How Does Shakespeare Create Suspense In Romeo And Juliet

Shakespeare, the great playwright, has done many things to help him stand out, writing many plays, always keeping the audience on the edge of their seat. This suspense stands out in his play Romeo and Juliet, where he makes suspense through the recurring dramatic irony of Romeo’s and Juliet’s death and the audience wanting to know what’s next.

Early on, the audience is clued in on Romeo’s death at many different points in the play. The talk of Romeo’s death is highlighted even in simple talk with Benvolio: “Of despisèd life closed in my breast / By some vile forfeit of an untimely death” (Shakespeare 1.4.117-118). This foreshadows the early death of Romeo, and it keeps the suspense because the audience already knows Romeo will die, but not when. This means that when the idea of death is brought up, it alerts them and keeps them on their toes. Later on, when Romeo and Juliet are together Juliet compares Romeo, who’s below her, to someone who is “one dead in the bottom of a tomb” (Shakespeare 3.5.56). This indicates to the audience that Romeo will die as one instead of with Juliet, catching the audience off guard

This is first shown when Juliet is pondering whether or not to take the poison, she speaks to herself, grabbing her knife, “What if this mixture do not work at all? / Shall I be married then tomorrow morning?”(Shakespeare 4.3.21-22). The audience here knows that Juliet will die, but they still don’t know how. This makes them wonder if Juliet stabbing herself is the way she does it and makes them curious for what happens next. At the end of the story, when Romeo visits Juliet in her tomb, he kills himself, thinking that Juliet is dead: “Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die” (Shakespeare 5.3.120). The audience knows that Juliet isn’t dead, and Romeo killing himself for it makes them think about how Juliet is going to react when she wakes