Romeo And Juliet - Dramatic Effect

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Reality in the theatre

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The first thing to bear in mind is that the play is not meant to be real, or even look real. Shakespeare makes it clear in The Prologue (at the start) that it is not a true story, rather a group of actors. He even gives away the entire plot, so we all know a couple will fall in love, then kill themselves. It does not really matter what GCSE title you are given, you could easily include something from The Prologue as relevant to the entire play - this is theatre, not real life.

Secondly, it is important to remember how people watch a play in the theatre. We cannot stop the actors to make a cup of tea, and there is no book to put down or DVD to pause. This seems obvious, but is easy to forget.

For instance, as Act 3 Scene 1 closes, the bodies of Tybalt and Mercutio are still warm and Romeo is literally running for his life. Yet Shakespeare instantly switches to Juliet, sitting on her own waiting impatiently for the man she has just married. She knows nothing of what has happened, and her head is full of dreams of love. A theatre audience cannot help but feel sympathy for her. This is exactly what dramatic effect is all about - how feelings are created.

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Changes in scene

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Shakespeare creates dramatic effect by switching a lot from one event to another. The switches tend to involve two things: a change in the place, from one group of characters to another, and a switch in the mood, such as from humour to violence, or violence to love.

For instance, the opening scene of the play is comedy. We are meant to laugh at the two servants and their crude comments about sex. However, the atmosphere changes very quickly. Other people arrive, they taunt each other, and a fight breaks out. Benvolio, Romeo's friend, tries to stop it, but Tybalt confronts him and they end up fighting, as do the heads of the two families. This is stopped by the arrival of the Prince of Verona, who threatens death to anyone who disobeys him by fighting.

So, from the start, Shakespeare gradually adds characters until the whole stage is full of fighting. He then changes the focus, as we are left with just three characters discussing Romeo. The tone also changes - we move from violence to love. We find out that Romeo is love-sick for a girl, Rosaline, who is clearly not in love with Romeo.

We find out more as Romeo appears on stage to talk to his friend Benvolio. So now we just have two characters. But then we switch to another conversation: Juliet's father talking to Paris about whether Juliet should marry him.

Each change in the plot is deliberate. You should think about what is relevant to your task.

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Violence and death

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Often events in the play are repeated in a similar way later on. This allows the audience to make connections and understand some of the universal themes it deals with. For instance:

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Violence erupts

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The opening scene of the play goes from comedy to violence very quickly. It ends with The Prince of Verona judging everyone who was involved. The same thing occurs twice later on in the play. In Act 3, the Prince arrives when Tybalt has been killed and passes judgment on what has happened. And in Act 5 he does the same thing when Juliet is found dead.

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Accidents lead to death

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The start of the feud between the two families was seen by the Prince as a very minor matter. But it had led to deaths in the past, and there are a number of other accidents which cause death in the play. Mercutio dies because of Romeo's actions; Tybalt dies even though Romeo does not really want to kill him. However, the most obvious of the accidents is when the Friar cannot get his message to Romeo, and that leads to the deaths of Paris, Romeo and Juliet.

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Love and hatred

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Perhaps the clearest dramatic effect in Romeo and Juliet is how Shakespeare switches between love and hatred. This basic theme is summed up in line 166, Act 1, Scene 1: 'Here's much to do with hate, but more with love.' The two topics are even included in the same breath, as Romeo talks of "loving hate".

This is echoed in the structure of the play. For instance, as soon as Romeo is alone with Juliet in the orchard, we are reminded several times of the danger he is in. Love seems to be linked to hatred throughout.

Elsewhere, the play mixes the two aspects for dramatic effect. In Act 2, Scene 4, Romeo is described as 'dead' and 'stabbed', but due to love, not hatred.

The scene at Juliet's tomb shows just how well Shakespeare can switch the mood for his audience. It is worthwhile having a look at this in a little more detail...

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Dramatic moments

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A number of things take place at the tomb where Juliet has been placed:

Paris arrives to mourn his bride, his 'sweet flower'.Then Romeo arrives, determined to open the tomb and then kill himself. Paris sees Romeo, wants to protect the bodies, so challenges him, but is killed.

As Paris dies, he calls out: 'Open the tomb, lay me with Juliet'. This is exactly what Romeo had planned for himself, but he obliges anyway. He then finds Juliet's body and is overcome by her beauty, despite remembering that the body of Tybalt, who he had killed previously, is somewhere in the tomb lying in a 'bloody sheet'.

Romeo then drinks the poison. Suddenly, the action switches to show the Friar on his way to rescue Juliet. When he arrives, Juliet refuses to be saved and kills herself, just before the Watch and the Prince arrive.

These incidents happen at an alarming rate. They serve to tie up a number of loose ends, as well as take the audience on an emotional rollercoaster. The structure is deliberate. Shakespeare is not simply telling a story; he is showing how characters relate to each other, and how seemingly minor incidents led to tragedy. Whatever task you have been set, you should aim to include something about the dramatic effects created in Romeo and Juliet, because they reflect how an audience experiences the play in a theatre.