It’s Always Sunny in Verona
Romeo and Juliet and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
Have you ever wondered to yourself, “I wonder if the original play of Romeo and Juliet could have connection to a modern TV show?”. Nightman Cometh from the popular TV show, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and Romeo and Juliet share similar themes even though they are centuries apart. They share multiple themes, like forbidden love, the feud between two forces, and day against night. However, there is one big difference, It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia is a comedy while Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy. These two different tones play a part in both of the “plays”.
The theme of forbidden love is shared between Romeo and Juliet and Nightman Cometh. In Romeo and Juliet, Romeo finds Juliet at a party and instantly falls in love. This would be acceptable in any other story, but Romeo is a Montague and Juliet is a Capulet, and those families are life long enemies. In Nightman Cometh, the Coffee Shop Princess falls in love with a little boy, the Princess sings, “Tiny Boy Little Boy Baby Boy I need you”. They can’t be together because the Princess is an adult and as said in the quote the boy is a just a child. This works in the show because the Princess, Dee, is put in awkward situations all of the time in the show. The Boy and the Princess can only be together once the Nightman puts his spirit in the Boy, making him into the Dayman. In Romeo and Juliet, Romeo and Juliet can’t be together because they are from families at war, after the party Juliet says, “My only love sprung from my only hate!”(1.5 152) This quote is saying that Juliet has only loved Romeo, but Romeo is a Montague and Juliet is a Capulet, so they can be together. They can only be together once
Romeo finds Juliet in her family tomb under the influence of the potion given to her by Friar Lawrence. Romeo then kills himself because he thinks Juliet is dead, Juliet wakes up to find Romeo’s dead body and she follows him to the afterlife to be with him.
In Romeo and Juliet, the war between the day and the night comes up multiple times, while in the Nightman Cometh, the play is about the fight between the Nightman and the Dayman. In Nightman Cometh, the Nightman seeks out the Boy in search of his soul, but once he finds the Boy and puts his spirit inside of him, the Boy becomes the Dayman, the fighter of the Nightman, and defeats the Nightman. In Romeo and Juliet, the day is sometimes the “bad guy” because once Romeo is exiled, he had until morning to leave, Romeo says “It was the lark, the herald of the morn, No nightingale. Look, love, what envious streaks do lace the severing clouds in yonder east. Night’s candles are burnt out, and jocund day stands tiptoe on the misty mountain-tops. I must be gone and live, or stay and die.”(3.5 6–10) In this quote, Romeo is saying that he has to leave or he’ll die, showing how the day is preventing their love from happening. In Nightman Cometh, a song is sung about the Dayman at the end, “Dayman, Fighter of the Nightman, Champion of the sun, You’re a master of karate and friendship for everyone.” This is portraying the Dayman as the “good guy” because he makes every one friends with each other.
Both the play and the show have similarity and slight differences, but they both follow the themes of forbidden love, and Day vs Night. In Nightman Cometh, the Dayman Fights the Nightman because of the Dayman’s love for the Coffee Shop Princess. In Romeo and Juliet, Romeo can’t be with Juliet because they are in opposing families until they kill themselves to be together. One of the only differences is that the day is the bad guy in Romeo and Juliet, while the Dayman is the good guy in Nightman Cometh.
Works Cited
u/bentheiii. Comment on “What exactly is the deal with the Nightman and the Dayman?” u/IckGlokmah 2 years ago,
https://www.reddit.com/r/IASIP/comments/2nvdyd/what_exactly_is_the_deal_with_the_ni ghtman_and/
Shakespeare, William. Romeo and Juliet. 1597. Folger Library, 2011. Edited by Barbara Mowat and Paul Werstine
“The Nightman Cometh” Wikia, 31, May 2017
http://itsalwayssunny.wikia.com/wiki/The_Nightman_Cometh
Dir. Matt Shakman. FX, n.d. Television. 20 Nov. 2008. Web.
