Think how boring life would be if all humans only demonstrated one personality trait. In literature, characters are made more interesting by being developed as round characters, people with more that one personality trait. In Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet, Romeo demonstrates being lovesick, impulsive, and sneaky.
One of the personality traits that Romeo demonstrates in the play is being lovesick. First, when Romeo falls in love with Rosaline, she does not respond. As a result he forces himself to live in an artificial night. He also keeps to himself by avoiding every person who tries to talk to him. When Bevolio and Lord Montague learn of this, they try and figure out why Romeo is in the state that he is. Lord Montague says, “...And private in his chamber pens himself,/ Shuts up his windows, locks fair daylight out,/ And makes himself an artificial night'; (Act One, scene two, lines 137 to 139). Romeo gets over Rosaline when he sees Juliet at the ball at Lord Capulet’s house. Obviously, Romeo’s inability to find true love forces him to become lovesick.
Another personality trait that Romeo demonstrates in the play is being impulsive. One of the parts where this personality trait is shown is in the Capulet’s orchard when Romeo and Juliet set the wedding date. Acting too quickly, they plan it for the next day. Juliet says, “...Thy purpose marriage, send me word tomorrow,/ By one that I’ll procure to come to thee,/ Where and what time thou wilt perform the rite...'; (Act Two, scene two, lines 144-146). Another is when Romeo leaves Mantua because he hears of Juliet’s death. If he waited for just five minutes, he would have seen the letter that was sent to him explaining the Friar’s plans. As you can see, Romeo is quite impulsive throughout the play.
Another one of the personality traits that makes Romeo a round character is his being sneaky. One thing that makes Romeo a sneaky character is when he, Benvolio, and Mercutio go to the ball at Lord Capulet’s house. They dress in masks so that no one will recognize them. Another thing Romeo is sneaky about is the marriage between himself and Juliet. Romeo and Juliet do not want their families to know of the plans between them; Romeo and the Friar go quietly so that he and Juliet can proceed with their marriage.
Romeo- Love causes Romeo to act impulsively and put himself in dangerous situations. For example, in act two scene two, Romeo sneaks into the Capulet grounds due to his love for Juliet. He loves her so much that he was willing to risk being caught by Juliet’s kinsman. If he was caught, a fight could have broken out, which would put Romeo’s life in danger. Also, he would lose his life due to the prince’s penalty. However, due to his intrusion of the Capulet party in act one scene five, it is Tybalt’s rage that jeopardizes Romeo’s well-being. This shows the intensity of Romeo’s love for Juliet, and how he cares more about seeing her than his own safety. For example, in act five scene three, Romeo kills himself because he believes that Juliet
Romeo is His Own Worst Enemy in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Romeo is his own worst enemy due to a few 'flaws' in his personality. his impetuosity, his passionate nature and his changeability. If any of these characteristics were absent from the whole outcome of the play. would probably change quite drastically.
One of these was him going to the dance. If he had never gone to that dane then he would have never met Juliet meaning the tragedy would have never happened. Juliet's father also had a character flaw that tied into this. He let Romeo stay after Tybalt told him that there was Romeo there who is a Montague. If he had listened to Tybalt then Romeo would have not met Juliet. Another one of Romeo's character flaws was a lot later in the story. He was told that Juliet had died and he rushed to her tomb. When he got there he said to himself that she did not look dead because she was not really pale and still had a reddish tint to her cheeks. If he would have been more observant he could have known that she did not actually die and that would have prevented the death of him and Juliet. Juliet also had some character flaws. One of them was her wanting to marry Romeo. She knew that she was not suppose to marry anyone from the Montague family because of the big feud. She ended up getting married to him despite the feud among the families. This marriage was where the Friar messed up. He should not have agreed to secretly get Romeo and Juliet married, he could have just told them no. Instead he got them married
Walter Kerr says that Romeo’s flaw is furry (84). To argue human emotion as a flaw is ridiculous. If we consider these characters as real people, most people in love do not think logically. Romeo avoided confrontation, not encouraged it. Romeo and Juliet, blinded by love at first sight, reacted to their emotions for each other, unable to see any harm in their love.
There is no doubt that Romeo rushes into love throughout the play. One example of this is when he falls in love with Rosaline. Although Rosaline is not a major role in the play, it shows the sorrow and uncertainty Romeo goes through after not being loved back. Marilyn Williamson said “During the time in which he was infatuated with Rosaline, he was. withdrawn into darkness” (6).
Romeo's inclination to fall in love easily was first shown in his love for Rosaline. It was illustrated perfectly when he first met Juliet. "Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight. For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night". (Lines 50-51, Scene 5, Act 1) He say this but he seemed to have forgotten Rosaline like old news, even though he speaks of Juliet as he spoke of Rosaline only a few short hours before. "One fairer than my love! The all-seeing sun ne'er saw her match, since first the world begun" (Lines 94-95, Scene 2, Act 1). Romeo immaturity was further shown by the way he handled Tybalt's slaying of Mercutio.
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.
