Is Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet a true tragedy?

Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is
actually widely thought of as a "Problem Play." While the play ends in tragedy, it
actually begins comically ( href="http://www.shakespeare-navigators.com/romeo/Snyder.html">Snyder, "Review:
"Romeo and Juliet: Comedy into Tragedy.").

A tragedy
generally focuses on one tragic hero who reaches his demise as a result of a fatal
character flaw, as we see in Macbeth or
Hamlet. The play reveals the character's innermost thoughts and
feelings. While the character dies as a result of the fatal flaw, the reader/viewer does
not think that the character's fate is wholly deserved.

Of course,
one way that Romeo and Juliet diverges from Shakespeare's classic
tragedies is that it focuses on a couple rather than one person. We do see more of a
focus on Romeo in that the play begins with Romeo and ends with Romeo in that his death
speech is far longer than Juliet's, but for the most part it focuses on both characters
equally.

Another way that the play diverges from Shakespeare's other
tragedies is that fate has a far larger role in their deaths than in his other
tragedies. We do see character flaws in both Romeo and Juliet, especially rashness,
impetuousness, and the reliance on uncontrolled, violent, passionate emotions rather
than rational thought. However, these character flaws alone do not necessarily lead to
their deaths. Instead, the fact that they are both born into feuding families leads them
to their deaths--families who also act rashly, impetuously, and with violent,
uncontrolled emotions. Hence, unlike other tragedies, fate plays the larger role in
their deaths rather than tragic character flaw.

Shakespeare's
comedies, on the other hand, actually do focus on pairs of lovers, just like the
characters Romeo and Juliet. Also, in comedies, the young tended to try and outwit the
older generation ( href="http://cla.calpoly.edu/~dschwart/engl339/comedy.html">Dr. Schwart,
"Shakespeare's Plays: Comedy"). We do see a little bit of that in the opening
act of Romeo and Juliet, especially when we see Benvolio and
Mercutio decide to crash the Capulet's ball. Shakespeare's comedies had "stock
characters" used expressly for amusement, such as jesters, fools, and "female
confidents" (Dr.
Schwart, "Shakespeare's Plays: Comedy"). Mercutio is one character that has
many comical elements. Also, the Nurse is used expressly for comic effect and serves as
Juliet's "female confident." Finally, comedies end in happy unity, and while it is true
that Romeo and Juliet both die, the two families do unite in the end ( href="http://cla.calpoly.edu/~dschwart/engl339/comedy.html">Dr. Schwart,
"Shakespeare's Plays: Comedy").

Hence, we see that while
Romeo and Juliet ends in tragedy, it begins as a comedy and has an
ending of unity much like comedies. Therefore, Romeo and Juliet is neither entirely a
tragedy, nor entirely a comedy, but rather a "Problem Play."