Comparing Romeo And Juliet 'And' A Midsummer Night's Dream

Two of Shakespeare’s most famous works include Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Romeo and Juliet is about two lovers from feuding families that end with their tragic deaths. A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a comical story about a complicated journey where two couples run into a forest and get manipulated by mythical creatures. Both feature a fight scene where the main characters fight. Both plays also feature death scenes where two lovers die, though one is portrayed as a performance and is fiction. Though the two may share overlapping scenes, Shakespeare uses the literary tools diction, situation, and sentence structure to set the plays’ genres, comedy and tragedy, apart.

The first way that Shakespeare makes each play a unique genre is by using diction. For example, when Shakespeare writes to show a character’s shock in Romeo and Juliet, he writes, “What mean these masterless and gory swords to lie discolored by this place of peace?” (Romeo and Juliet 5.3.147-148). The words “gory” and “discolored” demonstrate strongly that the daggers are covered in blood were used to kill. The strength and specificity in the

In Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare writes Romeo’s final words as, “O true apothecary, Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die.” (Romeo and Juliet 5.3.119-120). These words are in the correct order and show Romeo tragically dying next to Juliet. This is an important part of what makes this play a tragedy. But in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare writes, “Tongue, lose thy light! Moon, take thy flight!” (A Midsummer Night’s Dream, 5.1.320-321). These are the last words of Pyramus but by switching the order of the words, Shakespeare makes it more humorous than tragic. The audience can laugh at how Bottom mixes up his words and looks like a fool. This is a perfect example of how A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a comedy and not a tragedy like Romeo and