The Comedy and Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

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In William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, the Prologue includes phrases like 'death-marked love' and 'fatal loins'. From this, we might think that Romeo and Juliet is an unrelenting tragedy. Yet, the first Act has many humorous moments. We must consider the balance of tragedy and comedy in Act One, concluding whether it is on the whole humorous or tragic. As defined by Aristotle, 'tragedy evokes pity and fear in the audience.' On the other hand, comedy evokes pleasure and laughter. Act One is highly comical with absurd characters and humorous language. However, from the outset, the audience is on notice that the play is a tragedy, not least because the play begins with a dark and tragic Prologue. The Prologue contains dark imagery such as 'civil blood makes civil hands unclean,' and 'from ancient grudge break to new mutiny'. It also describes a 'pair of star-crossed lovers' who, 'with their death bury their parents' strife'. This creates dramatic irony amongst the audience, in that however amusing the comic aspects in the rest of the play, ultimately the audience knows that tragedy will follow.
Act One develops in the following way. Many comic events are established to the reader, and many of these events are ironic to the audience. One example of this is in Scene 4 when a servant to Capulet invites Romeo, a Montague, to a major party at the Capulet's house, "Now I'll ... ... middle of the sentence ... ...d they are shown to be brainless and dim-witted. On the other hand, not all the characters in Romeo and Juliet are comic. It is highly tragic, for example, that the two 'star-crossed lovers' are from separate feuding households. As well as this, it is vastly tragic that the audience knows the fate of Juliet, as this makes the character of Lord Capulet very tragic, as we know that Juliet is his last hope.
From the beginning of the first act, it is hard to determine whether or not Shakespeare meant the play to be a comedy or tragedy. However, it is my belief that the play is a clear tragedy, not least because of the language, characters, and events, but because from the outset, it has been pre-empted that the play was meant to be a tragedy, not least because the play is entitled the 'Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet.'

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