It's a fine, fine line.

Oh, how to begin?

So I was reading The Two Gentlemen of Verona the other day, and I started thinking about the nature of comedies and tragedies.

First of all, I would like to say that I think this play has an unfairly bad reputation. Despite having a slightly implausible plot line, the writing really affected me, and I found it much more entertaining than some of its more highly regarded fellows (*cough*Love's Labour Lost *cough* Justonelonggameofwordplaywithwaytoomanycharactersandnoplot). However, I would not have classified it as a comedy. Now, I am aware that the classic definition of comedy is a bit more inclusive than the happily ever after tale we get nowadays.

But let's lay it out here--Julia is madly in love with Proteus, he is forced by his father to go off to Milan to "expand his mind". They exchange rings, have tearful goodbyes, etc. Now Julia is stuck at home in Verona thinking about how much she misses Proteus. Meanwhile Proteus is livin' it up in Milan, falling in love with his best friend's gal, Sylvia.

Julia misses Proteus so much that she decides to dress up as a boy and travel to Milan just to see him. Bam. She gets there and he's courting someone else. So poor Julia is stuck in Milan, with no money, dangerously disguised as a boy, and desperately in love with this skeevy guy, who doesn't even recognize her when she goes to work as a page in the house where he's staying. He actually asks her to deliver the ring she gave him as a gift to Sylvia. Wanna know how Julia is revealed? She essentially "walks in on" Proteus trying to rape Sylvia and faints.

The play would be a horrible tragedy if he didn't suddenly recognize her and go, "Oh yeah, I'm actually in love with Julia" which is, basically, what happens, and because it is the sixteenth century, Julia has to be all "Yay! Proteus likes me again!" Now that's tragic.

Compare this story to Romeo and Juliet. Teenagers fall in love at a party, realize their families hate each other, so get to have lots of fun sneaking around scenes. There's some mad gossiping, a lot of she loves me she loves me not-ing, and a whole pack of comedic side characters. There's even the classic Shakespearean misunderstanding, which we are just waiting to be resolved so the kids can get together and everyone can be happy.

Except it isn't resolved. People start to die, and all of a sudden our happy-go-lucky teenagers are dealing with real grief and real anger and the real need for revenge. Turns out Mercutio is less of a party animal when he's bleeding to death in the street.

So who's to say what's a comedy or tragedy anyway? It's like life, all mixed up together.


Molly