When examining the characters in Romeo and Juliet, it is hard to look past the obvious disparities between how the two main characters act and how all the supporting characters respond to these actions. For Romeo and Juliet, their focus on their love seems trivial in comparison to the world around them, especially as their everyone around them starts to be killed, their relationship being a somewhat catalyst for it all. Romeo, however, is by far the most oblivious of the two, being introduced as someone who is looking for love in places he should not. It is with this search for love that Romeo begins being depicted as the archetype for the Petrarchan sonnet, the idea of unrequited love always looming over Romeo. This creates tension when the …show more content…
/ She hath…”), nothing Benvolio says in return seems to bring solace to Romeo that he will find another love (I.1.216-217). This steadfast approach to loving Rosaline without her reciprocation is what Petrarchan sonnets are written about. Furthermore, when Romeo discovers that she is a Capulet, that also does not dissolve his feelings for her, made clear by him continuing to go to the Capulet’s party. When Romeo agrees to go to the party, he says: “I’ll go along, no such sight to be shown, / But to rejoice in splendor of my own,” (I.2.102-103). This shows that even though Romeo is aware that he will never be able to have Rosaline, he agrees to go to the party to prove no one else will ever live up to her; thus, proving Benvolio wrong and allowing himself to continue to exert his energy on this unrequited love. Romeo’s desire to focus on Rosaline adds to his influence by the Petrarchan sonnet, where Romeo is blinded by this unrequited love and sees no solution besides to suffer through his feelings. This willingness to wallow creates a unique outlook on Romeo’s expectation of love for the rest of the play: Romeo expects love to be …show more content…
During their first encounter at the Capulet party, they speak in sonnets, a sign for readers that they will end up as objects of each others affection. However, the model of Petrarchan sonnets looms in Romeo’s life, where requited love never exists, which signals that this love is one that will not be everlasting. The most explicit moment for their fate occurs during Act 5 Scene 3, where Romeo takes his own life, failing to realize Juliet is still alive. When Romeo first enters the tomb and sees Juliet’s lifeless body, one of the first thing he says is: “O, how may I / Call this a lightening? O my love! my wife!” (V.3.90-91). This type of reaction, the feeling that this love he has just gotten was suddenly ripped away from him, shows Romeo’s true influence by the Petrarchan sonnet. The two lovers were brought together as quickly as they were taken away, restoring the balance to the Petrarchan sonnet archetype of love not working out in the end. Romeo continues with: “Why art thou yet so fair? Shall I believe / That unsubstantial Death is amorous, / And that the lean abhorred monster keeps / Thee here in dark to be his paramour?” (V.3.102-105). By Romeo failing to examine Juliet any further (not touching her until after he has already taken the poison, according to the stage directions), he accepts from afar that even though Juliet doesn’t appear dead, she is; adding that death is just preserving her looks for
Romeo furthermore experiences loss in Act 5 Scene 3- the feeling of sorrow towards his newlywed wife Juliet. In this scene, Romeo delivers a monologue to what he believes is Juliet’s corpse. The audience can note that Romeo’s melodramatic nature once again surfaces with this speech, using light and dark imagery (which is a reoccurring theme throughout the play) to poetically pronounce the final soliloquy to his beloved. Somewhat irrationally, Romeo suggests that “unsubstantial death” is “amorous” because Juliet looked so “fair”- believing that a physical form of death has stolen Juliet from him to pursue her as their own lover because she looked so attractive. This absurd notion presents to the audience how Romeo’s reaction to this bereavement
Most importantly, Romeo’s poor choices and decisions lead to the tragedy of the drama. From the beginning of the story Romeo reveals his immaturity and ill-equipped emotions. His first mistake reveals itself when he claims to be deeply depressed. Romeo claims that he feels like “sinking ‘under love’s heavy burden’,” (Dupler). At this point Romeo has succumbed to his emotions, due to the fact that a girl named Rosaline refuses to reciprocate his love for her. Romeo’s friends Benvolio and Mercutio “urge him to stop philosophizing about his lost love and to seek another young lady as a new object of his affections” (Dupler).Romeo now demonstrates that he seems incapable of listening to his friends’ suggestions and chooses to continue in a juvenile state of depression. Romeo makes another fatal decision when he nurtures an undeniably damned relationship. Romeo admits that he still loves Juliet once her lineage appears as Capulet when he says, “Is she a Capulet? O dear account! My life is my foes debt” (1.5.115). Romeo irresponsibly supports the idea of a relationship between himself and Juliet only because “The young hero is simply shifting his attention to a more receptive subject as he responds to the erotic spurring implicit in his name” (...
