Shakespeare

The Meaning of Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet 107VIIIThe tragedy ends in the reconciliation of the two houses, compensation, it isgenerally held, for the deaths of the two lovers. Doubtless the feud was notrenewed in its former form. But much superfluous sentiment has been spent onthis ending. Is it not folly to suppose that Capulet or Lady Capulet was spirituallytransformed by Juliet’s death? And as for Montague, the statue of her in puregold that he promised to erect in Verona is proof in itself how incapable he wasof understanding her spirit and how that spirit alone, and not monuments orgold, can bring an end to feuds. (Lady Montague, who died of a broken heart,was far and away the finest of the four parents.) Shakespeare’s happy endings are,almost without exception, suspect. Or rather they are to be found, if at all,elsewhere than in the last scene and final speeches, and are “happy” in a quiteuntheatrical sense.Cynics are fond of saying that if Romeo and Juliet had lived their lovewould not have “lasted.” Of course it wouldn’t—in the cynic’s sense. You can nomore ask such love to last than you can ask April to last, or an apple blossom. YetApril and apple blossoms do last and have results that bear no resemblance towhat they come from—results such as apples and October—and so does suchlove. Romeo, in his last words, referred to the phenomenon known as “alightning before death.” Here is that lightning, and here, if it have one, is thehappy ending of Romeo and Juliet:If I may trust the flattering truth of sleep,My dreams presage some joyful news at hand.My bosom’s lord sits lightly in his throne,And all this day an unaccustom’d spiritLifts me above the ground with cheerful thoughts.I dreamt my lady came and found me dead—Strange dream, that gives a dead man leave to think!—And breath’d such life with kisses in my lips,That I reviv’d and was an emperor.Ah me! how sweet is love itself possess’d,When but love’s shadows are so rich in joy!ROM:Enter Balthasar—with news of Juliet’s death.Dreams go by contraries, they say, and this seems to be an example. But isit?N OTES1. See the discussion of the Choruses of Henry V on this point.