Comedy vs. Tragedy: Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream vs. Romeo and Juliet
According to Horace Walpole, “Life is a comedy to those who think, a tragedy to those who feel” (Wolterbeek). Over the course of many years, comedy and tragedy have been studied by various scholars, from Aristotle to Friedrich Nietzsche. In both of Shakespeare’s works, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Romeo and Juliet, the plays can be compared and contrasted in regard to their respective genres. Though both plays explore the idea of love and marriage as a central thematic aspect, A Midsummer Night’s Dream involves objective light-hearted themes such as fantasy and magic, while Romeo and Juliet include subjective themes of free will and mortality. Through close analysis of both plays, it can be inferred that the comedy in A Midsummer Night’s Dream considers marriage and union, while the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet considers death and separation, displaying the evident common differences between the works of comedy and tragedy.
Both A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Romeo and Juliet explore the central theme of love and marriage. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, love is displayed at the beginning of the play as it begins with the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta as Theseus states, “Now, fair Hippolyta, our nuptial hour draws on apace” (1.1.1-2). It is then revealed that Hermia is considering moving out of Athens with Lysander and disobeying her father’s wishes, portraying how she challenges tradition in the hope to achieve a chance at love, despite Athenian law. The theme of love is also displayed within the fairies who indulge in magical endeavors and tamper with the morals of love stories using potions. Similarly, Romeo and Juliet also reveal the theme of intense infatuation between the two protagonists. Romeo and Juliet fall in love and get married in the midst of being entangled in family rivalry, which results in an irrational force of affection that supersedes rationale and consideration of cause and effect. Though both plays consider the theme of love, Shakespeare uses different tactics to gain the audience’s attention, which displays the differences between the two genres of comedy and tragedy.
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The levels of comedy in A Midsummer Night’s Dream involve slapstick comedy and intellectual language, while the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet is emotion-based (Wolterbeek). Comedy includes two levels: high and low comedy; high comedy involves ideas and satire, while low comedy includes obscenity and physical mishaps (Wolterbeek). Shakespeare utilizes both high and low levels of comedy in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. An example of low comedy includes the slapstick physical comedy between Hermia and Helena (3,2,285f) while high comedy is portrayed within the figurative language of Titania when she first encounters Bottom (3,2,245). In Act 1, Scene 1, Helena says, “Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind, and therefore is winged Cupid painted blind,” which reveals the emotional dimension of the play as “eyes” can be compared to physical attributes, while “mind” can be compared to non-physical attributes, which show the intellectual language of the play (1,1,234).
Meanwhile, Romeo and Juliet do not include levels of comedy, rather the play exuberates various emotions that appeal to the audience. For example, the protagonists’ rash decisions are based on their emotions including love, anger, and desperation. Romeo and Juliet’s rash decisions are evident in their quickness to get married, Juliet’s choice to go along with Friar Lawrence’s plan, as well as Romeo’s fast inclination to believe Juliet was deceased (5,1,34). An example of the play’s subjectivity is when Romeo and Juliet first meet in the final scene of Act 1 when they use highly emotional language, utilizing religious metaphors (1,5,104f). The structure of their interaction is revealed with more tension because the audience is aware of their family rivalry as their first exchange takes place right after Tybalt and Capulet speak of their rivalry with the Montagues.
Along with the various approaches to tragedy and comedy, another difference is that tragedy displays human beings as ennobled, while comedy considers human beings to be inferior. In Romeo and Juliet, both of the characters are from wealthy families as the Chorus reveals in the Prologue, “Two households, both alike in dignity in fair Verona, where we lay our scene, from ancient grudge break to our mutiny, where civil blood makes civil hands unclean” (Prologue, 1-5). The setting of their first meeting also infers ennoblement because it takes place in a ball that is held in Lord Capulet’s home. However, in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Bottom’s character is viewed as mentally and physically inferior. He is seen as physically inferior when Puck turns his head into an ass. He is also seen as mentally inferior when he is oblivious to his transformation as he says, “Why do they run away? This is a knavery of them to make me afraid” (3,1,117-118).
There are also differences within character aberration; tragedy includes characters who are worthy of compassion and emphasizes the individual, while comedy includes characters who are amusing and emphasizes society. Shakespeare appeals to the audience’s emotions in Romeo and Juliet due to the couple’s inevitable fate. In the Prologue, it is revealed that the two are “A pair of star-crossed lovers [who] take their life” (Prologue, 6). The Prologue not only provides background information about the family rivalry but also Romeo and Juliet’s predetermined destiny which the audience can sympathize with. In contrast, A Midsummer Night’s Dream reveals the mischievous nature of the fairies, which can be portrayed as light-hearted and amusing to the audience. A Midsummer Night’s Dream is also seen as a satire in the sense that Shakespeare uses common Renaissance notions and satirizes them. For example, when Titania quickly falls in love with Bottom, it is a satirical notion of love at first sight (3,2,245). In the same way, when the “Mechanicals,” such as Peter Quince, Nick Bottom, Francis Flute, Robin Starveling, Tom Snout, and Snug rehearse the play for the wedding, it is revealed that they incorrectly recite their lines, which satirizes Renaissance drama as well as love poetry.
The conclusions of both plays also portray a difference between comedy and tragedy as comedy explores marriage and union while tragedy ends with death and separation. An example is evident in the ending of A Midsummer Night’s Dream as it concludes with the unification and resolution of characters. The play begins with conflict and disorder as Hermia, Lysander, Helena, Demetrius, Oberon, Titania, and Bottom are entangled in the fairies’ magic. By the end of the play, the order is restored as the conflict gets resolved. For example, the fairies lift the spell from Lysander and he falls back in love with Hermia, Demetrius stays in love with Helena, Theseus grants Hermia and Lysander permission to marry one another, and Theseus invites all four of the lovers to his wedding (4,1,50f; 5,1,365). However, in Romeo and Juliet, the structure of the play begins with a brawl between Montague and Capulet's households and concludes with the death and separation of both Romeo and Juliet. Throughout the play, Shakespeare reveals the danger of uncontrollable, youthful inclination and utilizes Romeo and Juliet’s death to show the harsh repercussions of holding family grudges.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Romeo and Juliet both highlight the theme of love and infatuation, but their differences portray the generic contrast between works of comedy and tragedy. Comedy, including high and low levels, is objective and intellectual, while tragedy is subjective and emotional. In both plays, Shakespeare utilizes various strategies that gain the attention of the audience. As tragedy presents human beings are ennobled, and it is easier for the audience to relate to them as it puts the characters on a pedestal of admiration. However, comedy considers human beings as subordinate which contributes to the humoristic aspect of Shakespeare’s work. Whether reading the happy ending of a comedy or a heartbreaking tragedy, Shakespeare’s work has proven to be timeless as both plays, Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night’s Dream are considered by critics to be the most eloquent comedic and tragic plays.
Works Cited
- Shakespeare, William. A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Signet Classics, 1998.
- Shakespeare, William. Romeo and Juliet. Signet Classics, 1998.
- Wolterbeek, Marc. “Essential Differences between Tragedy and Comedy.” ENG2544. Notre Dame de Namur University, California. 5 February 2011.
- Wolterbeek, Marc. “Humor and the Comic.” ENG2544. Notre Dame de Namur University, California. 5 February 2011.
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