Literature

Drama began in Ancient Greece and at the time, they were featured in two categories   tragedy and comedy, underscored by the masks worn by the performers which later on became the iconic symbols of the performing arts of theater and even movies.  As the names suggest, tragedy is characterized by a sad ending where one or all the main protagonists  die  in the end, or the dreams or goals are left unfulfilled. Comedy, on the other hand is meant to entertain people through humor and feature scenes that are funny which are interspersed with sobering scenes. William Shakespeare is one of the most renowned playwrights the world has ever known, and he wrote a plethora of plays both in tragedy and comedy.

Romeo and Juliet is a well-known case of a play written with a tragic end. It  is set in Verona, Italy and the plot is centered on two young lovers, Romeo of the Montagues and Juliet of the Capulets who are in love with each other in the midst of the feud between their families. Romeo is immediately smitten by Juliet whom he met at a masquerade ball, and he becomes totally and nearly madly in love with her despite the fact she belongs to the  enemy.  They secretly get married, but their road to complete marital bliss is fraught with many obstacles which tend to sabotage or scuttle their relationship, thereby breaking them apart. The first instance is the scene where Romeo kills Tybalt, Juliets cousin who kills Romeos friend Mercutio when the latter challenges Romeo to a fight which he refuses to accept, prompting Mercutio to intervene on behalf of his friend.  This incident makes Romeo a wanted man and further stalls the happiness he and Juliet seek as he is forced to go into hiding lest he be arrested and executed (Shakespeare,  Romeo and Juliet  3.1.195-197).

Another instance that leads to tragedy is the failure of Friar Laurences messenger to tell Romeo of an elaborate plan he devised to help the young couple live happily. The plan calls for Juliet to take a special drug that would render her unconscious for several hours but giving the impression she died. Romeo is supposed to meet her at her grave and once she is revived, they would forever leave Verona and live happily together to Mantua (4.1. 93-96).  Unfortunately, trouble emerges and the messenger fails to get the message through as Romeo hears the other version through his servant (5.2.17).  It is from these scenes that the stage is set for the tragic end as Romeo feels his world fall apart due to the death of his one and only love, takes his own life, not knowing Juliet regains consciousness and she too feels distraught seeing her love dead that she takes her own life as well.  As the members of both families gather at the tomb and see the two lifeless lovers, they finally make peace with one another after being admonished by the Prince who says,  Capulet Montague See, what a scourge is laid upon your hate  (5.3.291). As a tragedy, there is no  happily ever after  in this story.  The lovers, instead of a happy life together, are joined in death.  They did not live to have a chance to experience the joys of togetherness and marital bliss.  The irony of this tragedy is that it finally brings peace to their feuding families.

On the distaff side, A Midsummer Nights Dream is a comedic play. Some of the characters are based on personalities in Greek mythology. The story begins with Egeus coming to the court of Theseus, the Duke of Athens, to help him persuade his daughter Hermia to marry Demetrius.  The reason behind Hermias intransigence is that she is in love with Lysander. In addition, Demetrius originally had a relationship with her friend Helena whom he jilts in order to pursue Hermia. Theseus gives Hermia until his wedding to decide lest she be sent to a convent or be executed. In a bold move, Hermia and Lysander elope to be married at the house of his aunt. Their departure does not go unnoticed as Lysander follows them who is in turn, followed by Helena into a forest. In this forest is the kingdom of the faeries ruled by Oberon and his estranged wife, Titania.  Embittered by her refusal to give him her Indian changeling, he instructs Puck to use a special drug called  love-in-idleness.  What would happen is when this is sprinkled over ones eyes, the affected person would fall in love with the first thing the eyes see. Oberon intends to punish Titania by making her fall in love with something vile and hideous. When Oberon sees the two couples in the forest noting Demetrius cruelty to Helena, he decides to punish the man by instructing Puck to give him the same treatment. Unfortunately, Puck mistakenly applies the drug on Lysander who immediately falls in love with Helena (Shakespeare,  A Midsummer Nights Dream  2.2.65, 84). This is where the comedy begins as the relationship between these couples take a strange turn. Puck finally applies the drug on Demetrius to rectify his mistake, and what happens now is both men are pursing Helena much to the consternation of Hermia who could not seem to understand what is going on. While this is going on, Puck decides to have some fun as he chances upon a group of  hempen home-spuns  rehearsing for a play.  He plays a trick on one of the performers, Bottom, by changing his head into that of an ass which frightens his colleagues (3.1.103).  Thinking it is a joke, he carries on and sings his song to prove he is not scared of their tricks. His singing awakens Titania who by that time is already drugged and immediately falls in love with the clueless weaver and takes him into the forest (3.1.197-201).

Going back to the two couples, Oberon and Puck see the rather convoluted predicament they caused and move in to do damage control before someone gets killed. Puck mimics one anothers voices to confuse them and keep them confused in the forest until they fall asleep to allow him to rectify the problem. With that done, he leaves saying,  all shall be well  (3.2.463). They are discovered the next day by Theseus and his hunting party and here, he realizes that Hermia and Lysander love each other, as well as Demetrius and Helena who are back in each others arms he enjoins them to celebrate their wedding with his own. The play ends with Puck giving the parting shot by saying he will restore amends (5.1.438). What makes the story hilarious is the convoluted relationship caused by Puck who serves as the plays comic relief owing to his bungling of the task which has set everything in motion. There is of course the separate scene where Bottoms head turns into that of an ass which also provides comic relief as well as the scene where Titania, under the spell of the drug, fawns over him.

In terms of similarity, both stories by Shakespeare have romantic themes and the lovers involved are young people. The only difference is the outcome. Being a tragedy, Romeo and Juliet ends on a sad note as the two lovers did not live to be together to enjoy martial bliss but were rather joined together in death. It should be noticed that a series of misfortunes have led to this end. In contrast, A Midsummer Nights Dream ends happily, though the path leading to the happy ending is amusing given the convoluted plot that follows after Pucks mistake which makes for a very good entertainment. The lovers go through ridiculous situations especially Lysander and Demtrius who were under the influence of Pucks potion, appearing to lose all sense of reason as shown by their being madly in love with Helena. The same is also true with the case of Titania who was also under the same spell fawning the clueless Bottom who played along. In conclusion, Shakespeare provided us with plays that show the different aspects of life, in this case, love, and he did so by presenting it in two ways it can happen, tragically or hilariously.