The Writers' Coffeehouse : Forum : Tragedy as a Form of Romance?


Tragedy as a Form of Romance?

9 Years Ago


 My question to everyone is, can a romantic story come in the form of a tragedy?

 Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare. Often viewed as a romantic tale, however, the main characters both end up dead in the end. To me, this type of story seems rare. It's not every day that you see love stories end in death aside from Romeo and Juliet copy cats(or the actual story itself being retold).

 Why is that? Sure, you could argue that happy endings sell better. But why isn't it more common practice to defy this tradition? To start your story at the top and just go nowhere but downhill from there.

Re: Tragedy as a Form of Romance?

9 Years Ago


Is not love itself a comical tragedy :)
Some of the best love stories that I know have sad endings. I think everybody wants a happy ending , everybody wants to be in love *hopeless romantic* but it also a fact that everybody has felt pain. So I think any story that can make you relate to your pain irrespective of genre should be a hit! 

Re: Tragedy as a Form of Romance?

9 Years Ago


I guarantee you it's possible to have absolutely no happy ending. But is it still readable? I guess that's what I really want to know. If the story starts at 0 and drops to -10 at the end, is it possible for people to still read it. Requiem for a Dream is a good example.

Re: Tragedy as a Form of Romance?

9 Years Ago


I think for purposes of this discussion it is important to look closely at the notion of death. If you look at death as something negative, as many people do when reading Romeo and Juliet, then it is hard to bring together ideas of tragedy and romance. However, I do not view death as something terrible, but instead as a chance for the soul to be released from the body. If we look at death in this positive light, then when two lovers pass away, they are not cast aside and forced into the darkness, but instead they come into a communion with all souls and experience bliss and love.