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Dramatic Irony In Romeo And Juliet

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In The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet there are many instances of dramatic irony where the reader or audience member knows something that the characters don’t. On instance is when Friar Lawrence is the only person that knows that Juliet really isn’t dead she is just sleeping, but her parents and nurse don’t know. Which leads to her family and her nurse to freak out and start planning a funeral instead of a wedding. The reader can then predict that when the family and friends arrive to the funeral and they don’t see her things will start to get suspicious. Shakespeare includes many examples of dramatic irony throughout the play including act four where the audience and reader know something that the characters do not know to add dramatic effect and a longer story to watch. To begin, in act four scene five after Juliet drinks the potion and her nurse finds her Friar Lawrence enters to see if the bride was ready for the ceremony to begin, however him and the readers are the only ones that know that Juliet isn’t really dead she is just sleeping. Capulet, Juliet’s father, states, “flower as she was, deflowered by him.” in scene five but little does the family know that earlier in the act Friar Lawrence had given Juliet something to make her sleep but will appear to be dead. As stated in scene one by Friar Lawrence, “then a cold, sleep-inducing drug will run through your veins, and your pulse will stop. Your flesh will be cold, and you’ll stop breathing. The red in your lips and your cheeks will turn pale, and your eyes will shut. It will seem like you’re dead. You won’t be able to move, and your body will be stiff like a corpse. You’ll remain in this deathlike state for forty-two hours, and then you’ll wake up as if from a pleasant sleep.” This quote shows that the Friar knows that she really isn’t permanently, she is only temporarily dead but the quote said by her father shows that he is oblivious to what is actually going on. To continue, in The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, Friar Lawrence and Juliet are the only characters who know that Juliet really isn’t dead, she simply drank a potion that will make her appear to be dead for forty-two hours but after that time she will wake up. This causes her family and

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