Romeo and Juliet: A Postmodern Play?
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scene after scene, after scene, with a tragic ending (Snyder 56-70, Smidt 2744). While I will not attempt a scene-by-scene description here, close
examination reveals that, aside from the Prologue (which may or may not have
been presented in Shakespeare’s time), 12 out of 24 scenes in Romeo and Juliet
are almost wholly comedic, and 11 out of the remaining 12 scenes contain
substantial comedic sections. In other words, the play presents comedic action
about ninety-six percent of the time (Forse 93). K. Cartwright (43-87) muses
that despite the Prologue “the camivalesque of Romeo and Juliet will never
quite go away,” thus coming back to the notion that the play is a flawed tragedy.
Suppose, however, instead of looking through the eyeholes of the mask of
tragedy we try on the mask of comedy, and see if, perhaps, rather than a flawed
tragedy, Romeo and Juliet is instead a flawed comedy? One of the most notable
traits of comedic theory, derived from Aristophanic comedy, usually is referred
to as the “Happy Idea,” a la the sex-strike Aristophanes used in Lysystrata.
Since the men of Sparta and Athens cannot seem to find a solution to end this
dreadful war nobody wants, perhaps the women can proffer a simple solution.
Now the “Happy Idea” is clearly expressed in Romeo and Juliet too. It is evident
in the first scene that the citizens of Verona, and even the heads of the rival
families, are tired of the feud, but unable to find any solution to it. But the
marriage of the sole heirs of the respective feuding families seems to offer a way
to cut this Gordian Knot. The famous balcony scene proposes that love can
overcome the outdated family rivalry. Friar Lawrence implies the marriage of
Romeo and Juliet is the “Happy Idea” to end the feud. In Act 2, scene 3 (lines
91-2), when Romeo tells him of his love for Juliet, Friar Lawrence replies: “For
this alliance may so happy prove/To turn your households cancor to pure love.”
Romeo’s lovesick infatuation with Rosaline in Act 1, scene 1 even seems to
foreshadow the “Happy Idea.” Rosaline is, after all, described as Juliet’s cousin,
another member of the rival Capulet family.
At least as early as Roman comedy, the clever servant, or underling, who is
privy to knowledge unknown to the master, and who often thwarts the master’s
plans, has been a popular device in comedy, particularly in smoothing the path
to true romance for young lovers thwarted by parents or other older figures of
authority. Commedia. dell*Arte is replete with clever servant figures. Romeo and
Juliet, in effect, has at least two clever servants: the Nurse, and Friar Lawrence.
The Nurse effects the meeti ng of the lovers for marriage and their wedding
night—all unbeknownst to the Capulets and Montagues. Friar Lawrence effects
their marriage, Romeo’s escape to Padua, and the solution to Juliet’s dilemma
lest she commit bigamy—all unbeknownst to Capulets, Montagues, and the
Prince. Indeed, at every point in the play when complications to their romance
arise, either the Nurse, or Friar Lawrence, or sometimes both, solve those
complications right under the noses of the authority figures. In fact, it is not until
Friar Lawrence’s long explication at the end of the play that the Capulets, the
Montagues, the Prince, and the citizens of Verona are made aware of the
convoluted series of events that have taken place right under their noses.