good example of antithesis. Also, the antithesis is being used by Shakespeare to express Romeo's desires to no longer be feeling love. His unrequited love for Rosaline is giving him tremendous pain, hence, in this line he is expressing his wish to never have felt love in the first place. The line builds tension because we see Romeo's intense emotions and do not know how things will turn out for him.

A second example of antithesis that expresses tension is found in the line, "O brawling love! O loving hate! (174). The word "brawling," or fighting, in the first clause is the exact opposite of "loving" in the second clause, which is the act of showing affection. Also the word "love" in the first clause is the exact opposite of "hate" in the second clause. This line builds tension because it expresses the intense feelings of both love and hate that are juxtaposed all throughout the play and lead to disaster.

This line also contains two excellent examples of oxymora. While antitheses contain opposites in two phrases or clauses, oxymora are a combination of two words that are contradictory. In this line "brawling love" is an oxymoron because, while it may be true that some couples sometimes quarrel, fighting is the exact opposite of love. Also, "loving hate" is a second oxymoron because "hatred," or intense dislike, is the exact opposite of "loving," or the act of expressing extreme affection.

Oxymora can also be seen in Romeo's line, "Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire, sick health!" A feather is the exact opposite of lead, which is the heaviest metal; therefore, "feather of lead" is an oxymoron. Smoke has a dark black or charcoal color and is therefore the opposite of brightness, or bright color. Fire is burning hot and is therefore the exact opposite of cold. Health, or being without illness is the exact opposite of being sick. Hence we see that this line contains four different oxymora.

Again, Shakespeare uses these oxymora to build tension by expressing the intense juxtaposition between love and hatred that creates calamity in the play.

Shakespeare presents conflict in Romeo and Juliet through physical violence, witty repartee, and dialogue.

The play opens with the physical violence when the feud between the Montagues and Capulets breaks out once again into street fighting as males from the two families fight in the streets. The play will continue to be punctuated with violence as Tybalt fights and kills Mercutio (a stand-in for Romeo), only to be killed in turn by Romeo. Later, the conflict between Paris and Romeo is resolved by the sword fight in which Romeo kills Paris. Finally, the two young lovers enact violence against themselves when they commit suicide. It may seem too obvious to point to physical violence as a way of expressing conflict in the play, but it is central to both plot and theme: Shakespeare shows graphically the cost of the feud as real and tragic—and as falling disproportionately on promising young lives, both male and female.

But Shakespeare never met wordplay he didn't love, and lower-level conflict is expressed through witty repartee. On the way to the Capulet party, for instance, Mercutio and Romeo, both expert wordsmiths, spar over words: Mercutio poking fun at Romeo's lovesickness and bad dream premonition about the party, while Romeo sticks all the more firmly to his position.

Characters less facile in repartee clash through dialogue: Romeo's lovesick haste to marry immediately and his horror at his banishment are countered strongly by the friar, who tells him in both cases to get a grip and not be so self-absorbed and dramatic. Juliet and her nurse quarrel over whether she should abandon Romeo to enter into a bigamous marriage with Paris, leading to Juliet not confiding her fake suicide plan to her nurse.

The play is fraught with conflicts at various levels, but there is little doubt that the feud-incited physical violence the young characters do to themselves and others is the source of the tragedy.

The conflict of person vs. fate is central to Romeo and Juliet.

From the opening lines in the prologue, the audience is aware that these are "star-crossed lovers." Indeed, it does seem that their tumultuous love story and devastating ending are predetermined, despite the (unsuccessful) efforts of the young couple to create a happy ending.

Romeo never planned to attend the Capulet ball in which he met Juliet; instead, he was content to mope over the loss of Rosaline instead. His friends convinced him to change his plans, and because of their intervention, his life changed. Of course, his friends also ironically set him on a path toward his own death by trying to cheer up the morose Romeo.

Romeo and Juliet enjoy a brief period of happiness before fate intervenes again. When Tybalt demands that Romeo fight him, Romeo desperately tries to avoid the confrontation. Unfortunately, his friend Mercutio, typically a jovial and fun-loving guy, finds it necessary to defend Romeo's honor—and dies himself. This upsets Romeo so much that he lashes out at Tybalt, killing him after all. Afterward, he screams out, "I am fortune's fool!" acknowledging the way he seems to have played into the hands of fate, though he had tried to avoid doing so.