Romeo believes that he needs to kill himself to be with his true love: "I set up my everlasting rest, And shake the yoke of inauspicious stars From this world-wearied flesh...Here’s to my love! [Drinks] O, true apothecary!Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss, I die" (page ). Romeo needs to be with Juliet because of his deep love for her, his desire to be with her leads him to kill himself. Romeo’s decision to end his life has a disastrous impact on his family and Juliet's, this destruction directly leads to two more deaths. After Romeo has ended his life Juliet awakens and sees Romeo’s dead body. This causes the young teenager to take on a course of action similar to her love's believing that it is the only way to be with him, " O happy dagger![Snatching ROMEO’s dagger]This is thy sheath; [Stabs herself] there rust, and let me die. [Falls on ROMEO’s body, and dies]" Juliet is eager to end her life and considers it to be the best and only option to maintain her love. Although she considers death the best option it leads to a disastrous impact on her family (once again) and Friar Lawrence the one who helps her to stage her fake
When in love with someone you have an intense emotional connection and you feel like you would do anything for them, then if that loved one dies you feel a terrible sadness. In Shakespeare 's Romeo and Juliet, the ‘death’ of Juliet hit Romeo like a train. He aggressively reacts to the news of her ‘passing’ and his sudden acts change both their lives, before she fakes her death he eagerly throws himself into the relationship without out thinking of the risk, also Romeo is so in love with Juliet he is stubborn and ignores the advice his friends and mentors give him, and finally Romeo again jumps to conclusions very quickly, he buys poison to kill himself immediately. Romeo is the Hero with a fatal flaw he falls in love in the blink of an eye,
Romeo and Juliet is known as one of the greatest love stories, but it has its fair share of tragedy as well. The story riddles with themes throughout. Love is the first theme and there is no greater love than the love Romeo and Juliet share. Shakespeare offers his audiences just as much hate as love in Romeo and Juliet. The families of both Romeo and Juliet involve themselves in centuries of feuding. The ongoing feud between the Montagues and Capulets drives Romeo and Juliet into a life of secrecy, which ultimately causes their deaths. Youth is another theme and ties directly to how young both Romeo and Juliet are both in their age and their relationship. The story of Romeo and Juliet uses sex as a theme as well although not in the intimate details of more modern stories. The two lovers concerns are not with the wishes of their warring families, they just want to be together “Deny thy father and refuse thy name / Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn by my love / And I’ll no longer be a Capulet” (2.2.34-36). Love is the first theme Shakespeare displays in this play.
Romeo and his constant desire for love was what lead him to gaining the title of being a tragic hero, as it led to the tragic ending. In Act 1, Scene 1, Romeo has just arrived after the fight between Mercutio and Tybalt and starts pouring out his heart to Benvolio about the woes of love. In lines 162-173, Romeo talks about how he wants love and that he wants his love to work out, but that it is not going in the direction he is wanting it to go. Romeo is a very lovesick and dramatic teenager who has become depressed without the presence of love in his life. He feels as though it is necessary for him to feel normal and like himself. Romeo is still very young and does not see that he still has his whole life ahead of him to go looking for love. He is not patient, but is very persistent in his journey for love. In Act 5, Scene 3, Romeo has just seen Juliet, thinking she is dead, and wants to kill himself as well. In lines 74-120, Romeo says that he can’t, doesn’t, and won’t live without Juliet. Then he drinks a poison and dies. If Romeo was not so persistent in his needing of love to survive, he would not have killed himself, causing Juliet to survive as well. Romeo did not even think that there was any way that he could find himself being happy with another girl. At such a young age, it would be very difficult to know what he
