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Irony In Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet

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In Romeo and Juliet, an enormous feud takes place between the Romeo’s and Juliet’s family, the Montagues and the Capulets. This feud between the two families causes sprawling street fights, such as at the start of the play, insults for one another, and separation of the two families. This feud also drives the play’s plot by giving Tybalt an enemy and by creating the dramatic irony only known by the audience when Romeo and Juliet fall in love during the party. It appears, at least in act I in the play, the feud drives the action of the play by creating dramatic and intense events, creating fights between people, and creating tension between Romeo and Juliet for their romance. In concern on how the servants drive this feud, the servants of the two families begin a massive fight between the two families by one servant biting at the thumb and one …show more content…

Then, Tybalt, a feuding Capulet who tries to instigate a fight wherever he can, walked in and challenged Benvolio, who does not want to fight. Since Tybalt started insulting Benvolio, by saying, “Have at thee, coward!” and he drew his sword, Benvolio reacted and protected himself. During this fight scene, Lord Capulet is quick to try and enter but his wife prevents him from doing so by saying, “A crutch, a crutch! Why call you for a sword?” Lord Montague also tries to enter this fight, but his wife prevents him from doing so as well, by telling him, “Thou shalt stir a foot to seek a foe.” At the end of the fight, Prince Escalus walks in and tries to end this feud by telling everyone if this happens again, both families will be put to death. In summary, the servants and Tybalt meddle and begin fights, Benvolio, Lady Capulet, Prince Escalus and Lady Montague try to keep the peace, while Lord Capulet and Lord Montague will try to join in on a fight if they think they are

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"You were destined for me. Perhaps as punishment," says Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky. In many ways, this quote describes the love of Romeo Montague, and Juliet Capulet from William Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet, who are seemingly driven together as if by destiny. The play tells the story of two young "star-crossed lovers," Romeo and Juliet, who fall in love with each other. However, their families’ longstanding hatred for each other gets in the way of their love, and it eventually leads to both of their deaths.

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Abdullah Mustapha English 9H Langford 16 May 2023 Romeo and Juliet: A Thrilling Irony Horror movies are a perfect example of how the audience knows something is about to happen, but the character does not. Despite how oblivious the characters are, audiences love horror movies because the irony creates a thrill like no other. That thill makes the audience more involved and makes the play more interesting. In the play Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare uses dramatic irony in a plentiful amount to make the play more thought-provoking and advanced.

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In Act 1, Scene 1, we see the servants of the two families engaging in a street brawl that quickly escalates into a full-scale fight involving members of both families. This fight sets the stage for the rest of the play, as it establishes the violent nature of the feud and the extent to which the families are willing to go to protect their honor. This scene also introduces the character of Tybalt, who becomes a central figure in the play and ultimately plays a significant role in the deaths of Romeo and

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The feud between the Capulets and the Montagues intensifies so much that people start murdering others. Benvolio and Mercutio talk while walking together, and Benvolio says that he and Mercutio should go home and avoid the drama with the Capulets. Ironically, Mercutio and Benvolio end up seeing Tybalt and a few other Capulets. Tybalt and Mercutio start to fight, but Romeo shows up and tries to stop them. He shouts, “Tybalt!

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After the party, Mercutio explains to Bevolio that, “Tybalt, the kingsman to old Capulet, hath sent a letter to his father's house, a challenge on my life. ”(II, IV, 10) Tybalt is so angered by the presence of a Montague in his home that he thinks he must challenge him to a duel. The extreme anger from such a small gesture shows the amount of hatred the Capulets have towards the Montagues and the measures they are willing to take to make them pay. Such extreme measures of violence only lead to more violence, which in this play was the cause of death for the two young star-crossed lovers who were destined for doom.

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Shakespeare portrays Tybalt as a man who constantly seeks to assert his dominance and masculinity through violent means, highlighting his adherence to traditional norms of manhood. As the brawl between the Montague and Capulet households escalated, more people got involved. Eventually, Tybalt arrived and disregarded Benvolio's plea to stop the fight: “What, drawn, and talk of peace? I hate the word / As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee. / Have at thee, coward”(1.1.71-73).

