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How Does the Prologue at the Start of Romeo and Juliet Create Suspense? Essay Example

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How Does the Prologue at the Start of Romeo and Juliet Create Suspense? Essay Example
How does the Prologue at the start of Romeo and Juliet create suspense?

William Shakespeare, writer of Romeo and Juliet, creates suspense through the use of different techniques. Shakespeare is very particular in his choice of diction, by wisely picking specific vocabulary to create an atmosphere. It is usual that a Greek tragedy, such as Romeo and Juliet, contains a Prologue to set the tone for the rest of the play. Shakespeare wrote the Prologue in a Sonnet form using Iambic Pentameter, which contains 10 syllables per line. Iambic Pentameter uses of unstressed and stressed syllables to create a rhythm or flow to the Prologue. The rhyming ABAB pattern is used throughout the whole poem except the two last lines, which are rhyming couplet. Shakespeare used this type of writing to copy a real life speech, as this would be the case when someone did a public reading of the Prologue. The sonnet form normally informs that the play will be about love, suggesting to the audience what kind of play they are about to watch. Like every play that contains love, Shakespeare also includes a certain amount of hate, to create drama.

At the beginning of the paragraph Shakespeare creates suspension at the opening sentence. The way in which Shakespeare uses his rhyming techniques draws a big attention to the opening phrase, “two household” families. The diction “two” emphases that the poem is about two families off the same standards, which may have some kind of conflict between them. It then briefly describes the two families Capulet and Montague’s; hinting that two families are similar in a way that they are all respected since they are “both alike in dignity”. By using the term “alike” suggests that they are to the same degree, none of them are superior. This opening sentence creates suspense because Shakespeare doesn’t reveal what would be the conflict between the two families or why are they alike in dignity. On the other hand, on the second line the “fair Verona” which is

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