The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet: in experimentation

William Shakespeare’s play The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet is usually regarded as ‘classic’ literature, but the play was actually quite avant-garde during the Renaissance period when first premiered. Shakespeare broke the rules of conventional theatre at the time by combining a romance narrative with a tragedy. Before Romeo and Juliet, established theatre strictly divided these two genres and romance plays always ended up in marriage with a happy ending. In such a regard, The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet would be the equivalent to an interdisciplinary innovative conceptual work of art today. Literature and creative writing can teach us much about experimental visual art, because well-written literature not only has proper grammar, structure, and syntax, but also narratives which challenge and evolve conventional norms. In other words, no one wants to read a predictable story. 

There is nothing predictable about The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, if someone were not familiar with the story from beginning to end. The ultimate love story, Romeo and Juliet takes place against a backdrop of an ancient feud between warring houses, forbidden love, dramatic action, suppression and release of passion. When reading the play, you will notice the tension and suspense gradually escalates from ACT II and afterwards until the end. ACT I is quite slow-paced and is like a prelude or crescendo you would find in classical music. 

In a way, you could regard the characters of Romeo and Juliet as representing the concept of the avant-garde. Here, we have two individuals driven solely by passion and ‘the establishment’ acts as a consistent obstacle in their way. Whether we are dealing with Lord Capulet and his hatred for the House of Montague, trying to force his daughter, Juliet, into marrying Paris, for who she does not love, or the Prince who banishes Romeo after a quarrel between the Capulets and Montagues goes too far. The story is also action-packed, twice, does Romeo engage in quarreled combat and defeats his antagonists who challenge him, whether being Juliet’s cousin Tibalt or Juliet’s arranged marriage suitor Paris. This constant established order which tries to control and prevent the love between Romeo and Juliet is much like the obstacles put forth by the conventional art world against those pursuing their passion in experimental practices in visual art. 

moving-image stills from Romeo + Juliet directed by Baz Luhrmann

The obstacles the conventional art world places in the way of experimental artists is regulating a system which rewards commercial appeal over substance and values blue-chip galleries, who themselves prioritize individuals from well-connected clans and have connections to elite institutions, such as Yale art school graduates. You could argue, the well-established clans are much like the upper-echelons of the Houses of Capulet and Montague who rule Verona with an iron fist, outside of royalty of course. In a way, you could associate the Prince in Romeo and Juliet as symbolizing the ‘art historian’, the supposed arbiter of truth and balance in the play, who in his decision, ends up directly and indirectly determining the fate of Romeo and Juliet, leading to tragedy.

Romeo and Juliet’s encounter in Capulet Garden in Act II is amongst the most memorable scenes in the play. Famously, Romeo declares his love for Juliet stating: “But soft, what light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun! Arise fair sun and kill the envious moon…”. Juliet replies “O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name. Or if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, And I’ll no longer be a Capulet”. As we can see, Juliet disregards titles and associations for her passion, being Romeo. Likewise, Romeo’s love for Juliet compares her to the Sun and the obstacles in their path as the moon, perhaps alluding to Paris and Lord Capulet.  

Friar Lawrence is an interesting character in the play, he marries Romeo and Juliet in secret and gives Juliet a sleeping potion in order to fake death, so she can avoid a forced marriage to Paris. Because a message of Friar Lawrence and Juliet’s plan fails to reach Romeo, when he finds her in a tomb, he immediately assumes she is dead, which ultimately leads to tragedy for Romeo, Juliet, and Paris. 

Before Romeo decides to commit suicide he declares his wailing love for Juliet in the following passage: 

“How oft when men are at the point of death. Have they been merry! Which their keepers call. A lightning before death. O, how may I. Call this a lightning? O my love, my wife. Death that hath suck’d the honey of thy breath. Hath had no power yet upon thy beauty. Thou art not conquer’d. Ah, dear Juliet. Why art thou yet so fair? Shall I believe That unsubstantial death is amorous; And that the lean abhorred monster keeps thee here in dark to be his paramour? For fear of that I still will stay with thee. And never from this palace of dim night depart again. Here, here will I remain With worms that are thy chambermaids. O, here Will I set up my everlasting rest”. 

For Romeo and Juliet, they view even death not an obstacle towards being together. In the previous passage, Romeo declares Juliet as stronger than death. He, in essence, is conceptually declaring her presence in body and mind as a metaphysical being which surpasses the planes of known dimensionality. Shakespeare creates a conceptual conveyance of passion superseding the barriers of mortality, and in this regard, today’s avant-garde can learn much from these musings of diligence towards the arts which ignores barriers based in physicality. 

The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, a narrative and play based on themes conveying how hate leads to tragedy, even against those who we care about and have nothing but love in their hearts. Simply because of the feud between the Capulets and Montagues, we are left with a tragedy which ultimately crushes their spirits. Only in tragedy of their heirs are the Capulets and Montagues finally able to put aside their ancient feud. For Romeo and Juliet, death is not the end. They saw death as a way of reconnecting with each other, passing the mortal barriers of their suppressive families. 

We will find the sheer passion of Romeo and Juliet enough to inspire the avant-garde artist today. A passion which surpasses physical barriers and can defy the establishment, whether being the Royal family, the House of Capulet, the House of Montague, or the conventional art world…Some academics regard practice-based research and experimentation to be a ‘formality’ and ‘rule-based’, however, Shakespeare clearly teaches us Romeo and Juliet would never have been as revolutionary during his time had he not literally broken the established rules of theatre by combining a romance into a tragedy. In such a regard, today’s experimental artist must be one who not only combines disciplines and genres, but also defies the conventional rules of ‘experimental formalities’ declared and demanded by the institutionalized aspects of the mainstream art world. 

We can regard the Capulet’s Garden as a sanctuary, here, this is where Romeo and Juliet meet in secret in the play. The sense of secrecy and suppression only fuels their love even more as Juliet eloquently declares:

“Come, night, come Romeo; come, thou day in night; For thou wilt lie upon the wings of night. Whiter than new snow upon a raven’s back. Come gentle night, come loving black-brow’d night.

Give me my Romeo, and when I shall die. Take him and cut him out in little stars. And he will make the face of heaven so fine, that all the world will be in love with night. And pay no worship to the garish sun. O, I have bought the mansion of a love”.

The constant tension and dramatic, rising climax in the play reveals how contemporary experimental art can be thrilling, adventurous, and yes, even theatrical, much like how William Shakespeare’s avant-garde orchestration of The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare’s characters in Romeo and Juliet are larger than the narrative proper. Romeo and Juliet especially are so well-fleshed actors to the point they truly stand out against the rest of the cast when reading the play. Their sense of passion and philosophical musings towards devoted love for each other grace the pages with a sense of intensity which has never been matched in the realm of literature in regard to romance. 

With this in mind, the avant-garde can learn from the fleshing out of the narrative as a tale of passion and enduring action which defies barriers in The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. If artists can learn to challenge what they have been instructed to do, they too can see past the barriers of technique and design principles into deeper dialogue of conceptual impact.

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Citation:

Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. Project Gutenberg Press. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 1998. ISBN: 979-8-238-01513-2