An essay considering whether Romeo and Juliet Essay

‘Romeo and Juliet’ was a play written by William Shakespeare in 1595. William Shakespeare died on St. George’s day, 23rd April, 1616, making ‘Romeo and Juliet’ one of his earlier plays; written in what is now described as his second period, from his joining the Lord Chamberlain’s men in 1594 to the opening of the Globe Theatre in 1599. The diversity of Shakespeare’s work included comedies, histories and tragedies as well as poetry. ‘Romeo and Juliet’ comes under the category of a tragedy, tragedy meaning an event in which something dreadful occurs, or in a theatrical sense a serious play with a tragic theme, often involving a heroic struggle and the downfall of the main character. This definition of tragedy relates to ‘Romeo and Juliet’ because it is a play in which both the principal characters die in preventable circumstances at the close of the play. The downfall of Romeo and Juliet occurs by the fact that both characters start as young, beautiful descendents of powerful families and find themselves fleeing the city of Verona in fear of their lives and their relationship – both banished by the authorities or their own households. However, an alternative view could be developed by looking at the perception of the word tragedy when the play was written; in the late 16th century. People of the time were of the view that if something tragic were to happen it must happen to a person of innocence, otherwise it is not technically tragic. Romeo is not an innocent person because he takes the life of another person on more that one occasion, with the murders of Tybalt and Paris. Even though there is the argument that these crimes were a consequence of his obsessive and at times over-enthusiastic love for Juliet, they are still actions that take away his virtuousness. Juliet damages her purity by treating the wishes and guidance of her parents with contempt and disregarding the arranged marriage to Paris. These egocentric actions help develop another, more imperfect impression of the two protagonists which provides an argument against ‘Romeo and Juliet’ being a tragic play. In further illustration, tragic storylines generally end in unhappy circumstances, which on the one hand ‘Romeo and Juliet’ does with the many deaths, â€Å"for never was a story of more woe, than this of Juliet and her Romeo.† Whilst on the other hand it could be argued that a more exultant conclusion occurs by the fact that the long-standing feud between the Montagues and the Capulets is finally resolved through their deaths. Basis for this statement is provided in the final scene by Capulet, â€Å"O brother Montague, give me thy hand, this is my daughter’s jointure, for no more can I demand.† In Shakespearean times ‘Romeo and Juliet’ would have been compared to such tragic plays as ‘Hamlet’ and ‘Macbeth’ which were tragedies to the exact definition because they entailed stories of monarchs with flawed characters diminishing from the highest place in society to death over the course of the play. These stories fulfilled the public criteria for a tragic tale; a concept initially introduced by Aristotle, a Greek philosopher who lived from 384 to 382 BC. He produced directives for the perfect tragedy, concepts which heavily influenced academics and writers throughout Europe. He dictated that, â€Å"the tragic heroes of any play must be people of royal or other high-born backgrounds.† Therefore, ‘Romeo and Juliet’ can be argued against being a tragedy because the two central characters are not royalty or part of any particular hierarchy. Many contend that being young and beautiful puts them in a social position to surpass most to begin with, although this does not fit unerringly into Aristotle’s theory. Aristotle exactly specifies the protagonists must be of â€Å"royal or other high-born backgrounds,† explicitly kings or generals, which Romeo and Juliet are not. The aforementioned statement can be supported by the following quotation from act three, scene one, in which Romeo’s killing of Tybalt is analysed, with the prince announcing, â€Å"Immediately we do exile him hence.† The fact that he has been exiled prior to his death illustrates further the fact that he is at a low point in society. Additionally, Aristotle also expresses his belief that these high born protagonists should have fatal flaws which lead to their downfall. Romeo’s fatal flaw is his impetuous and spontaneous nature which causes him to act before thoroughly thinking about what he is doing and considering the consequences of his actions. An example of his rashness comes when Balthasar tells Romeo that Juliet is dead, not knowing it is a faked death, â€Å"hire post-horses, I will hence to-night.† Here he is saying he will return to Verona, which he has been banished from, without waiting for news from Friar Lawrence; an action, as the audience soon finds out, that causes his death. His hot-headed rashness develops into the fuel for his uncontrollable obsession for his love, Juliet; who herself is fatally flawed by her notorious and narcissistic disobedience which causes her to defy the instructions and beliefs of her family. Juliet becomes so caught up in the irrepressible ardour of her relationship with Romeo that she fails to see the outrage and hatred she is rousing from an already hostile feud between two households. An example of her defiance comes when her mother tells her of her arranged marriage to Paris, â€Å"He shall not make me there a joyful bride.† Here she refuses to marry Paris, which infuriates her parents, causing them to reject their daughter; and inevitably her character’s downfall as she is now shamed. These self-centred actions defiantly caused their demise leading to their death because if they both were to act with less haste when fuelling their love for each other then some of the consequences that occurred may have been p revented. Therefore, it is possible to maintain that Romeo and Juliet both suffered dramatic downfalls due to their own actions. On the contrary to this it could also be argued that as both their families recognised their lives by erecting statues of them, â€Å"for I will raise her statue in pure gold,† their characters therefore living on in a manner of speaking, meaning that their characters were not entirely degraded by their actions, thus rendering their characters not downfallen. Moreover, another notion primarily introduced by Aristotle was centred around the audience’s perception of a tragedy, and how this could be used to define a tragic play. He said that the audience should feel pity and terror, pity for the hero and terror at the importance of the gods. This relates to ‘Romeo and Juliet’ in the sense that the heroic characters are Romeo and Juliet themselves, whom the audience does feel a certain amount of pity for because of the unfortunate and seemingly preventable misfortunes that happen to them throughout the course of the play. Juliet is pitied for the fact that she is disowned by her family, â€Å"do as thou wilt, for I have done with thee.†