With reference to Romeo and Juliet what makes the play a tragedy?
With reference to Romeo and Juliet what makes the play a tragedy?
Romeo and Juliet is undoubtedly the most famous love story in Western literature, and it also recognised as one of the world's most famous tragedies. Some argue that Romeo and Juliet could easily have been a comedy, baring similarities to other Shakespeare plays, such as A Midsummer Nights Dream. However, Romeo and Juliet, is a popular play, filled with elements of tragedy composed by writers such as Aristotle, that continues to capture the imagination and emotions of audiences around the world. The drama portrays the passionate, violent and often desperate lives of the youth of Verona. Even today, the tragedy resembles a blueprint of the problems that the adolescents of the twentieth century must face each day. In this play, Shakespeare explores the pitfalls of young love, and the consequences they receive from their actions.
According to the English dictionary, a tragedy is described as a 'serious disaster or a sad event'. In Shakespeare plays, tragedy is identified as a story that ends unhappily due to the fall of the protagonist, which is the tragic hero. For a play to be a tragedy, there must be a tragic hero. In the play, Romeo is the tragic hero. In the Greek concept of the tragic hero as a great personage destroyed by some tragic flaw, referred to as the 'Fall of Princes', Romeo has no place. He is merely a young man in love with love, and it is his misfortune that his eye falls upon the beautiful daughter of his father's enemy. All disasters that befall the two families flow from this situation; thus the drama becomes one of pathos and pity rather than the type of soul-purging tragedy Shakespeare came to write in his later works.
Romeo and Juliet is one of the earlier works in the Shakespearean canon, and while it is often classified as a tragedy, it does not bear the hallmarks of the 'great tragedies' like 'Hamlet' and 'Macbeth'. Some argue that Romeo and Juliet's demise does not stem from their own individual flaws, but from the actions of others or from accidents. Unlike the great tragedies, 'Romeo and Juliet' is more a tragedy of mistiming and ill fate. However, it can be said that rashness and youth are the tragic flaws of Romeo and Juliet.
The play opens with a fourteen line sonnet. This introduces the audience to Romeo and Juliet, and gives information about where the play is set, 'In fair Verona, where we lay our scene', and some background knowledge about its major characters. 'From forth the fatal loins of these two foes A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life'. This line, taken from the prologue in 'Romeo and Juliet', tells the audience that the two main characters will die within the play. The outcome of the prologue is to let the audience watch the play with the expectation that both Romeo and Juliet will die, and it will therefore be a tragedy because they know, from the prologue, that the two were 'lovers'.
In 'Romeo and Juliet' the audience learn that Juliet is 'not yet fourteen', and that she is beautiful and innocent. Romeo's reaction after he sees her is
"O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright!
It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night
As a rich jewel in an Ethiop's ear
Beauty to rich for use, for the earth too dear!"
This adds to the tragedy when she dies because she is so young and pure that the audience can feel sympathetic towards her. Juliet is, however, prudent for her age, ...
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In 'Romeo and Juliet' the audience learn that Juliet is 'not yet fourteen', and that she is beautiful and innocent. Romeo's reaction after he sees her is
"O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright!
It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night
As a rich jewel in an Ethiop's ear
Beauty to rich for use, for the earth too dear!"
This adds to the tragedy when she dies because she is so young and pure that the audience can feel sympathetic towards her. Juliet is, however, prudent for her age, 'Although I joy in thee, I have no joy in this contract tonight. It is too rash, too unadvised, too sudden.' She feels that because she and Romeo have only just met one another, they should abstain from sexual intercourse. However, this is when the tragedy begins because they want to get married yet they are fully aware that if their families were to find out about their love for one another they could end up dead, and by the end of the play that is exactly what has happened.
A person must posses certain qualities that classify one as a tragic hero. One of these qualities is the noble birth of a character. In 'Romeo and Juliet', Romeo being the tragic hero, possesses that quality. Romeo is a Montague, and in the city of Verona the Montague's are a well known and respected family. It is a known fact that the Montagues are of noble birth, when it is said by Benvolio in Act 1, Scene 1: "My noble uncle." Benvolio is referring to Lord Montague, who is the father of Romeo. The Montagues are also a rich family, and that is one of the reasons for the respect for Romeo. "Verona brags of him... bears him like a partly gentleman." This was said by Lord Capulet in Act 1, Scene 5, illustrating that even Romeo's enemies know well of him and know that he is respected and talked about by the citizens of Verona. Usually, within a tragedy, when a character is introduced as being noble, the audience is aware that in the end of the play, the character will have a tragic fall.
Another necessary quality possessed by a tragic hero is the hero's tragic flaw, which in Romeo's case is falling in love too quickly and deeply. " To seek a tragic flaw in either Romeo or Juliet is a foolish and futile." - comments Harold Goddard, a critic from the book: " Modern critical views, William Shakespeare the Tragedies." Goddard supports the idea that having a tragic flaw is a part of being a tragic hero. Another critic states that " if Romeo's character does have a tragic flaw, it is youthful impetuosity; an older or more deliberate man might somehow have managed to avoid the quarrel and would not rush to kill himself as soon as he believed that Juliet was dead."
Throughout the play there are constant references made to death. For example when Juliet says "My grave is like to be my wedding bed". This introduces irony into the play because in the penultimate scene she dies in the same place she married Romeo. This is elaborated further when Romeo and Juliet have a mutual impression that the other looks pale and deathlike after their wedding night: "Methinks I see thee, now thou art below, As one dead in the bottom of a tomb: Either my eyesight fails, or thou look'st pale". Friar Lawrence warns the young lovers to behave moderately if they wish to avoid tragedy: "These violent delights have violent ends . . . Therefore love moderately". Death is related so closely to tragedy that the continual hints of it throughout the play help to create a sense of foreboding for the audience.
