Addison
Many scholars believe Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy, and
many others believe Romeo and Juliet is a romance. However, there is another
preposition to consider; Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy because it is a romance.
There has been discourse around whether this cautionary tale of young love,
rushed passion, and violent delights is a romance or a tragedy since it was
written by William Shakespeare between 1594 through 1596. It is a tragedy
because it ends in the suicide of the two lovers, with much more death along
the way. It is a romance because of its doomed love story between the daughter
of the Capulets and the son of the Montagues being what drives the plot
forward. But what many fail to consider is that both genres mix and combine in
this play.
Romeo and Juliet cannot be labeled under “romance” or
“tragedy,” instead, it should be considered as a part of the subgenre “romantic
tragedy.” Themes of love and death in Romeo and Juliet, core components of
romance and tragedy, flirt constantly as they compare, contrast, and compliment
each other. Love and death stand in as representatives for romance and tragedy.
One of the ways this is shown is at the very beginning of the story through the
prologue, “The fearful passage of their death-marked love…” (Shakespeare,
Prologue, 9). In this quote, love and death are being explicitly combined,
setting the tone for the rest of the play, as Shakespeare continues to match
the concepts of death and love through the rest of the run time. Upon meeting
Romeo, Juliet makes a striking statement about how she would prefer to be dead
than Romeo be with another woman, “Go ask his name. If he be married, / My
grave is like to be my wedding bed.” (Shakespeare, Act 1 Scene 5, 148- 149). In
this line, Juliet foreshadows that her separation from Romeo will be her
demise, further pushing the narrative of love and death being connected. Before
marrying Juliet, Romeo challenges death himself, “Do thou but close our hands
with holy words, / Then love-devouring death do what he dare, / It is enough I
may call her mine.” Love is proposed to be a “deadly force,” intertwining the
two concepts, with the harsh, passionate feelings of love being the sorrowful
result of death. After Juliet fakes her death, Paris spreads flowers on
Juliet’s grave, “Sweet flower, with flowers thy bridal bed I strew.”
(Shakespeare, Act 5, Scene 3, 11). Not only do Romeo and Juliet compare their
love to death, but many other characters also do the same throughout the play,
even without knowing of the secret marriage within the realm of the story, further
intertwining the two concepts as one. Love and death are not two separate
entities in Romeo and Juliet, they are contrasted, complimented, and
ultimately, intertwined as one. Classic elements of what defines, and typically
separates, a romantic play and a tragic play are displayed constantly
throughout Romeo and Juliet. A tragic play is defined by Merriam-Webster as “a
serious drama typically describing a conflict between the protagonist and a superior
force (such as destiny) and having a sorrowful or disastrous conclusion that
elicits pity or terror.” This definition perfectly reflects the story of Romeo and
Juliet. The star-crossed lovers fall victim to their own character flaws and a
fate they have no real control over. The story arc itself follows the narrative
of a tragedy. According to Freytag’s Pyramid, a well-known theory showcasing
the structure of a tragedy, it goes as follows: exposition, rising action,
climax, failure, catastrophe. (Cordova, 2025). It is very similar to the
“hero’s journey,” but in this case, instead of falling action and a resolution,
there is a catastrophe, something tragic that happens to end the play on a sad
note. The ending of Romeo and Juliet is no doubt incredibly sad, with the very
final lines of the play directly pointing it out; “A glooming peace this
morning with it brings. / The sun for sorrow will not show his head. / Go hence
to have more talk of these sad things. / Some shall be pardoned, and some shall
be punished. / For never was a story of more woe / Than this of Juliet and her
Romeo.” (Shakespeare, Act 5 Scene 3, 316-321). Romeo and Juliet is no doubt a
tragic story. However, it also follows the plot of a classic historical romance
at the same time. Romance Writers of America states that a romance play
includes “a central love story and an emotionally satisfying and optimistic
ending.” The love story between Romeo and Juliet is the main driving plot
point. Specifically, it can be noted that Shakespeare titled the play after the
lovers, not the parents. It is not “the Capulets and the Montagues,” it is
Romeo and Juliet. The story revolves around them; thus, leading to all other
tragedies in the play. The ending of Romeo and Juliet is tragic, but not
entirely so. Though it still brings feelings of woe, it is not entirely sad.
The Capulets and the Montagues amend their differences in the wake of their children’s
deaths, their ancient grudge solved by their shared grief. This softens the
bitterness of the ending with a sort of clarity, leaving the audience at least
somewhat satisfied even if not quite comforted. Both genres clash within Romeo and
Juliet, combining into a different genre altogether, “romantic tragedy.”
Shakespeare’s own interpretations of a love story and a
tragedy are both extremely apparent in Romeo and Juliet. Prior to writing Romeo
and Juliet, Shakespeare had written about 7-10 other plays, and was likely
30-32 years old. This would mean he had written for just around 6-8 years since
the start of his career, not including any writing he may have done before he
was
even a playwright. He would have had plenty of time to
observe other plays of both romance and tragedy, whilst developing his own
styles. Romeo and Juliet is not only a well-developed play, but considered to
be the first establishment the “romantic tragedy” genre. It is considered to be
highly experimental in terms of merging romantic and tragic elements,
“Shakespeare understood, more than any other writer, that the stuff of modern
tragedy—anarchy, inner disorder—is also deeply the stuff of modern comedy, that
the two are linked, inextricable.” (Lichtenberg, 2024).
