William Shakespeare s Romeo And Juliet - 1306 Words

As outlined in Aristotle’s Poetics, tragedies are meant to follow a specific structure. In a tragedy, heroic characters often give in to their various flaws and end up dying as a consequence, resulting in an outpouring of grief from the audience. Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is often cited as a prominent example of the tragical genre, with Romeo’s crime of passion against Tybalt resulting in the complication of his relationship with Juliet, and ultimately, the duo’s demise. However, despite its status, Romeo and Juliet contains a number of elements that lend themselves more to comedy than tragedy and result in a play with a much more comedic slant than it would appear to have at first glance. It is through the playful character of†¦show more content†¦Only a short time later, Mercutio continues: â€Å"O Romeo, that she were, O that she were / An open-arse and thou a popp’ring pear!† (2.1.37-38). While appearing to be just an a postrophe at first, given the fact that the scene in question takes place within a forest, the aside takes on a completely different meaning when it is explained that a â€Å"popp’ring pear† is a euphemistic phrase created by Shakespeare and that Mercutio instead is making a sly remark about Rosaline’s anus. This sort of discourse very easily shows how Romeo and Juliet contains more comedic elements, with Mercutio’s demeanor adding a certain degree of mischievous, distinctly upbeat individuality to the tragedy. To further expand upon this point: In Poetics, Aristotle mentions that â€Å"†¦Tragedy [aims to represent men] as better than in actual life† (2); however, characters in the play are, more often than not, left scandalized by things Mercutio says, or end up having conversations with him that do not serve any greater purpose than to emphasize the whimsicalness of his character. For instance, in act 1, scene 4, Mercutio recites a lengthy monologue about dreams, to which Romeo responds: â€Å"Peace, peace, Mercutio, peace! / Thou talk’st of nothing† (1.4.95-96). When Mercutio describes Tybalt to Benvolio in act 2, scene 4, Mercutio describes him very