These views are another sort to Romeos who believes in the traditional poetic love as seen in Petrarch's sonnets , shown when he uses the cliché comparison of love to the thorns on a rose. These ideas are mocked by Mercutio in ' prick love for pricking and you beat love down,' through this pun Mercutio shows their opposing views on love as well as their close relationship ,seen by him trying to cheer Romeo as well as him being the only friend who can mock Romeo successfully in the play, this ribalding wit sets in Romeo's role as the innocent protagonist and
Romeo and Juliet is one of the most famous love tales, but what if the play is not actually a tale of love, but of total obsession and infatuation. Romeo has an immature concept of love and is rather obsessive. Romeo is not the only person in the play who is obsessed though. Many people throughout the play notice his immaturities about love. Very rarely was true love actually shown in the play. attention. Romeo childishly cries to his friend, Benvolio because Rosaline will not love him back and says " She hath forsworn to love, and in that vow/ Do I live dead that live to tell it now" (I i 219-220). Romeo is stating that he's ready to die for loving Rosaline. This is exactly the same attitude Romeo had towards Juliet a little later in the play. During Scene I, Act ii, Romeo's friend, Benvolio tries to get him to go to the Capulet's party to help him get over Rosaline and meet other women Romeo gets very angry and emotional when he suggests this. “Now Romeo is beloved and loves again, / Alike bewitched by the charm of looks” (II 5-6). The chorus expresses Romeo’s juvenile way...
In the beginning of the story, we find out that Romeo is very depressed, but towards the end, he starts changing to be romantic. In the beginning of the story, the Montagues ask Benvolio of Romeo’s whereabouts. Benvolio answers that Romeo has seemed troubled about something since the morning. Montague quotes, “Away from light steals home my heavy son and private in his chamber pens himself, shuts up his windows, locks fair daylight out, and makes himself an artificial night”(I, i, 138-141). He’s talking about how Romeo looks so sad that it seems as if he doesn’t want to come home and he rather be locked up in a room with shut windows blocking daylight in or out. This makes Montague think that it sounds like Romeo is making himself live in an imaginary, not existing, fake world all by his lonesome self. When Benvolio and Romeo meet, they talk about what is bothering Romeo. This is when we learn that Romeo is depressed by the rejection of his love, Rosaline, who believes in chastity. Also, Rosaline won’t return the love that Romeo is waiting impatiently for. So this is why Romeo is heart-broken. But later, Romeo relieves his depressed feelings and he soon becomes romantic when he meets his new love, Juliet. When Romeo first sees Juliet at the Capulet ball, he completely forgets about Rosaline and falls in love with Juliet at first sight.
Both Romeo and Juliet are remembered for their loyalty, love, and naivety for each other, but they are also considered heroes among classic literature. As much as being a hero is an opinion, being one also has its ideal archetypes and Romeo and Juliet are pure specimens of this. (detail 1)This is because they have many qualities that are quite typical of a hero and those that they have are quite admirable for such young people such as them. (detail 2). Like traditional heroes, they do have their own hamartias that bring about their deaths, and they are similar to other heroes flaws. (detail 3) The whole point of a tragic hero is to evoke emotions out of the audience that causes catharsis, but at the same time, the heroes need to have good qualities
Juliet is the only child of Capulet and Lady Capulet. She looks up to her mother, who is about 28 but her mother doesn’t act like a mother should, her Nurse is a more nurturing, respectable figure to Juliet. Because of her young mother and the norms during the Shakespearean Era, she acts older than she actually is. She has a mature personality and is a romantic, though her brain hasn’t caught up with her heart. She is very beautiful and loves Romeo more than she loves her family. Because of that she makes a lot of decisions that are guided by her heart, not her brain, which didn’t get her to a very good place.