Despite all of these tragic and modern concepts already
having been around since before Shakespeare was born, he was the first person
to combine such opposing ideas. Romeo’s use of oxymorons and juxtapositions in
the Act 1 reflects how Shakespeare combined ideas of the light and the dark,
and the duality that comes with it, “andquot;O brawling love, O loving hate, / O
any thing of nothing first create! / O heavy lightness, serious vanity.”
(Shakespeare, Act 1 Scene 1, 181-183). Here, Shakespeare sets the precedent for
how the entirety of the play is written, with constant dual uses of light and
dark language, the combination of tragic and comedic scenes, and the
combination of plot devices seen in both romance and tragedies.
Shakespeare’s previous romantic comedies reveal more insight
into how he viewed these two genres. In The Taming of the Shrew by William
Shakespeare prior to writing Romeo and Juliet, one can draw many comparisons
between the two supposedly different genres. In The Taming of the Shrew,
Shakespeare makes a presence of the financial and social aspect of marriage and
courtship, along with how this affects the families of the two lovers.
Shakespeare had played with the idea of generational differences playing into a
love story, creating an obstacle for the couple. This concept is also utilized
in Romeo and Juliet, as the lovers’ families keep them apart. Similarly, Titus
Andronicus, Shakespeare’s first tragedy, show similar themes as Romeo and
Juliet.
Titus Andronicus is widely regarded as Shakespeare’s most
intense and controversial play, with heavy themes and dark topics, straying
from his usual comedies at the beginning of his career. Themes in Titus
Andronicus include that of power plays between two households and interpersonal
social scandal. This is similar to Romeo and Juliet, as the pressure between
the two families reaches a boiling point within the story. The contrast between
Titus Andronicus and Shakespeare’s earlier romantic comedies could have been an
early development of how he would combine these themes later in his career,
particularly, with Romeo andamp; Juliet. Romeo and Juliet can almost be
considered as a combination of opposite themes, comedy and tragedy. Jokes are
made often throughout the play, with comedic scenes sprinkled between each
heart-wrenching act. Specifically, it can be observed that between Act 4, Scene
3, and Act 4, Scene 5, there is Act 5, Scene 4, which offers a breath of fresh
air amidst the rest of the horror in the story. It also serves to create
dramatic irony, with the scene showcasing and oblivious family of Capulets
preparing a wedding for Juliet, unaware they would find her “dead” body just a
short time later. Shakespeare’s own previous works and interpretations of
romance and tragedy come up within Romeo and Juliet as they combine to create a
“romantic tragedy.” It can be argued that Romeo and Juliet was written as a
tragedy, and therefore is a tragedy and only a tragedy, despite its themes of
love. Shakespeare explicitly stated himself in its earliest publication that it
is a tragedy. However, this argument fails to consider just how intertwined the
themes of love and death are within the realm of the story. Anyone could look
within the story and consistently find running themes, plot devices, and
literary hints that Romeo and Juliet is more than just its loosely titled
genre. Shakespeare never later commented on the genre after it had been
analyzed and picked apart by critics to decipher what exactly this play is
supposed to be. It’s too light to be a tragedy and too dark to be a comedy. It
exists in a middle ground, a sort of limbo. As the first of its kind, it did
not have a proper name, which is why it can be believed that Shakespeare
labeled it as a tragedy as he had no other term for it. The plays original
name, “The Most Excellent And Lamentable Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet” can shed
some light onto how Shakespeare viewed this play as an artist viewing their
art. The contrast between the use of the word “excellent” and “lamentable”
highlights contrast in how this play presents itself; dualling the light and
the dark to create a unique experience. The play titles itself as a tragedy, and
yet puts the lovers’ names as the sole focus, rather than focusing on what a
true tragedy would have focused on, the feud between the families. It is
outdated to call Romeo andamp; Juliet a tragedy when there was no real language
to describe it when it was first classified.
The story of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare is too
complex and contradictory in its use of themes, plot devices, and language to
exist as exclusively a “romance” or “tragedy.” Instead, a middle ground must be
taken into consideration when titling this play; “romantic tragedy.” The play
itself uses literary juxtapositions to confuse its audience with opposing themes
of love and death, combining motifs that commonly appear in comedic romances or
tragedies. It uses writing styles found within both classic romances and
tragedies, with its plot combining a love story and a sad, cautionary tale. The
writer of the play used his own interpretations of romance and tragedy from his
previous plays within Romeo and Juliet. When put in the context of the time in
which the play was written, there was no way to title it that would reflect its
unique dual use of light and dark literature. In conclusion, considering Romeo and
Juliet a tragedy or a romance fails to make light of its genius writing as the
first of its kind as a “romantic tragedy.”