SOURCE: Bergeron, David M. “Sickness in Romeo and Juliet.” CLA Journal 20, no. 3 (March 1977): 356-64.

In the following essay, Bergeron explores Shakespeare's use of the language and imagery of illness as a central tragic metaphor in Romeo and Juliet.

If we have cut our critical teeth on tragedies like The Spanish Tragedy, Hamlet, and The Revenger's Tragedy, we may have some difficulty in locating the tragic sense in Romeo and Juliet. Indeed some theatre directors choose to present it as a comedy, emphasizing Mercutio, the Nurse, and the sacrificial nature of the deaths of Romeo and Juliet which ultimately bring reconciliation of the Capulets and Montagues, virtually a felix culpa. That this play differs markedly in design from Hamlet, Othello, Lear, and Macbeth is undeniable, but I believe that no degree of emphasis on sacrifice can truly mitigate the tragedy that occurs. The play in fact becomes a tragedy...