The Capulets send out an illiterate servant to deliver invitations for a party, who just so happens to ask Romeo for help, ‘can you read anything you see?’ (1.2.60). This encounter originally encourages Romeo to attend the party in hopes of seeing Rosaline, but he ends up meeting Juliet, who he falls madly in love with, ‘did my heart love till now?’ (1.5.51), even though by social relation she happens to be his ‘great enemy’ (1.5.136). It is quite an ironic coincident that Romeo goes to the party to find Rosaline, the girl he loved to find Juliet, the girl he loves so much that he dies for her. Romeo’s response to the servant, ‘Ay, mine own fortune in my misery’ (1.2.58), could be interpreted as him recognising fate playing a role of misery his love life. A series of unlucky coincidences involve Romeo not receiving Friar Laurence’s letter in Mantua, causing Romeo much distress, which led him to buy poison from an Apothecary who, coincidentally, sells it to Romeo only because ‘my poverty, but not my will, consents’ (5.2.75). Romeo arrives at the tomb to find Juliet “dead”, provoking him to drink the poison, ‘Here’s to my love!’ (5.3.119). Moments later, Juliet wakes up to realise Romeo is dead and she too is prepared to ‘die with a restorative’ (5.3.166). Curtesy to fate, the Friar’s letter did not reach Romeo in Mantua which encouraged Romeo to buy poison, which it had to be from an Apothecary in need of money. This led to another unfortunate coincidence of Romeo killing himself by Juliet's side just moments before she woke up. The many coincidences that take place throughout the play are clear examples to prove that Romeo and Juliet lived their entire lives according to their predetermined
After being rejected by Rosaline, a member of the Capulet family, Romeo rests his gaze on Juliet, her cousin. His methods to win Juliet’s heart consisted of sneaking into the Capulet’s party, however he receives a vision that “some consequence [was] yet hanging in the stars, shall bitterly begin [with] this fearful date” (I,v). The consequence was slowly becoming more realistic from that day, the day that the two ‘star-crossed’ lovers met. Romeo made the decision of attending the event despite his predicted vision of demise, risking his own safety for the sake of being in love. From that specific day, Romeo had been a changed man. His mindset had been corrupted to the point at which he could not see clearly, being blinded by love. This ultimately resulted in Romeo to make additional poor decisions in the future. The love that he felt for Juliet was so immense that he questioned any prior ‘love’ he felt, "did [his] heart love till now (meeting Juliet)? Forswear it sight, for [he] ne 'er saw true beauty till this night". Romeo’s perception of ‘true love’ differs from the accustomed apprehension. He is a petrarchan lover, essentially meaning that he is in love with the idea of being in
Juliet’s weakness to be controlled by love leads her to make unadvised and irresponsible decisions that contribute to her choice of ending her life. Characterized as a young and rash teenager, with no interest in love and marriage at first, Juliet wants to be independent. However, after she first lays eyes on Romeo, Juliet’s perception of love is quick to change. Their strong love easily manipulates and clouds her judgment. Even if she is cautious and realizes their love is too fast, the rush of feelings from having a first love overcomes her. Her soft-spoken words symbolically foreshadow the journey of Romeo and Juliet’s love. “Well, do not swear. Although I joy in thee, / I have no joy of this contract tonight. / It is too rash, too unadvised, too sudden;…/ This bud of love, by summer’s ripening breath, / May prove to be a beauteous flower when next we meet” (2.2. 117-123). The blooming flower is indicative of their growing love, especially Juliet. Being her first experience of true love, her actions become more rash the deeper she falls in, even ...
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) was a Renaissance poet and playwright who wrote and published the original versions of 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and several other poems. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language, and often called England’s national poet. Several of his works became extremely well known, thoroughly studied, and enjoyed all over the world. One of Shakespeare’s most prominent plays is titled The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. In this tragedy, the concept that is discussed and portrayed through the characters is love, as they are recognized as being “in love”. The general umbrella of love encompasses various kinds of love such as romantic love, the love of a parent for a child, love of one’s country, and several others. What is common to all love is this: Your own well-being is tied up with that of someone (or something) you love… When love is not present, changes in other people’s well being do not, in general, change your own… Being ‘in love’ infatuation is an intense state that displays similar features: … and finding everyone charming and nice, and thinking they all must sense one’s happiness. At first glance it seems as though Shakespeare advocates the hasty, hormone-driven passion portrayed by the protagonists, Romeo and Juliet; however, when viewed from a more modern, North-American perspective, it seems as though Shakespeare was not in fact endorsing it, but mocking the public’s superficial perception of love. Shakespeare’s criticism of the teens’ young and hasty love is portrayed in various instances of the play, including Romeo’s shallow, flip-flop love for Rosaline then Juliet, and his fights with Juliet’s family. Also, the conseque...