Few plays written touch us as Romeo and Juliet do. It has touched our very souls, and has even worked itself into everyday conversation. No one can necessarily point out the reason for this, but everyone will agree that it is one of the defining "tragedies" of all time. On the contrary, Romeo and Juliet is not a true tragedy, according to Aristotle's Poetics.
             "Shakespeare is placed against the tapestry of age/times/society"1. Romeo and Juliet was written around 1595, when Shakespeare was in his 'tragic" period. He wrote it about the same time as he wrote "A Midsummer Night's Dream", and both plays have similar themes (Shakespeare 865). In A Midsummer Night Dream, there is a play-within-a-play involving Pryamus and Thisbe. Pryamus and Thisbe are two young lovers that are separated by a "vile" wall that their parents have placed in order to keep them apart. In Romeo and Juliet, Romeo and Juliet are two young lovers separated by their families' hatred for each other. Pryamus and Thisbe aspire to elope, but their plans quickly unravel when Pryamus finds Thisbe's bloodied scarf. He jumps to conclusions, believes that Thisbe is dead, and kills himself. When Thisbe finds her love's body, she promptly slays herself. In Romeo and Juliet, Romeo and Juliet marry in secret, and Romeo is exiled after seeking revenge for his friend, Mercutio, by killing Juliet's cousin, Tybalt. After learning that she must marry a suitor her father picked, Juliet takes a potion that will make her sleep for 72 hours and make her look like she is dead. The friar tries to send a message to Romeo, but it fails to reach him, and learning of Juliet's "death", he flies back too Verona. Romeo kills himself in the tomb where Juliet was laid, and upon waking, Juliet is so distraught, she slays herself. In Pryamus and Thisbe, the play seems tragic, but it comes across as a comedy. "This is the silliest stuff ever I heard"(Shakespeare 855)....