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This foil character interaction between peacemaker and disruptor provokes Benvolio to fight by jeering at him, insinuating that he is not a real man until he turns and confronts a worthy opponent (Tybalt himself). Tybalt's provocative behavior led to the breakout in chaos within the streets of Verona that followed with the arrival of the Prince. Furthermore, Tybalt’s narcissistic behaviour contributes to his committed mindset to cause harm to Montagues, whom he feels are inferior by his standards. Tybalt is angered by Romeo's attendance to the Capulet masquerade in the hopes of seeing Rosaline, and he brings the issue up with Capulet. When Capulet requests that Tybalt leave Romeo alone, Tybalt temporarily agrees to let the “intruding” Montague go by contemptuously uttering “I will withdraw, but this intrusion shall” (1.5.90).

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Dramatic Irony in Romeo and Juliet The play, Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, can be described as confusing, well written, dramatic, emotional, sorrowful, ironic, and much more. Shakespeare's use of dramatic irony makes the play much more enjoyable and realistic. Dramatic irony is used throughout the whole entire play, especially in Acts III, IV and V. Each Act has dramatic irony concealed beneath Shakespeare's beautiful Old English language. Juliet spoke in a very complex way. Most of what Juliet told her family, could be taken in two completely different directions.

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The Capulet and Montague families were always fighting one another. These fights caused destruction not only in their own homes but around the city. They were constantly getting in trouble for their violence and damage-causing actions. Romeo and Juliet had not known that the other was part of the feuding families. When they found out, it made their visits and relationship difficult.

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“Draw, if you be men. Gregory, remember thy smashing blow” (1.1.57-58). Romeo’s cousin, Benvolio, comes in trying to stop the fight. Instead of stopping it he is drawn into it by Tybalt, kinsmen of the Capulets. Finally, Prince Escalus comes in and tells them that if they ever fight in the fair streets of

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This shows how he is scared of Tybalt, but even if he is scared, he is still willing to fight. “I do, but keep the peace. Put up thy sword, or manage it to part these men with me.” This is Benvolio saying if he wants to fight him he will fight, but he would rather keep the peace (Shakespeare 512). Between the two, dialogue is still the same, however some doesn’t quite make sense in Baz Luhrmann’s 1996

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In the play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, he tells the story of two people who fall in love, Romeo, a Montague, and Juliet, a Capulet. Their families have been feuding for as long as they can remember, making their love for one another very dangerous. The two go to extreme lengths to be with each other, but this eventually results in both of them losing their lives. Throughout this story, Shakespeare conveys through his use of syntax and diction with wrathful tone that hatred can make people act irrationally loyal, and this hatred can cloud one’s morals. We first see Shakespeare demonstrate the dangers that come from fighting without proper reason in the very beginning between the characters Tybalt and Benvolio.

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For example, Tybalt and Mercutio draw their swords against each other in order to fight for their houses’ honor, and finally both are killed for this reason. Romeo on the other side at first avoids fighting due to his marriage with Juliet, but when he thinks himself as an offspring of Montagues murders Tybald to take revenge for Mercutio’s death. Consequently and according to Coppelia Kahn, “the play is constantly critical of the feud as the medium through which criteria of patriarchally oriented masculinity are voiced”. Moreover, the fact that Mercutio takes part in the feud although he is neither a Capulet nor a Montague reveals that “feuding has become the normal social pursuit for young men in Verona” (176). Lastly, the nature of the feud involves obscene sexual innuendo towards women, something that becomes evident when someone considers the puns the Capulet servants make with language referring to sexuality, such as their wordplay regarding Montague’s women virginity: “I will cut off their heads…

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From the very beginning of the play, Shakespeare, is holding fate to blame for the death of the two lovers. In the line “from forth the fatal loins of these two foes a pair of star-crossed lovers take their life” foreshadowing, metaphor and alliteration are used to show how Romeo and Juliet’s love would end in tragedy. Foreshadowing is used to create suspense leading to a later scene in the play where the lover’s suicide. The metaphor “star-crossed lovers” suggest the prophetic alignments of the stars are against them. The lovers are ill-fated from the start.

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