How Does Shakespeare Use Conflict to Create Tension Essay Example

In Romeo and Juliet the main conflict revolves around the Capulet’s and the Montague’s old feud. This then creates tension throughout the play because this old feud branches out into a lot of conflict between individual people. The prologue is very important in this play because it sets the way for the rest of the play, warning the audience that it is going to be a tragedy. The prologue is written in the form of a sonnet with a strict rhyme scheme and using iambic pentameter. This shows the audience that the play is going to be about love because sonnets are usually associated with love. Straight away the prologue tells you that there is going to be conflict between the two families, “Two households, both alike in dignity”, “From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.” It tells us that it is set in Verona, Italy, “In fair Verona (where we lay our scene),”. It also tells us that the families’ feud is going to result in the death of two lovers, “The fearful passage of their death-mark’d love,”. In act 1, scene 1 a fight breaks out between the Capulet’s and Montague’s and the prince must intervene to stop them fighting. This is the first scene of the play meaning that because you can already see the conflict between the families, this makes it obvious for the audience that the play is going to be full of conflict. At the beginning of the scene Sampson and Gregory, servants of the Capulet’s are insulting each other in a form of playful banter, “I mean, and we be in choler, we’ll draw.” Sampson also says “I will be civil with the maids, I will cut off their heads.” This is a deliberate play on words with maidenheads meaning virginities.
Then Abram and Balthasar, servants of the Montague family arrive. Sampson says “I will bite my thumb at them,”. Biting your thumb at someone was a gesture of defiance and was very offensive in the Elizabethan era. Sampson biting his thumb at the Montague’s creates tension because