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How do tone and characterization in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and O. Henry's "The Gift of the Magi" contribute to the central idea that love...

Both Shakespeare, in Romeo and Juliet, and O. Henry, in his short story "The Gift of the Magi," use very different tones to relay the theme that love comes with sacrifices. Tone is the author's attitude toward the subject matter. It varies from the mood, which is the emotions the author makes the reader feel. While mood varies throughout long works, the author's tone is usually consistent throughout, because the author's judgements and attitude usually remain the same.

In "The Gift of the Magi," though O. Henry opens the story describing a sad situation in which Della does not have much money saved to spend on Christmas gifts, he actually uses a very witty, humorous tone that he maintains throughout. We see humor in the fact that Della notes 60 cents worth of her savings is in pennies; we see humor in the fact that O. Henry does not describe Della as sobbing or weeping but rather as "howl[ing]." We further see humor when O. Henry interrupts the narrative to reflect on the setting. He particularly notes that, while their shabby flat rented at $8 a week may not be the most splendid place to live, it is certainly not the poorest place to live, especially since it's fully furnished.


O. Henry's humor serves to lend perspective to the story. The true perspective is that, though Della may feel they are in a terrible situation because they cannot currently afford to buy the things they want, the reality is that their married life could be worse--they are not yet "beggars." We know they are not yet beggars because they actually do possess items of wealth they feel they are able to sacrifice for each other to show their love. Della sacrifices her hair to buy her husband a fob chain for his gold watch, whereas Jim sacrifices his gold watch to buy his wife expensive combs for her hair.

Since their sacrifices are absurd because neither can use the gift each bought each other, O. Henry maintains a witty, ironic tone. Yet he ends with the moral lesson that Della and Jim are the wisest gift givers in the world simply because of what they were willing to sacrifice for each other.

In contrast, Shakespeare maintains a very serious, critical tone when developing his theme that love comes with sacrifices, and this tone befits his very tragic story. Romeo and Juliet equally made very useless sacrifices for each other. Juliet sacrificed her life by faking her death to be with Romeo; then, Romeo sacrificed his life to be with Juliet in death, and Juliet soon followed suit. The result is that, just like Della and Jim, neither character is really left with anything by the end of the play. However, Shakespeare does not judge Romeo and Juliet for their foolish sacrifices. Instead, he blames their families for causing their deaths with their own foolish, irrational behavior. Since Shakespeare takes their foolish, irrational behavior very seriously, his tone on the subject of sacrifice and love is critical, in contrast to O. Henry's lighter, more ironic tone.

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