Morgan Robinson Hale

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Recommended: Family life in Romeo and Juliet

Shakespeare: True Love Story?
Everybody knows who William Shakespeare is and that he is one of the most famous play writers in history. His most famous pieces are Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Shakespeare has written different types of plays from comedies to histories to tragedies to love stories. But it is Romeo and Juliet a love story? Romeo and Juliet is not a true love story because it has characteristics of both a tragedy and of a love story.
Furthermore, Romeo and Juliet couldn’t be a romance, and is a tragedy. A Shakespearian romance includes things like “events that are inevitable or inescapable” or “characters become isolated” (“The Main Characteristics…” para. 5). Romeo and Juliet would be immediately assumed to be a romance or a love story because of all the actions and the circumstances they were under, I do not believe that this is accurate. The characteristics shown would be found in a Shakespearean love story, but there are so many other elements of Romeo and Juliet that would be found in a Shakespearean tragedy. These elements are found in a Shakespearean tragedy “an articulate, social authority, someone who is “important”” (“Introduction to Shakespearean…” para. 2). These are the characteristics of a Shakespearean tragedy, the families are very important in society and a they have a large effect on the social lives of many people around them, like a social authority or a someone who is “important”. The Montagues and Capulets are strong contributors to the social “ladder” and they are fighting to get to the top of it. Though the play has some characteristics of both a romance and a tragedy, evidence shows that it is a tragedy.
Romeo and Juliet also show an aspect of pure teenage impulse and re...

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...speare is not a romantic, loving story and there is endless evidence that proves this theory. Romeo and Juliet are way too young to be truly in love, this story is not romantic it is a tragedy and this story, in few words affects traditional writing extensively. This so-called ‘love story’ should be considered something totally different; evidence suggests that there is no true love; this story is built on lust if anything romantic.

Work Cited
"Introduction To Shakespearean Tragedy." N.p., n.d. Web. 9 April 2014.
Jamieson, Lee. “How Does Shakespeare Handle Love in Romeo and Juliet?” About.com Shakespeare. N.p., n.d. Wed. 29 April 2014. http://shakespeare.about
Schwartz, Debora B., Dr. "Shakespeare's Four Final Plays: The Romances." Calpoly.edu California Polytechnic State University, n.d. Web. 28 Apr. 2014. .

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