Vilca, Mariana Naomí

Literature IV
Prof. Susana Company
Romeo and Juliet Essay

I Should’ve Known You Were Trouble When You Walked In

Romeo and Juliet... who hasn’t heard these names at least once in their

lifetimes? We all know of their tragic deaths and their short-lived love story. If one

were to read just the prologue alone, they would find out how the story ends, how

our tragic heroes die at the end of the play. By explicitly telling us that the rivalry

between Capulets and Montagues could only be ended by their offspring’s

deaths, Shakespeare is setting us on a path of at least two instances of

foreshadowing. We know what will happen to our heroes before they even get

the chance to imagine such situations. The use of foreshadowing in Romeo and

Juliet, then, serves to accentuate how tragic their love story is.

The first instance of foreshadowing happens when Romeo, Benvolio, and

Mercutio are outside the Capulets’ home debating whether or not to attend the

party. Romeo explains to his friends that he had a dream the night before and as

a result, he has a bad feeling about trespassing at the Capulets’ home. Romeo

thinks that night will be the start of something bad, that there are consequences

“hanging in the stars.” Moreover, he feels this will ultimately bring about his

demise. Despite all his misgivings, Romeo ends up attending the party and what

he feared the most came true: that same night he met Juliet, he fell in love at first

sight, he learned they were not allowed to be together, and thus began their story

of forbidden love that resulted in both their deaths.

 The second instance of foreshadowing takes place once again at Juliet’s

house. Right after getting married, Romeo and Juliet must part ways due to

Romeo’s exile so they decide to meet face to face one final time. Little do they

know, it will be their last time seeing each other alive. When Romeo descends

from Juliet’s balcony, she sees him as if he were a corpse, “as one dead in the

bottom of a tomb.” The setting itself allows Juliet to imagine this as it is night time

and the light of the moon makes Romeo’s skin look paler. This event hints at what

actually happens near the end of the play, to Juliet’s horror, she finds Romeo’s

corpse over her own body at her family’s tomb.

Shakespeare’s use of foreshadowing proved effective in highlighting the

tension of the play. The climax of Romeo and Juliet is their demise, their inability

to cope without the other person alive. We knew from the beginning they would

not survive, what we didn’t know were the events that led to their double suicide.

We read about plan after plan being devised to help them stay together, and yet

they died. By the end of the play, we were only waiting for the other shoe to drop.