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How Does Shakespeare Use Dramatic Irony In Romeo And Juliet

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Sully Lynn Mr. Ward Honors English 1 14 May 2024 Dramatic irony is typically when the reader knows something the characters do not. Shakespeare, however, takes dramatic irony to an entirely new level. Romeo and Juliet, one of Shakespeare's most renounced pieces of literature, is a play about two lovers who cannot be together but take desperate measures together. Throughout the play, Shakespeare uses dramatic irony to create tension, false hope and frustration for his audience. One example of dramatic irony being used to imply tension is found when Juliet speaks to Romeo during the famous balcony scene. Juliet exclaims “O God, I have an ill-divined soul! Me thinks I see thee, now though art below, as one dead at the bottom of a tomb. Either my eyesight fails, or thou lookest pale” (Act III, Scene 5, line 55-58). Juliet recalls that she had a vision of Romeo dead in a tomb. This is an excellent example of Shakespeare using dramatic irony because as the audience we know this will happen, but Romeo and Juliet don't know this. This leads to a sense of tension because of the buildup of Romeo and Juliet's deaths at the end of the play. …show more content…

For example, when Juliet is conversing with Friar Lawrence regarding her marrying Paris, she states Thou has the strength of will to slay thy self, then is it likely thou wilt undertake a thing like death to chide away this shame, that copest with death himself to escape from it; and if thou darest, I'll give thee remedy (Act IV, scene 1, lines 74-80). I feel this quote is another great quote that highlights how dramatic irony creates a sense of false hope because but this is pointless because she does it anyway in the tomb with

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