How Does Shakespeare Create Tension In Romeo And Juliet

Analyse how Shakespeare’s theatricality portrays ideas about the tension in human interactions to teach audiences about the world around them.

In studying Romeo and Juliet (1596), I have come to realise how William Shakespeare conveys intense relationships to captivate his audience and teach them valuable lessons. Furthermore, my study positions me to recognise how over time gender norms are changing, yet some people still hold these old views today. William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet (1596) is a classic form of a tragedy built on the foundations of teaching the audience about young and impulsive love, serving as a warning for Elizabethan audiences that forsaking everything at a moment’s notice all in the pretext of love is ill-advised,

Throughout the play, Shakespeare presents the idea that relationships can be both confusing and unpredictable, resulting in tragic consequences. The play's focus on the intense relationship between Romeo and Juliet exemplifies how the playwright uses tension to captivate the audience. The couple have a constant monopoly over the audience’s attention, via their forbidden love and sense of tension is always looming in the atmosphere. Furthermore, Shakespeare's use of language, such as metaphor and foreshadowing, starts to dramatically heighten the dramatic tension between the characters whilst enriching the audience's own experience regarding the

Gender roles are heavily enforced in Romeo and Juliet, with men seen as more dominant and violent, and women seen as more subservient and docile. The play, however, challenges these norms through the character of Juliet, who defies her father's wishes and chooses her own fate. Shakespeare's inclusion of such characters helps to teach the audience about the potential dangers of rigid societal norms and encourages them to question the status quo which are seen in our time as well, through the rapid growth of the popularity of archaic ideologies revolving around gender garnering the support of millions of people all over the internet. Also acting as a warning for modern audiences, telling us that archaic views such as these can be dangerous to not only us but also the people around us demonstrated not only by the death of Romeo and Juliet, but also the various other deaths that occurred due to this concept of set gender norms; One such example being that of Mercutio, to which Tybalt had killed due to Romeo rejecting the challenge that Tybalt has thrown his way, unable to accept it and viewing it as feminine, Mercutio had accepted the challenge on behalf of Romeo and subsequently began to duel with Tybalt, which would later lead to his unfortunate demise. The societal norms of the time had formed a stigma around the act of not accepting duels, the