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Dramatic Irony In Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet

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Sometimes it is absolutely necessary for a secret to be kept. Revealing a secret could lead to consequences that are disastrous, which is the case in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. One of the characters, Juliet’s Nurse, is required to keep the secret regarding the marriage between Romeo and Juliet, despite the fact that their families are enemies. Not only do secrets help develop characters and trust and relationships, but they also add dramatic irony, which both affects the plot and contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole. Secrecy is necessary in Romeo and Juliet because revealing secrets could lead to disastrous consequences. As previously stated, secrecy is sometimes necessary. It’s necessary to keep a secret because secrets …show more content…
Dramatic irony is, briefly, when the audience knows something known by only a few other characters, or no other characters at all. Characters knowing another character’s secrets is just one example of dramatic irony, which is very common in Romeo and Juliet. In Romeo and Juliet, the Nurse knows a lot of Juliet’s secrets, including that of their marriage. This, once again, can be seen when Juliet asks, “What says he of our marriage? What of that?” (II.v.40). This is an example of dramatic irony because the audience and a few characters know the secret, but some other characters, like Juliet’s parents, do not. This dramatic irony makes the story more intriguing and contributes to the plot because, if it weren’t a secret, Juliet’s fake death may not have occurred, which eventually led to her real death. Of course, this is just one example of how secrets and dramatic irony can both come together and help contribute to the meaning of the work as a whole. In short, secrecy is necessary in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet because, in most cases, the effects of revealing a secret could lead to disastrous effects. Some of these possible effects include punishment for Juliet, the Nurse losing Juliet’s trust, and death for Romeo. The choice to keep such a secret contributes to the plot because it adds suspense and dramatic irony, both which make the plot more interesting. Doing so contributes to the meaning of the work as a whole because it helps make the entire work more interesting, meaningful, and

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