The story of Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare is a story full of love, life, and death. The romantic gestures between Romeo and Juliet suggest that the play is a love story but Romeo and Juliet is actually a tragedy. This tragedy can be proven to be a tragedy by looking at Aristotle’s definition of a tragedy. A tragedy by Aristotle’s definition is “the imitation of an action that is serious and also, as having magnitude, complete in itself; in appropriate and pleasurable language;... in a dramatic rather than narrative form; with incidents arousing pity and fear, wherewith to accomplish a catharsis of these emotions.” Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy because the action revolves around the story, not the characters. The characters are at the mercy …show more content…
However, their families also hate each other, so they are fated to death and tragedy. Aristotle wrote that a real tragedy was all-encompassing, larger than life, and incredibly dramatic. In this play, there are two families, the Capulets and the Montagues that hate each other so much that their servants can’t even pass each other in the streets without a bloodbath threatening to break out without evening knowing the reason for the feud. In this way, Shakespeare shows that there is going to be a conflict and …show more content…
(Act 3, Scene 2)
But when Paris comes into play wishing to marry Juliet, the plot becomes more detailed and messy when the young lovers go to Friar Lawrence for help, and he gives them a potion to make Juliet seem dead. Romeo finds her, kills himself, and she wakes up and actually kills herself. Their grieving parents realize what fools they’ve been and end the feud.
Thought is usually described as thoughtful themes, or meaning behind the play. There are universal issues of revenge, love, friendship, and the struggle of identity. Passion in all its forms (love, anger, lust, happiness, boldness, violence, courage) conflicts the peace. It is what gives the play its timelessness and its meaning.
Diction refers to the action lines in the play, and how the language is used. This is a very poetic play. Much of it is written in sonnets and verse.
O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright!
It seems she hangs upon the cheek of