Aristotle says that "Tragedy is an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and possessing magnitude...in the mode of action; not narrated; and effecting pity and fear (what we call) catharsis of such emotions." He speaks of the need for mature tragedy to have a complex action by which he meant that reversal and recognition result logically from a change in fortune. this can certainly be applied to 'Romeo and Juliet'. Romeo, at the beginning of the play, was a noble and well thought of character, but as a result of his actions he was banished to Mantua and finally ended up dead. Similarly, Juliet, like Romeo, came from a loving, wealthy family but when she refused to marry Paris her parents washed their hands of her. At such a young age this contributed towards the overall tragedy of 'Romeo and Juliet'.
Aristotle suggests that the proper metre for drama is 'The iambic... the proof is that in talking to each other we most often use iambic lines.' The majority of Shakespeare's tragedies, including 'Romeo and Juliet', use iambic lines. Likewise, Aristotle claims that 'Necessarily then every tragedy has six constituent parts, and on these its quality depends. These are plot, character, diction, thought, spectacle, and song.' Shakespeare is well known for his focus on diction, spectacle, and even song. In these categories one could make any number of parallels between Aristotle's dramatic suggestions and the original staged forms of Shakespeare's work. Furthermore it can be said that Aristotle's views on tragedy, previously discussed, can be applied to 'Romeo and Juliet'.
A large part of the tragedy of 'Romeo and Juliet' is blamed on fate. The first example of a reference to fate is in the prologue, at the very start of the play.
'From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life;
Whole misadventured piteous overthrows
Do with their death bury their parents' strife.'
This quotation implies that even from the very beginning, the young couple were doomed. 'Star-crossed' refers to the astrological outlook on destiny that was much more widely accepted when Shakespeare wrote his tragedy. By including this line so early in the play, Shakespeare creates a sense of anticipation in the audience. From the start they know what the eventual outcome will be, but the questions of 'how?' and 'why?' are only answered as the play progresses. A final example of one of the characters from the play referring to fate is when Friar Lawrence is talking to Juliet shortly before she stabs herself: 'A greater power than we can contradict Hath thwarted our intents.' The 'greater power' that Friar Lawrence refers to is, of course, fate. His statement does not make Juliet feel any better however, as she promptly commits suicide. Shakespeare again chooses to place the blame on a higher power rather than an individual, signifying his desire to make the audience believe that no one person or thing was responsible for the deaths of the young couple but fate. The question is: Who really was to blame for the fate of Romeo and Juliet, and what would make it any more tragic if it were the fault of humans or fate?
The play could easily have been less tragic, or possibly not a tragedy at all. The Prince is the ruler of Verona. He tries hard to keep the peace, but not enough to stop the tragedy. He is big in his threats but does not carry them out, for example he has the chance to enforce the death penalty on Romeo, but instead chooses to banish him. After the deaths of Mercutio and Tybalt the Prince asks the citizens of Verona "who now the price of his dear blood doth owe?", in other words he seeks justice for these murders. If he had tried harder to prevent the quarrelling and carried out more of his threats the feud might not have got as bad as it did. However at the end of the play he accepts some of the responsibility for what has happened by "Winking at their discords". He also tries to bring the two sides together by saying, "What a scourge is laid upon your hate, that heavens finds means to kill your joys with love". The consequences of the feuding are fatal for the two protagonists, but it is easy to see how events in the play could have been prevented and therefore removed 'Romeo and Juliet' from the genre of tragedy.
Whilst 'Romeo and Juliet' is classed as a tragedy one must wonder what form of tragedy it actually is. Norrie Epstein asks in "The Friendly Shakespeare": "Is Romeo and Juliet a tragedy of fate or a tragedy of character?" In Shakespeare's other tragedies, for example Hamlet and Othello, the fault lies within the hero's nature, and he dies with the knowledge of his fatal flaw. Whereas Romeo and Juliet are victims of a universe not of their making. They are "star-crossed," born in a fateful hour; Shakespeare's only romantic tragedy is a drama of missed chances, poor timing, accidents, and mistakes. The teenage lovers are also victims of the older generation in the play who, failing to understand them, contribute to their deaths. As Charmazel Dudt, professor of Shakespeare studies, said "What makes a tragedy so tragic is not that the noble individual falls into ruin, but that his fall causes so much suffering in others." This is perfectly applicable when discussing 'The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet'.
The theme of tragedy plays a great role in the play 'Romeo and Juliet'. The audience can still get lost by the poetic beauty of the language, but the intrinsic tragedy of two young lovers, caught between feuding families, still works its magic. By analysing Romeo's tragic flaw, his noble birth, his series of poor decisions, and the suffering of Romeo that extends beyond himself, it is evident that Romeo and Juliet is classified as a tragedy.
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Bibliography
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Romeo and Juliet. Zeffirelli. 1968
Aristotle. Poetics. Trans S.H. Butcher. 1907
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Bloom, Nasold. Modern critical views. William Shakespeare the Tragedies.1985
Rackin, Phillis. Shakespeare's Tragedies. 1978
Epstein, Norrie. The Friendly Shakespeare. 1993
Brodley, A.C. Shakespearian Tragedy. 1986
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romeo_and_Juliet
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