the play change it from just a conventional love story to one that deals with the major opposing forces of life; light and dark, day and night, love and hate, good and evil, life and death.

      From the very beginning Shakespeare uses contradictions in the form of antonyms. In the first quatrain of the prologue, Shakespeare prepares the audience to see the longstanding hostility between the two equally noble families, the Montagues and the Capulets, breaking out again.  “From ancient grudge break to new mutiny.”  The antonyms of ancient and new stress the grudge and the forth coming tragedy.

       The second quatrain foretells the healing of this feud through the deaths of a pair of ill-fated lovers, children of these families, Romeo and Juliet.  “ A pair of star-crossed lovers take their life”.  This emphasises that their love faces an almost impossible task, and that the play will result in a tragedy.  What should have been a story about love turns out to be a story about tragedy, loss and disaster.

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      It is ironic that nobody knows the actual reason for the feud, but each character has still been brought up knowing that they should feel hatred towards the other family.  Shakespeare tells the audience that the two families are “both alike in dignity.”  It would be quite interesting for the audience to know why they act in this contradictory manor towards each other, as they would probably get on together, as they appear to have many things in common.  

       The contrast between Benvolio and Tybalt’s characters adds to the contradictions in the play. ...

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