In William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Romeo is "a tragic hero.” This is according to Aristotle’s definition, a tragic hero is a character “who is neither completely good nor completely bad, but also a member of royalty.” Romeo is a tragic hero because he does many good things, but many bad things, as well. For example, he is a Montague and he marries Juliet, who is a Capulet. This is prohibited, so Romeo is bad. However, Romeo does everything he can to keep Juliet happy and risks his life for her, which makes him good. Romeo is also a man of royalty because he is Montague’s son. Romeo’s character has many contradictions, which makes the audience think, “is he good or bad?” Asking these questions and not knowing the answer leads us to believe that Romeo is a tragic hero, according to Aristotle’s definition. Romeo is a good character for many reasons. First, he is very romantic to the woman he loves. Romeo treats Juliet with care, respect, and kindness, making him a good husband. He compliments her beauty repeatedly throughout the play. For example, in Act 1 Scene 5 line-41-42 Romeo says to Juliet, “Which lady is that, which doth enrich her hand/ Of yonder knight?” He is struck by how beautiful she is and he wishes to touch her and be enriched with her beauty. Also, in Act 2 Scene 2 lines 4-6, Romeo speaks to Juliet from her garden. He tells her that she is impossibly beautiful by saying, “Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon, / Who is already sick and pale with grief, / That thou her maid art far more fair than she.” This proves Romeo to be good because it shows how much he cares about her and the way he treats her makes her feel good about herself. This is important because it builds up her confidence... ... middle of paper ... ...ng families. He even knows that love between the two families is forbidden, but he is disloyal to his entire family by pursuing the love of their enemy. Also, no one knows about his secret love except Juliet, Friar Lawrence, and the Nurse. Therefore, he is lying to his family as well as disobeying them. These numerous things make Romeo a bad character in the play. Romeo is seen as a tragic hero because of the many examples of his good and bad character. This follows Aristotle’s definition because it proves him to be a character that is neither completely good nor completely bad. Romeo loves Juliet with kindness and generosity, but to love her is forbidden. Also, he tries to prevent a second fight between the two families in the streets of Verona, but later kills Tybalt, his love’s cousin. These things make Romeo both good and bad, therefore a tragic hero.
What do you define a tragic hero as? In Romeo and Juliet, Romeo is seen as a tragic hero by Aristotle’s tragic hero characteristics. The six tragic hero characteristics are having noble greatness, being imperfect, having a downfall that is partially their own fault, their misfortune is not wholly deserved, fall is not pure loss, and some good has come from the hero’s death. In William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Romeo is a tragic hero because he has noble stature or greatness, his downfall is partially his fault, and some good has come from his death. The first characteristic proving Romeo a tragic hero is having nobility or fortune (Allinsby).
A tragic hero is a person of noble birth or potentially heroic qualities. The role of a tragic hero is common in many of Shakespeare's plays such as Macbeth. The character of Macbeth is a classic example of a Shakespearean tragic hero. A tragic hero often has a noble background. This person is predominantly good, but suffers a terrible fate falling out due to glitches in their personality. The tragic hero has a monstrous downfall, brought out by their fatal flaw. Macbeth is named a tragic hero because he learns through suffering, he is isolated, and he exhibits personal courage in his acceptance of death.
In Romeo and Juliet, the tragic love story, emotion is also surrounded with both the protagonists and brought themselves a tragic ending. Early in the story, Romeo and Juliet made an unacceptable forbidden decision which created a path towards their graves. After knowing themselves as the enemy of their household, the two teenagers yet fall in love with each other. Their idiotic actions of love have brought themselves a road to death at the end. Is unworthy to cost your life by your foolish decision. Furthermore, Romeo made another decision out of momentary anger and caused himself a disastrous problem. After Mercutio's death, out of anger Romeo duel with Tybalt and demands to slay him. After his revenge, he brought a death sentence on himself if he is ever found within the city again.
Friar Lawrence is one of the most controversial figures in Romeo and Juliet who paved the way to hell with good intentions. Some argue that he is the centripetal force leading to the tragic resolution while he remains in repentance for his sins. However, others simply express their empathy for Friar Lawrence’s ending and magnified condemnation as a result of this good intention. By definition, tragic heroes are prestigious and free-spirited individuals who lead themselves to downfall from a lapse in their judgment. Friar Lawrence is portrayed as an archetypal tragic hero in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet as he acquires strong influence on others, arranges precarious plans, and witnesses his demise along with the tragic ending derived from
Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy. It tells the tale of two lovers from rival households and the tragic journey that leads to their destruction. The play shows all the events over the course of four days in Romeo and Juliet’s home town of Verona. Monday through Thursday is all we have to see of the Montague and Capulet families to acknowledge their hatred for each other. The play shows the struggle of Romeo and Juliet in their efforts to stop the hatred between their families and live happily ever after. But despite their efforts, they end up digging their own graves, showing how different actions have different consequences.
