Romeo & Juliet - beloved romance? (spoilers)

[muldoonthief]

There’s a radio ad playing in the Boston area now for Romeo and Juliet at the Boston Ballet. The ad describes it as “Shakespeare’s most beloved romance”, which really bugs me. After all, they both die at the end, due mostly to confusion and stupidity. It’s a great play, and a great story, but to describe it as a “beloved romance” to try to attract the Valentine’s crowd just seems wrong. What do you think?

[silenus]

It’s a romance to the “They died together” crowd. Hardly seems like one to me. They spend one night together then both of them kill themselves. Makes me think they had compatability issues at the very least.

[Zebra]

It’s a tragedy, not a romance.

[KneadToKnow]

@Zebra

It’s a tragedy, not a romance.

Yeah, but that’s just the author’s opinion. In today’s world, that doesn’t matter for much, especially when you’re trying to put asses in seats.

[TWDuke]

Of course it’s a romance:

@American Heritage Dictionary

     1. **A love affair.**
     2. **Ardent emotional attachment or involvement between people; love:** They kept the romance alive in their marriage for 35 years.
     3. **A strong, sometimes short-lived attachment, fascination, or enthusiasm for something:** a childhood romance with the sea.
     4. A long medieval narrative in prose or verse that tells of the adventures and heroic exploits of chivalric heroes: an Arthurian romance.
     5. A long fictitious tale of heroes and extraordinary or mysterious events, usually set in a distant time or place.
     6. The class of literature constituted by such tales.
     7. **An artistic work, such as a novel, story, or film, that deals with sexual love, especially in an idealized form.**
     8. The class or style of such works.

(Emphasis added.) Romances don’t have to end happily.

[Mahna_Mahna]

At its core, Romeo and Juliet is a love story.

Agreed, it’s also a tragedy about two families whose long-standing feud leads to the death of several of their heirs, two of whom die as a result of their own stupidity… but that doesn’t change the fact that the two central characters set events in motion by falling foolishly in love, which makes it a romance.

As TWDuke points out, not all romances end happily. That particular requirement is usually limited to Harlequin Romances.

[Max_the_Immortal]

IMO, it isn’t primarily a romance, even if it has romantic elements. It’s a tragedy about a bitter feud that not even True Love ™ can overcome.

[Sir_Rhosis]

Didn’t “romance” originally mean just an overblown tale of high adventure? Not that R&J is one of those. Just saying.

EDIT: Oops, overlooked the dictionary ep posted above!

Sir Rhosis

[Dr.Rieux]

@Zebra

It’s a tragedy, not a romance.

It’s a Romantic Tragedy.
It’s two–two–two plays in one!

[TWDuke]

Actually love does end the feud, not that it does Romeo or Juliet much good.

ETA: You got romance in my tragedy. You got tragedy in my romance!

[Zebra]

The plays are broken up into Histories, Comdies, and Tragedies and some people call some of his plays romances, but romance was not a term used at the time.

here is a cite.

They put the following features to a Shakespeare romance.

A redemptive plotline with a happy ending involving the re-uniting of long-separated family members;

Magic and other fantastical elements;

A deus ex machina, often manifesting as a Roman god (such as Jupiter in Cymbeline or Diana in Pericles);

A mixture of “civilized” and “pastoral” scenes (such as the gentry and the island residents in The Tempest);

“…and the poetry is a return to the lyrical style of the early plays, though more mellow and profound.”[1]

Romeo and Juliet is in the tragedy column. Some people subdivide it to a "Love Tragedy with Othello and Anthony and Cleopatra.

[Kythereia]

Zebra: I think those are more accurately called “the problem plays”. I know some editors lump them in with the comedies, which always pinged wrong to me (how is Timon of Athens a comedy?)

And it may not technically be a romance, but it is beloved. Mention Shakespeare to the average person, and I will bet you a very expensive pint of chocolate Godiva ice cream that they flash on two plays: Hamlet, or Romeo and Juliet.

[Zebra]

Timon and Pumba and Athens is pretty funny.

[Yllaria]

@Zebra

Timon and Pumba and Athens is pretty funny.

Now THAT’S a tragedy.

[Yookeroo]

@muldoonthief

There’s a radio ad playing in the Boston area now for Romeo and Juliet at the Boston Ballet. The ad describes it as “Shakespeare’s most beloved romance”, which really bugs me. After all, they both die at the end, due mostly to confusion and stupidity. It’s a great play, and a great story, but to describe it as a “beloved romance” to try to attract the Valentine’s crowd just seems wrong. What do you think?

How are confusion & stupidity not hallmarks of romance? I know I get stupid & confused.