When Romeo is in Mantua, he should have received a letter from Friar Laurence telling him that Juliet was not, in fact, dead. Once again, fate intervenes, and Friar John is quarantined after visiting the sick en route to Romeo, so the letter never reaches him. This might not have ended so tragically if Balthasar hadn't reached Mantua, determined to let Romeo know that Juliet had recently "died." Because of these events, Romeo purchases a poison and plans his own suicide.

Perhaps the most evident scene of the hand of fate in the young lovers' lives is inside the tomb. If Romeo had arrived just a few moments later, he would have been reunited with Juliet. Instead, he drinks the poison and kills himself, dying just a moment before she wakes up. Unable to face a life without Romeo, Juliet also kills herself—moments before the page and watchmen, who could have saved her, enter the tomb.

The hand of fate weighs heavily on the conflict of the young lovers, ending their love story after only a few days. Ironically, their deaths bring about much-needed reconciliation between their families, which brings a "glooming peace" to the role of fate in their story.

There are several different conflicts in Romeo and Juliet, but the main one, the one involving the protagonist, Romeo, can be described as character vs. circumstance, and this conflict is mainly portrayed through the plot and dialogue. By chance, Romeo was born into a family feuding with another family. It is true that Romeo's own personal choices led him to the ball, which led him to fall in love with Juliet as well as anger Tybalt. However, had the Montagues and Capulets not been warring with each other, it would have never been an issue for Romeo to appear at the ball, and Tybalt would never have felt insulted and angered. Therefore, as the plot shows, it was merely a matter of circumstance that Romeo entered a conflict with Tybalt, leading to both of their deaths. The moment when Tybalt challenges Romeo to a duel is the moment when the conflict is at its most intense moment and when the conflict is best seen.

We see the consequences of Tybalt having felt insulted by Romeo play out in Act 3, Scene 1. Here, dialogue Shakespeare uses to clearly portray the conflict can be seen in Romeo's lines when he declares to Tybalt:

I do protest I never injur'd thee,
But love thee better than thou cast devise
Till thou shalt know the reason of my love. (67-69)

These lines show just how much Romeo is caught up in circumstances. He has just fallen in love with and married Juliet, but her family, like her cousin Tybalt, hates him merely because he is a Montague. Romeo tries to walk away from the fight, but Tybalt felt so insulted by Romeo at the ball that he wants justice. Furthermore, Mercutio makes things even worse by taunting Tybalt, resulting in his own death as well as Tybalt's and, eventually, Romeo's. However, Tybalt had no genuine reason to feel insulted by Romeo or to hate him other than that their two families have been feuding for generations. Therefore, this fight with Tybalt perfectly portrays Romeo's conflict of character vs. circumstance.

Shakespeare's best tool for creating suspense and tension is that fact that he tells you in the prologue what is going to happen to the "star-crossed lovers".  We hope against all hope that they will find a way to get around the prophesy, but to no avail.

First, there is the tension between the two families.  It begins with thumb-biting and quarreling in public which is quelled by the Prince.

We have tension in Romeo's sullen and moody rejection by Rosaline, and the attempt to cheer him up by taking him into the Capulets' household for a party.  Woe until him if he is caught in the enemy's house!

There is the developement of a love affair between the two offspring of the town enemies.  Lots of speeches about how in the world can I love someone I hate...internal conflict and tension there. 

The Friar secretly marries them...again the suspense of getting caught...and then everything is mucked up when Tybalt kills Mercutio who is then avenged by Romeo.  Romeo, newly married, is banished as the murderer of his new kinsman.

The tension is really thick when Juliet is expected to marry Paris when she's already secretly married.  She and Friar come up with this amazing plan which fails because the letter is not delivered in time and Romeo gets the news from someone who is not privy to the secret plan.

Romeo goes to buy a quick poison and kills himself minutes before Juliet awakens.

If that's not enough evidence of tension, I am baffled.

Shakespeare creates tension through several "oppositions" -- that of the two families Capulet versus Montague, that of the cousins Tybalt and Romeo, that of the Prince (government)  versus the kids/gang in Verona. (Romeo, Mercutio, etc.) Look for language that show opposition between the two characters. Good luck!

