Romeo And Juliet Character Analysis Essay

During the course of the play, Romeo matures from adolescence to adulthood as a result of his love for Juliet and his unfortunate involvement in the feud, marking his development from a comic character to a tragic figure.

Romeo is initially presented as a Petrarchan lover, a man whose feelings of love aren 't reciprocated by the lady he admires and who uses the poetic language of sonnets to express his emotions about his situation. Romeo 's exaggerated language in his early speeches characterizes him as a young and inexperienced lover who is more in love with the concept of being in love than with the woman herself.

The play 's emphasis on characters ' eyes and the act of looking accords with Romeo 's role as a blind lover who doesn 't believe that there could be another lady more fair than his Rosaline. Romeo denies that he could be deluded by love, the "religion" of his eye. This zeal, combined with his rejection of Benvolio 's advice to find another love to replace Rosaline, highlights Romeo 's immaturity as a lover. Similar imagery creates a comic effect when Romeo falls in love at first sight with Juliet at the Capulet feast. When Romeo sees Juliet, he realizes the artificiality of his love for Rosaline: "Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight! / For I ne 'er saw true beauty till this night" (I.5.52-53).

He begins to speak in blank verse as well as rhyme, which allows his language to sound less artificial and more like everyday language.

The fated destinies of Romeo and Juliet are foreshadowed throughout the play. Romeo 's sense of foreboding as he makes his way to the Capulet feast anticipates his first meeting with Juliet:

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