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.'
To conclude, Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy due to the tragic elements of Romeo’s thoughtlessness, Juliet’s attachment towards Romeo, and the plot’s dramatic turnabout. The play has both main characters tragically take their own lives, but there is much controversy whether it should be considered a tragedy or just a tragic story. Aristotle’s Poetics clearly outline all of the necessary parts to a tragedy, and Romeo and Juliet fill in those requisites. Despite all controversies, the one agreement everybody can come to is Romeo and Juliet is one of the world’s most beloved work of literature.
In the fair city of Verona, two rival families, the Montagues and Capulets were involved in a nasty family feud that goes back years before any of the members were born. Even the townspeople were involved in the dispute, because the families were always fighting in the streets and causing disturbances. They disrupted the streets of Verona and even Prince Escalus tried to break up the fighting. They were given a warning, by him that another public fight would result in death. While this was occurring, Romeo, (a Montague) the main character, was getting over his last love, Rosaline, and was very upset. Juliet of the Capulet household had just been introduced to a wealthy young man, Paris, whom her parents wished her to marry. Yet she did not love him. Romeo goes to a party in an effort to forget about Rosaline. At this party he met Juliet, and immediately fell in love with her. He later finds out that she is a Capulet, the rival family of the Montagues. He decides that he loves her anyway and they confess their love for each other during the very famous "balcony scene" in which they agreed to secretly marry the next day. Friar Lawrence agreed to marry them in an effort to end the feuding between the families. Unfortunately, the fighting gets worse and Mercutio (Montague) a good friend of Romeo ends up in a fight with Tybalt (Capulet), Juliet's cousin. Tybalt killed Mercutio, which caused Romeo to kill Tybalt in an angry rage. For this, Romeo is banished from Verona. At the same time, the Capulet's were planning Juliet's marriage to Paris. Juliet didn't want to marry this man so she arranges with Friar Lawrence to fake her own death with a sleeping potion that would make everyone think that she was dead. Friar Lawrence promised to send word to Romeo to meet her when the potion wears off and to rescue her to Mantua, where Romeo was currently staying. There they would live happily ever after. Unfortunately, Romeo didn't receive the message on time and upon hearing of her "death" went to Juliet's tomb where he drinks poison and dies. When Juliet's potion wears off, she wakes to find her lover's dead corpse. She then proceeds to stab herself with Romeo's dagger. The two families find the bodies and with their shared sorrow, finally make peace with each other.
William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet In act 1 scene 5 Capulet has thrown a party at his house. Romeo and
such a love can arise out of hatred and then triumph over it in death,
What are we made of? I mean humans of course, but what are we made of. We know what our bodies are composed of but what is in our souls or spirits. Are humans really superior to other living things. Yes we can talk, but what are we made of? We are made of our feelings. Our standards, our way of life, our way of thinking and everyone is different. Some may be straight A students with a normal life while some have had a rough journey and less than perfect grades. But there are some things that I think most people have in them. It’s a positive spirit. Now, everyones is triggered by different stuff but we all have one. But, of course where there is a positive spirit there is a negative spirit which is much, much easier to catch. Even though The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet doesn’t scream positive messages about human spirit there are still some in it such as, love can make you do crazy things, in hard times people can unite, and that even when everyone is against you, you can still do what’s right.
should do now. He says, "Is it e'en so? Then I defy you, stars!" Romeo
Rosalyn who is going to become a nun. Romeo is upset by this and his
Acts 3 scene 1 of the play is a turning point. How important are the
Throughout the entirety of Romeo & Juliet, Shakespeare is hinting at the “star crossed” deadly fate of the lovers spoken of by the chorus in the prologue. Romeo and Juliet are also constantly mentioning their uneasy feelings and how they can sense that something bad will happen, which confirm the aforementioned conclusion. This foreshadowing not only tells us this tragedy planned, but there must be pawns of fate that have to drive Romeo and Juliet together, while at the same time leading them to their death. In Romeo and Juliet, their deadly destiny was written by the universe and characters along the way, such as Capulet, Montague, Nurse, Friar Lawrence, Friar John, and Mercutio.
of a fight "let us take the law of our side let them begin" Sampson
The play Romeo and Juliet is a widely known tragedy written by Shakespeare. Romeo and Juliet features two rival families and their children. When a daughter of Capulet and son of Montague meet at a party, sparks immediately fly. However, because of their families rivalry, they marry in secret, and were happy. That is until things took a turn for the worst. After an unexpected accident, Romeo is forced to leave the city, and he may never return. Juliet’s not sure she’ll ever see him again and tries to plan a way to be with Romeo, but ends up making things worse. It is an extremely tragic story. Or that’s what everyone is led to believe. However, the play Romeo and Juliet is in actuality a comedy. Between the overabundance of hyperbole, Paris’
and happy to see real love around us or actually be in a true love
find in Romeo and Juliet love will always win and at the end of Act
goes to the party held by Lord Capulet in order to see Rosaline. He is
William Shakespeare's plays come in many forms. There are histories, tragedies, comedies and tragic comedies. Among the most popular are the comedies which are full of laughter, irony, satire and wordplay. Many times the question is asked: what makes a play a comedy instead of a tragedy. Shakespeare's comedies often use puns, metaphors and insults to provoke 'thoughtful laughter'. The action is often strained by artificiality, especially elaborate and contrived endings. Disguises and mistaken identities are often very common. Opposed to that are the tragedies, where the reader would find death, heartbreak, and more serious plots and motives. The plot is very important in Shakespeare's comedies. It is often very convoluted, twisted and confusing, and extremely hard to follow. Other characteristics of Shakespearean comedy are the themes of love and friendship, played within a courtly society. Songs often sung by a jester or a fool, parallel the events of the plot. Minor characters, which add flavor to the plot, are often inserted into the storyline. Love provides the main ingredient. If the lovers are unmarried when the play opens, they either have not met or there is some obstacle to their relationship. Examples of these obstacles are familiar to every reader of Shakespeare: the slanderous tongues which nearly wreck love in "Much Ado About Nothing", the father insistent upon his daughter marrying his choice, as in "A Midsummer Nights Dream", or the confusion of husbands in "The Comedy of Errors".