Romeo and Juliet is a sneaky play. The literary term for this is dramatic irony. Dramatic irony means we get to know more than what some of the characters on stage know. For example, we know what houses Romeo and Juliet are from before they do, we know their secret love when just about all of the characters don't, and we know that every line of Juliet's to her parents can be taken in more than one way or is a lie.

Just about every time Shakespeare reveals a major detail, things begin to move faster, this is a feature of plot. Each complication is a moment of rising action. For example, in the end of Act I, after Romeo and Juliet kiss, they part. The nurse reveals quickly to each their fate.

Juliet's reveal:

JULIET 
What's he that follows there, that would not dance?

Nurse 
I know not.

JULIET 
Go ask his name: if he be married.
My grave is like to be my wedding bed.

Nurse 
His name is Romeo, and a Montague;
The only son of your great enemy.

JULIET 
My only love sprung from my only hate!
Too early seen unknown, and known too late!

And Romeo's reveal:

ROMEO 
What is her mother?

Nurse 
Marry, bachelor,
Her mother is the lady of the house,
And a good lady, and a wise and virtuous
I nursed her daughter, that you talk'd withal;
I tell you, he that can lay hold of her
Shall have the chinks.

ROMEO 
Is she a Capulet?
O dear account! my life is my foe's debt.

Each of these takes place with some short sets of lines. These are traumatic and very dynamic positions in the text.

In the opening scene of the first act of Romeo and Juliet, the staccato exchange of hostilities between Sampson and Gregory, of the House of Capulet, with Abraham, a servant of the Montagues, serves well to create tension and effectively set the tone of animosity between the two families.

Again, the brief, but acrid verbal exchange between Mercutio and Tybalt in Act III suggests that action will soon follow as, obviously, the usually loquacious Mercutio is not interested in talking in this scene:

Benvolio:  By my head, here come the Capulets.
Mercutio:  By my heel, I care not.
Tybalt:  Follow me close, for I will speak to them.
Gentlemen, good-den--a word with one of you.
Mercutio:  And but one word with one of us?  Couple it with something--make it a word and a blow
Tybalt:  you shall find me apt enough to that, sir, an you will give me occasion.
Mercutio:  Could ou not take some occasion without giving? (III,i,26-32)

Not only are the exchanges brief, but the tone and implication of meaning are extremely hostile.  With words, Mercutio and Tybalt warm up for the sword fight.

Two elements that build up tension are the escalations of the conflicts as well as the occurrence of the climax.

While Paris's love interest in Juliet has always loomed as a problem, it's not until we get closer to the climax that it becomes a major point of conflict. Up until the middle of the play, the greatest conflict separating Juliet from Romeo is the feud between the two families, which can be described as a character vs. character conflict, as well as the fact that both Juliet and Romeo were fated to be born into the two warring families, which can be classified as a character vs. fate conflict. However, after Tybalt's death, Lord Capulet sees Juliet's grief as being so severe and unhealthy that he feels distracting her with marriage is best. So, suddenly Juliet is in a terrible conflict with both her parents as well as her circumstances. If she gives into her parents' will, she becomes guilty of the atrocious sin of polygamy. Friar Laurence's solution to the conflicts of faking Julite's death leads us even closer to our climax, creating even more tension.
The climax is not only the most emotionally intense moment of the play, but also the moment when the resolution becomes inevitable. While the moment that Juliet is faced with the decisions of either having to marry Paris, commit suicide, or take Friar Laurence's potion is a tense moment, the true climax would revolve around Romeo as he is the play's tragic hero. The true moment of climax is when Romeo is informed by his man servant Balthasar that Juliet has died. Sadly, Friar Laurence's letter has not reached Romeo in time, and he believes her death is real. This is the moment when Romeo decides to take his own life in his hands, the moment when the play's resolution becomes inevitable, the resolution being both his and Juliet's deaths. We especially see Romeo make the decision to take his own life when, after Balthasar tells him the news of Juliet's death, Romeo proclaims, "Is it e'en so? Then I defy you, stars!" (V.i.24). In saying this, Romeo is saying that he is challenging fate. While it seems that fate has set out for him a path of grieving and suffering, he is saying he refuses to succumb to that fate, and is challenging fate by taking his own life into his hands. Romeo's decision to take his own life before he learns all of the facts concerning Juliet's apparent death certainly adds to the tension of the play, leading up to the final tragedy.