Violence and Tragedy in Romeo and Juliet

Violence in The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet In The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet there are many scenes of dramatic irony throughout the play. The dramatic irony in the play adds suspense because you know something the other characters in the play does not know. This play if filled with many examples of dramatic irony and that creates suspense in the plotline. The first example of dramatic irony in the play is when a Capulet servant was sent my Lord and Lady Capulet to invite guests to their party.

At the same time Romeo and his cousin Benvolio are standing in the streets and the servant comes up to them because he cannot read and asks them to read the names on the list. In return the servant says “Now I’ll tell you without asking. My master is the great rich Capulet, and if you be not of the house of Montagues, I pray come and crush a cup of wine. Rest you merry! ”(Shakespeare 1:1, 82-84) this is a prime example of dramatic irony because the servant does not know that Romeo and Benvolio are Montagues but the audience does.

This creates suspense because the audience is nervous about what is going to happen at the party. Another great example of dramatic irony is when Tybalt has challenged Romeo to a duel because he disgraced the Capulet name, and Romeo does not want to fight him. The reason Romeo does not want to fight is because he and Juliet just got married which means that him and Tybalt are now related. Romeo tries to stop him from fighting by telling him that he “love thee better than thou canst devise, till thou shalt know the reason of my love” (Shakespeare 1:1, 70-71).

Tybalt does not know that Romeo is married to his cousin so he does not realize why Romeo is trying to reason with him and tell him he loves him. This is yet another example of how the dramatic irony adds suspense; the audience is waiting to see how the duel will play out and to see how Romeo will handle this situation. The third and final example of dramatic irony in the play is when Lady and Lord Capulet have decided to allow Count Paris to marry their daughter Juliet.

She says “Marry my child, early next Thursday morn, the gallant, young, and noble gentlemen, The County Paris, at Saint Peters Church. ”(Shakespeare 3:5 112-114) This would be great, but Romeo and Juliet have just gotten married, secretly at that. Nobody in Juliet’s family know about their marriage except for Nurse, which means that she has to decide if she is going to marry Paris and leave Romeo, or she could run off with Romeo.

The dramatic irony in this scene play an important role in creating suspense in the fact that the audience want to know what will happen next, they want to know what Juliet will do or will she chose Paris over Romeo. As stated earlier The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet is filled with dramatic irony and here are just some of the many examples that give the play great suspense and make it an ancient classic. The suspense in this play is important to creating much suspense making it a great play.