Aristotle defines tragedy in his respected piece Poetics and many other forms of literature. Many tragic heroes such as Oedipus Rex and Romeo and Juliet fit well into this mold of a tragic hero as defined by Aristotle. For example, they were flawed but well intentioned and their lives ended in a catastrophic death. Those plays, and many others in the genre, had all the elements of a tragedy: plot, character, thought, diction, melody, and spectacle. They were fantastic displays of misery that aroused pity and fear in the audience.
According to the Greek philosopher Aristotle, a tragic hero is defined as someone whose misfortune is not the result of their own vice or corruption, but rather caused by some error of judgment. In the end, the audience should feel both pity for the character’s unfortunate predicament, as well as fear for the tragic end to a seemingly decent person.
Romeo shows many characteristics which allow him to become the play's tragic hero The first characteristic of a tragic hero that Romeo possesses is he is very impulsive. he thinks without acting which is another reason he is dead,and how he gets ahead of himself which leads to him and getting into trouble.Romeo spends days and nights cooped up in his room, not talking to anyone and then suddenly decides he has fallen in love all over again. “Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight! / For I ne’er saw true beauty till this night.” ( act 1 scene 1-2 shakespear...
A tragic hero can be described as a great or virtuous character in a dramatic tragedy who is
A tragic hero is a person who has helped change a friend for their good but dies while in the process or has to kill the person for their good. A tragic hero is a person who has kept a watch on someone then dies or gets hurt while keeping them safe or trying to change them. In Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare he uses Brutus as a tragic hero.Brutus is a tragic hero because he does everything for the better of Rome, he doesn’t abuse power, and being friends with Caesar at a young age then killing him. In the whole play Brutus believes that everything has to be for the better of Rome to be a tragic hero. A tragic hero to Brutus is someone that commits their whole life to bettering Rome and their people.
can see his importance in the title of the play; he is named in the
In many people’s perspectives, heroes are known to be one of the most glamorous, perfect beings in the world. But, that’s not one hundred percent true. In Shakespeare’s play “Romeo and Juliet” has a tragic ending. Romeo, the hero is very flawed in the categories of a hero. The two main characters, Romeo and Juliet belong to families, the Capulets and the Montagues, which hated each other for generations. It all happens in Verona when Juliet was having an arranged married to Paris. As a teenage rebel, Juliet doesn’t seem to fall in love with Paris, but to Romeo. The problem is that Romeo is the son of the Montague while Juliet is the daughter of the Capulet. This sets a change to the play. After Juliet’s marriage to Paris, bloodshed happened
Hamlet. Romeo. Othello. These men not only star in some of Shakespeare’s finest plays, but they are all classic examples of tragic heroes. A tragic hero is one who is courageous and admired but who has a tragic flaw that leads to his downfall. Othello was one of the greatest military men of the time. He was highly respected among his superiors for both his military prowess and level headed nature. This was a man who could be in the heat of a battle and would remain collected. Though this great hero also had great shortcomings. Othello was naive, jealous, and concerned with public appearance. Othello is truly a dynamic character. As the play continues and his jealous increases, Othello gradually changes from a flawless military general into
A Shakespearean tragic hero starts out as a noble person; a great exceptional being who stands out. A tragic hero has a tragic flaw of an exaggerated trait that leads to their downfall and eventually to death. William Shakespeare often made his main characters tragic heroes in his plays. In Shakespeare’s Macbeth, the role of the tragic hero is given to the main character: Macbeth. This is because he starts off as a loyal and well liked man in the beginning, but has a tragic flaw of ambition which ultimately leads to his downfall.
Aristotle defines a tragic hero as "a [great] man who is neither a paragon of virtue and justice nor undergoes the change to misfortune through any real badness or wickedness but because of some mistake." When Aristotle states “a great man” the hero is neither a villain nor a perfect citizen, but is basically good and decent in his nature. The mistake that is mentioned is some moral blindness or error that is his/her downfall. Also not that the God’s are also in some sense responsible for this hero’s mistake and inevitability of his downfall. Also when it comes to a tragic hero, Aristotle states that three main things happen to draw the audience to the character.