Characters Impact Us More Than We Think

In all of Shakespeare’s plays, 13 characters commit suicide. The two most famous are the two star-crossed lovers from Romeo and Juliet. In his work, Shakespeare liked to use literary devices such as character foils. A foil is a character created to contrast another character in order to highlight that characters actions or personality. This literary device allows the bad characters more evil and the good characters saints. Three pairs of character foils in Romeo and Juliet are Benvolio and Tybalt, Mercutio and Friar Lawrence, and Lady Capulet and the Nurse.

Benvolio is the peace keeper in Romeo and Juliet. He is friends with Romeo and Mercutio and is the nephew of Lord Montague. In the story, Benvolio is not one to partake in fights between the two families. Only after being provoked in the first scene does he fight Tybalt. He also tries to help Romeo when he is depressed about Rosaline by having him try to take an interest in other girls. Benvolio does not taunt Romeo for his love, unlike Mercutio. After the death of Tybalt and Mercutio, Benvolio tells the truth of what happened to the Prince. Benvolio says to him, “This is the truth, or let Benvolio die,” meaning that Benvolio would rather die than lie about the fight. This shows his commitment to the truth and justice, making him a selfless character.

Tybalt is a hot-tempered aggressive character who is very willing to fight. He is the cousin of Juliet and nephew of Lady Capulet. His hot-headedness gets him into trouble with the Capulets especially during the party when he spots Romeo and wishes to fight and kill him even when Romeo means no harm. Tybalt is a character that gets into a lot of fights and angers many people, including Mercutio whom Tybalt kills. Tybalt is then ...

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...o has both negative and positive friends that impact him. He may have felt pressured to show that his love is true to Mercutio when Mercutio says that Roemo’s love will never be returned. Friar Lawrence supports his decisions more than Mercutio, but still warns him not to rush into his relationship. Readers can empathize with Romeo and how his friends react to him: some are cruel in their criticism and others are positive and caring.

Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy about two teenage lovers who die by actions of their feuding houses. It has a wide range of characters with a wide range of personalities that we can learn from. The characters in the story can teach to be aware of how we impact our world around us. Three pairs of contrasting characters: Mercutio and Friar Lawrence, the Nurse and Lady Capulet, and Tybalt and Benvolio, all impact the story and its readers.