Irony and Romeo and Juliet Term Paper

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This is, in a way, a type of situational irony, however it occurs on a scale that implies fate is involved; the ironic incident is caused by an "act of god" not by something the character set into motion. The author of a piece of literature may distinguish irony of fate from situational irony by blatantly stating that the work is about inescapable fate.

Many instances of verbal irony can be traced throughout Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. The very basic plot line is full of rather obvious cases of irony Romeo falls in love with Juliet while he is mourning the unrequited love he felt for another woman. Juliet falls in love with Romeo despite the fact that she was taught to hate him by her family. Romeo and Juliet get married to one another so that they can spend their lives together, but they are separated almost immediately upon getting married. When the tragic ending occurs, it is also ironic that Juliet is willing to risk actually dying in order to fake her death to have the chance to be with Romeo, then Romeo kills himself in order to be with Juliet in death even though she is not really dead, and then finally Juliet kills herself to be with Romeo, who would not be dead if he had not thought she was already dead. In addition, Friar Lawrence married Romeo and Juliet so that the fighting would end between the two families, however the fighting is ended by the death of the children, not the marriage.

Other irony is more thinly veiled throughout the play. When Shakespeare describes the two households as "alike in dignity" (Act I, Prologue), he is using verbal irony because what is meant is that these households are both undignified, and they are like each other for that reason, not that they are both dignified.

Another example of verbal irony is when Romeo is describing love using many oxymorons. (Act I, Scene 1) The use of oxymorons or paradox is often a type of verbal irony. An example of situational irony is that Capulet tries to tell Paris that Juliet is too young to get married to him. He tells Paris, "And too soon marred are those so early made." (Act I, Scene 2) Although Capulet may have been referring to his own failed marriage, it is ironic that the young Juliet winds up dead (as in marred) after marrying Romeo in an attempt to avoid marrying Paris.

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This may also be a form of dramatic irony because the audience likely knows that Juliet will indeed wind up marred, while the characters do not know this. Another example of dramatic irony is that in Act Three, Juliet looks at Romeo from on the balcony and describes seeing him as "Now though art below, As one dead in the bottom of a tomb." (Act III, Scene 5) This is ironic because the next time Juliet sees Romeo he will actually be dead in a tomb, and it will be Juliet's own tomb in which Romeo is dead. Juliet has no idea that Romeo will die. When Juliet later asks questions about the potion she is going to take and thinks about all the things that might happen, she does not actually foresee that which is going to happen, and this is also an occurrence of irony. Finally, it is ironic that although the feuding between the two families is called off after Romeo and Juliet die, the families are still bickering, "But I can give thee more:For I will raise her statue in pure gold," (Act V, Scene 3) says Montague; they may not have actually ended the feud.

Irony helps contribute to understanding the end of the play in part because instances of irony tend to be dependent on the revelation to the audience of the ending. The ending is what makes most instances of irony actually ironic. Today, most people already know how Romeo and Juliet will end before they read it or see it performed, which makes situations of dramatic irony, where the audience knows something that a character does….....

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