One of the most famous works of the famous English playwright W. Shakespeare is the play “Romeo and Juliet” (the genre of creation is tragedy). This composition is still popular with the modern reader, and the directors are still inspired by this story, again and again transferring the immortal love story to the screen and staging the plays on it. Despite their attempts to remake the writer’s work in a new way, the play still attracts the audience precisely with its unique originality, which, perhaps, was reproduced only by the Italian director F. Zeffirelli in 1966.
Style specifics
The most moving love story in literature is, of course, the play Romeo and Juliet. The genre of this work sometimes causes controversy among literary scholars due to the fact that this work is written in sonnet language. Therefore, it is imbued with high humanistic pathos, which greatly distinguishes the narrative from the classic heavy tragedies of Shakespeare, which he created during his mature work.
As a result, some critics prefer to call the playwright’s composition “bright tragedy”. They mean the fact that in its spirit and sound it is imbued with joy and triumph of love, despite the sad ending. And this is completely not typical for the subsequent works of the playwright, which are distinguished by a particular gloom and drama, as well as the theme of doubt in a person in general (“Hamlet”). The play in question, on the contrary, is a hymn of youth and love, which sharply distinguishes it from other works of the poet.
Syllable syllable
The composition “Romeo and Juliet” was written in a completely unusual language. Its genre is difficult to determine unambiguously also due to the fact that the characters speak a poetic syllable. Many literary scholars rightly point out that the author used a special sonnet language to convey the characters' love experiences. This is another fundamental difference between history and other works of the playwright. The latter circumstance was another argument for those critics who called it “bright tragedy”.
Many scholars correctly note that Shakespeare, being a master of the sonnet syllable, very successfully used his poetic experience in creating character images. The fact is that he is the author of a whole series of sonnets, which are considered the standard of love lyrics. It is not surprising that when writing the story of two lovers, he used an exquisite poetic speech, which gave the narrative special refinement and courtesy.
Imagery
The play “Romeo and Juliet”, the genre of which, despite these features, is nevertheless defined as a tragedy, is full of epithets, comparative turns and other means of literary expression. It also sets the work apart from other books by the author. The works of the mature period of his work are distinguished by a heavy language, while the composition in question is written in a very light and free style, which is characteristic of early Shakespeare. Therefore, this story is difficult to perceive as a tragedy in the full sense of the word. In some places, it looks like a love melodrama, and in others - even like a witty comedy, despite the fact that serious passions develop in it.
So, one of the most difficult works of the playwright is the play Romeo and Juliet. The genre of the work involves following a specific canon, which provides for a tragic ending. However, most critics rightly point out that the sad end does not spoil the bright feeling that the play inspires when it is read. And indeed, the terrible death of heroes is perceived as a victory and triumph of their young love. From this point of view, the story is different from the dramatic narratives of the late period of the writer's work.
Plot
The founder of modern dramatic and theatrical art is considered to be W. Shakespeare. “Romeo and Juliet” (the genre of the work, as mentioned above, is defined by modern scholars as a bright tragedy) is a story that is not like historical chronicles and other plays of the playwright. The composition of the work is quite simple: two families are at enmity, but their children fall in love with each other and, unable to bear the obstacles, commit suicide. It is known that the author often drew inspiration from ancient legends and even ancient legends. The play “Romeo and Juliet” was no exception. What is the genre of her work? This is a question that interests many researchers even in our time, when, it seemed, this problem was already solved in literary criticism.
Narrative features
The problem is that the plot of the play is very different from the classic tragedy. Despite the passions, the narration nevertheless in some places becomes quite humorous and sometimes even funny. The whole drama is presented in an easy, slightly sad manner, which again, more likely, could resemble a love melodrama, if not for the strength of emotions and the depth of feelings of the characters.
Heroes
In the lessons of foreign literature, students can be offered the theme of the essay “William Shakespeare. "Romeo and Juliet": the genre of the work. " Students will try to speculate on this topic by analyzing the characters' characters and their actions. It should be noted here that the characters in the tragedy also do not look like the heroes of classical drama. All of them are impulsive, but not evil, emotional, quick-tempered, proud, but capable of generosity, overly impressionable and prudent. This characteristic applies, perhaps, to all the heroes who cause sympathy, pity, sympathy or compassion, but never irritation or disgust.
In classical dramas, the main character, as a rule, has an antagonist who has stained his honor with a crime or an insidious plan. In the play in question, none of the actors is definitely a negative character, which again makes it difficult for those who define the genre of the book "Romeo and Juliet."
Value
Studying the features of this play is very important for understanding how diverse and multifaceted the writer's work is. Shakespeare created a large number of completely dissimilar works, which in literary criticism there is even a problem of authorship of these works. There is a hypothesis that all these stories were written by another person or several authors.
However, the play is in close connection with the poet’s sonnets, and also anticipates many of his other tragedies. This means that this work was an important stage in the work of the playwright, who, with this story, paid tribute to his youthful poetic hobbies. And at the same time he took the first serious step towards the creation of serious dramatic plays.