The plots of Romeo and Juliet and Othello are both tragedies. These plays focus on the destruction of major relationships within the plays. In Othello, the main relationship in the play revolves around Othello and his bride Desdemona. Othello, due to his jealous rage, kills his wife who he later discovers is innocent. Romeo and Juliet, named after the couple depicted, kill each other to be together in the afterlife. They take their own lives because the world around them doesn't allow them to be together. It would seem that the marriages in these two plays are based primarily on love and should last, but both end in death due to the couple's internal pain and suffering. Throughout history Romeo and Juliet are often portrayed as an ideal of romantic love, but this is not always how it is seen by contemporary readers. In fact, according to the source that Shakespeare used to base his play, "The Tragicall Historye of Romeus and Juliet", Arthur Brooke describes the characters' deaths as punishment for their negligence of authority and their less than honest desires. This is stated more clearly in the following passage: a pair of ill-fated lovers, excited by an dishonest desire; neglecting the authority and advice of parents and friends; bestowing their chief counsel on drunken gossips and superstitious friars (the naturally suitable instruments of immodesty); attempting all dangerous adventures to achieve the desired lust; using aural confession as the key to prostitution and betrayal, to further their purpose; abusing the honorable name of legitimate marriage to mask the shame of stolen contracts; finally by all means the dishonest life hastenes to the most unhappy death. (Brook... center of card... more in common than most people think. They're both tragedies, both main couples die, and sins like gluttony and jealousy can destroy love. Works Cited Brooks, Arther. "THE TRAGIC STORY OF ROMEO AND JULIET." Canadian Adaptations of the Shakespeare Project Np, 1562. Web 13 December 2013. .DiYanni, Robert Literature: Approaches to Fiction, Poetry and Drama, 2008. Print.Johnson, Ben. "The Holloway Pages: Ben Jonson: Works (1692 Folio): Love Delivered from Ignorance and Folly." Shakespeare, William. "Romeo and Juliet: The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, n.d. Web. 2013. .