As the leading characters, Romeo and Juliet both portray the flaw that ultimately leads to the resolution: impulsiveness. Portrayed as emotional throughout the play, Romeo’s hamartia came to play in his vengeful state: “And fire-eyed fury be my conduct now...Either thou or I, or both, must go with him.” (3.1.117-122). Shakespeare’s characterization of Romeo as
Romeo has an obsessive personality. The morning before he meets Juliet, he is obsessing on Rosaline. To see Rosaline, Romeo snuck into a Capulet’s party; once there, he meets Juliet and instantly he forgets his obsession of Rosaline, thinking Juliet is the most beautiful creature on earth. Friar Lawrence even acknowledges this when he states, “Young men’s love then lies / Not truly in their hearts but in their eyes” (II iii 67-68). Romeo’s affection is easily swayed from Rosaline to Juliet.
Throughout Shakespeare’s play, Romeo and Juliet, Romeo’s character is desperate and impulsive which ultimately contributes
Although the lovers are both fairly impudent throughout the play, Romeo, the male lead, is even more so. Through out the play of Romeo and Juliet, the Montague heir has ceased maturity over the course of the Shakespearean tragedy. First of all, it was “Rosaline” (II.iii.67). whom Romeo “didst love so dear” (II.iii.67). at the beginning of the play as he “groaned . . . woes for Rosaline” (II.ii.74-78) however, he easily fell out of lover with her and in love with the “fair daughter of the rich Capulet” (II.iii.58) like he was changing his mind on a meal he’d order. Also, he fell out of love with Rosaline because she did not “doth grace for grace and love for love allow.” (II.iii. 85-88) which basically meant that Romeo didn’t love Rosaline because she didn’t love him back, which is very childish in hindsight. Another way that Romeo is immature is that he doesn’t have a sense of reality fore, he’s always either extremely depressed, like when Rosaline wanted to remain chaised for life or extremely elated like when he met Juliet, while having no real middle ground for his emotions. These are all reasons why Romeo is immature: he’s always heads over heels in love for trivial reasons and he has no to little sense of reality.
solutions to his problems, such as when Tybalt comes to fight him. Romeo tries to be reasonable, but Tybalt kills his friend and Romeo, being only a teenager, is filled with anger and so gets his revenge. Also with the County Paris, Romeo implores him to leave as he does not wish to fight, yet Paris does not listen and Romeo is forced to defend himself. Ultimately, while Romeo is thought to be a well-mannered youth by the majority of the town, that decision is made from Romeo's actions before the play is set.
Romeo’s numerous rash decisions demonstrates his great impulsiveness. Romeo at first grieves over his unreciprocated love for Rosaline, but after he sees Juliet; he forgets about Rosaline entirely. His hastiness leads him to make decisions that are not intelligent or to his benefit. Shortly after meeting Juliet, he asks her to “exchange [her] faithful vow” for his ( 2.2.132). Romeo’s recklessness is evident that he does not think before he makes important decisions; prompting him to propose to Juliet just hours after their first meeting. Yet the morning before, Romeo was suffering from depression because he could never have his Rosaline. After what seems like a lifetime of loving Rosaline and promising to never love anyone but her, Romeo sees Juliet and instantaneously all his thoughts of Rosaline vanish. Romeo becomes infatuated with Juliet, with whom he exchanges less then fifty words before “falling in love.” The next morning he begs Friar L...
However, throughout Romeo and Juliet, Romeo possessed little to none of these traits. “Men in Renaissance society were expected to engage in public affairs in the way of soldiers, politicians, and other leaders; to be talkers, decision makers, and move events forward. Their lives were duty-bound to the state and were aggressive and self-satisfying.” (Leann Pettit 1). When Romeo is upset about having to be away from Juliet, he goes to friar Lawrence for help. When Friar Lawrence is talking to Romeo, he says that he is being preposterous and not acting like a man for sulking around and crying. Men were supposed to be valiant, and it was not very brave of Romeo to talk about attempting suicide as Friar Lawrence points out. Friar Lawrence says “Hold thy desperate hand! Art thou a man? Thy form cries out thou art.Thy tears are womanish; thy wild acts denote the unreasonable fury of a beast. Unseemly woman in a seeming man,Or ill-beseeming beast in seeming both!” (3.3.118-123). Friar Lawrence tells Romeo he is being very feminine, and that instead he should be brave and act how an Elizabethan man should. Another way in which Romeo breaks gender roles is when he blames Juliet for his lost manhood. Prior to meeting Juliet he has always been feminine, yet he blames it on the fact that because he was hanging out with Juliet all the time he became womanly. Romeo cries “O sweet Juliet. / Thy beauty
Even before Juliet is introduced, Romeo considers himself to be in love with Rosaline. Although he says that it is true love, stating “.. Doth add more grief to too much of mine own. Love is a smoke raised with the fume of sighs; Being purged, a fire sparkling in lovers' eyes.” (Shakespeare, I.1.23), it is clear that his obsession with Rosaline is purely surface-level.