Soliloquay (monologues) are used to
reveal the character's innermost
thoughts and feelings to the audience.
Dramatic irony
It is effective as it frustrates the
audience as they are the ones who
knows what it happening between
all of the characters.
Overshadowing
The audience is constantly reminded
that Romeo and Juliet would die and it
builds tension and anticipation for
when their deaths would happen.
Catharsis.
Juxtaposition of love and death
Shakespeare uses rhyming
couplets so that the last verse
would be memorable and it
contains a moral message in it.
Tells the audience that the
play is coming to an end.
Iambic pentameter
Imitates the sound of
heartbeats and imitates
the flow of natural
speech.
Light and dark imagery
Romeo is often seen to idolise Juliet and to place her on a
pedastal. He is frequently quoting about how angelic she is.
As Catholicism and religion were a large and an important
part in their society, Romeo comparing Juliet to something
relgious implies to the audience about how important Juliet is
to him.
“But, soft! what light through yonder window
breaks? / It is the east, and Juliet is the
sun!”(2.1.2)
Romeo is represented as 'dark' when in comparison with Juliet as we see
that he is suicidal at the beginning of the play. Furthermore, suicide was a
very sinful act in Elizabethan England. However, nearing the end pf the play
where Juliet has thoughts about killing herself for the sake of Romeo
shows that their love is destructive and that Romeo's ways is influencing
Juliet. This suggests extreme or a very passionate love.
Oxymoron
Suggests that they
character is experiencing
an emotional turmoil.
When Romeo kills Tybalt, Juliet
is no longer sure who she fell in
love with and she is doubting
about her feelings about him.
This shows that love or the love that she
though she experienced is destroying her
and turning her crazy/ manic.
She begins to not recognise
who she fell in love with.
Shows confusion in the
character's emotions and their
vision of what is wrong and
right could be clouded.
Hyperbole
This shows how strong the
relationship between Romeo and
Juliet and it insinuates to the
reader that they no longer feel
infatuation and start to feel
romantic love for each other.
Metaphors/personification/similies.
Blank verse
Noble people often speak in blank verse which
contains iambic pentameter with no rhyme in it. They
usually speak prose to each other but blank verse to
other people, perhaphs to indicate their status and
authority.
A CAESURAL PAUSE is used in this sentence and it
indicates that the character is hesitating or thinking
about something important. It also may happen during
an emotional moment on the stage.
'Good night, good night. Parting is such sweet sorrow.'
Here, Shakespeare flips the iambic
pentameter (from de dum to dum de... etc.)
and the change in rhythm suggests that the
character might have had a change in feelings
or it suggests an intimate moment in this
case.
Shakespeare usually exaggerated on how beautiful
Juliet is with metaphors and similies. He may have
done this as in Elizabethan England, all the actors
were male and the audience may not be able to look
at the actor who plays Juliet. The exaggeration helps
the audience to imagine what Juliet looks like.
Mercutio ususally speaks in
prose and this connotes
informality.
Shakespeare often uses prose to show that there is a
change in a character's emotional state.