What Kinds of play is Romeo and Juliet?

Abstract

This paper argues for Romeo and Juliet as three kinds of play cooperating on distinct levels. The main kind is a complex exemplum implying several morals. Its very young lovers are meant to be exemplary victims of adult inadequacy. In another kind, the tragic love-story, they are much closer to adulthood. This story was well known in Shakespeare’s day, and he uses it as cover for the third kind, which is covertly political, concerned with pressing issues arising from Tudor rule. With the passage of time awareness of the first and third kinds faded, so that the play has come to be understood simply as a wonderful sad love-story. However, analysis of the text reveals that its main concerns are with the other two kinds.