Romeo and Juliet: Writer's Techniques

Romeo and Juliet: Writer’s Techniques

Shakespeare’s Language

• Blank verse: Shakespeare uses unrhymed iambic pentameter, often linked to high status or serious characters like Romeo and Juliet. It gives the play a rhythm and elegance.

• Prose: Lower status characters often speak in prose, creating a contrast between them and the nobility.

• Imagery: Shakespeare uses a range of rich images, particularly relating to light and dark, plants and poisons, and heaven and hell. They add depth to the characters’ feelings and the play’s themes.

• Puns and word play: Characters, particularly Mercutio, use puns for humour and to show their cleverness and wit. This often lightens the mood during tense scenes.

Characterisation

• Contrasting characters: Shakespeare contrasts impulsive youths like Romeo and Tybalt with wiser, calmer adults like Friar Lawrence and the Nurse. This highlights generational differences and shows competing views of love and honour.

• Character development: Romeo and Juliet’s characters evolve through the play. Romeo moves from infatuation with Rosaline to deep love for Juliet. Juliet matures from a naive child to a woman willing to die for love.

• Direct and indirect characterisation: Characters are revealed directly through their dialogue and actions, and indirectly through others’ comments about them.

Dramatic Techniques

• Foreshadowing: Shakespeare hints at future tragedies, creating tension. The Prologue foreshadows the lovers’ deaths, and Romeo’s dream before going to the Capulet’s party predicts a tragic outcome.

• Soliloquies: Characters, particularly Romeo and Juliet, express their innermost thoughts and feelings in lengthy speeches. This gives the audience insight into their emotions and motivations.

• Dramatic irony: This occurs when the audience knows more than the characters. For instance, the audience knows Juliet is not dead when Romeo finds her, heightening the tragedy of Romeo’s suicide.

• Symbolism: Objects like poison and the dagger, and concepts like the stars, are used symbolically to add deeper meaning.

• Pathos: Shakespeare incites sympathy for the lovers through their intense love, youth, and tragic deaths.

• Comic relief: Moments of humour, often provided by the Nurse and Mercutio, offer the audience a break from the tragic narrative, preventing the play from becoming overwhelmingly somber.

Structure

• Five-act structure: Follows the traditional pattern of exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution.

• Juxtaposition: The alternation between love scenes and violent scenes heightens the contrast between love and hate, the play’s major themes.

• Pace: The speed of events, particularly in the second half, mirror the characters’ lack of control over their fate.