Question

Use the following excerpt from, “Romeo and Juliet” by Shakespeare to answer the following question:

Excerpt from Romeo and Juliet, Act IV, Scene I:

Juliet:
"O, bid me leap, rather than marry Paris,
From off the battlements of yonder tower;
Or walk in thievish ways; or bid me lurk
Where serpents are; chain me with roaring bears;
Or shut me nightly in a charnel house,
O’ercovered quite with dead men’s rattling bones,
With reeky shanks and yellow chapless skulls;
Or bid me go into a new-made grave
And hide me with a dead man in his shroud—
Things that, to hear them told, have made me tremble—
And I will do it without fear or doubt,
To live an unstained wife to my sweet love."

15. In this excerpt, Juliet is speaking with Friar Laurence about her desperation to avoid marrying Paris. In 3-5 sentences, identify an example of dramatic irony in this scene and explain how it contributes to the tension in the play.

(4 points)

Answer 1

An example of dramatic irony is Juliet’s cry that she’d “go into a new-made grave / And hide me with a dead man in his shroud,” since the audience already knows she is secretly married to Romeo and will later be placed in a tomb (her “new-made grave”), while Paris and her parents think she will marry Paris. Because the crowd (and some characters) lack this knowledge, the audience anticipates the risky plan Friar Laurence will offer and fears its possible failure. This gap between what the audience knows and what most characters believe increases suspense and a sense of impending tragedy. The irony heightens tension by making every step toward the wedding and the tomb feel fraught with potential disaster.