Romeo Character Traits

This sample essay on Romeo Character Traits offers an extensive list of facts and arguments related to it. The essay’s introduction, body paragraphs, and the conclusion are provided below.

Romeo is an emotional, adolescent boy, he thrives upon complexity of love and predicament of romance. The story is a romantic tragedy where Romeo and his love must fall. The passion and emotion that lurks in Romeo, inevitably is responsible for the tragedy which soon surfaces. Romeo is in love with the idea of being in love.

His actions and relations are under great scrutiny from the tension and suspense of the feuding Montague’s and Capulet’s, as his love and affection for Juliet develops so does his impetuous character. The first expressions of Romeo are that he is not his usual self.

His absence is thoroughly spoken about in the Montague household. Montague mentions how Romeo has been keeping to himself, preferring night to day “Locks fair daylight out, And makes himself an artificial night.

” From Montague, Lady Montague and Benvolio, we gather that the story will be based around the absent Romeo. Once Romeo does appear, we understand that his sadness and depression is because his love for Rosaline is unreturned “Love, whose view is muffled still. ” Romeo’s contradictory language is a clear indication of how Romeo’s perceptions and feelings are awkwardly diverse.

The repetitive use of oxymoron demonstrates that Romeo’s emotions are mixed up regarding his relationship with Rosaline. ” Love is a smoke” ” Loving hate” Romeo dialects in this elaborate way of speaking, the constant use of fanciful imagery and rhyming couplets show that his emotions are “artificial” and are not coming from his heart.

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Following Romeo’s confused and heartfelt speech, Benvolio advises Romeo that the cure for love is to look at other girls and go along to Capulet party. ” Take thou new infection to thy eye.

Why Is Romeo Depressed

” However Romeo is still hostile to Benvolio’s proposition, until, while reading the guest list, Romeo discovers that Rosaline will be at the party, although Romeo continues to protest that his love for Rosaline will never change, “Ne’re saw her match since the world began,” he chooses to go along to the party. “I’ll go along no such sight to be shown. ” While at the Capulet party. Romeo meets his love Juliet, and they instantly fall in love at first sight. This electrifying moment is written as a sonnet. Religious imagery runs through Romeo’s conversation with Juliet “profane, trespass, purged, faith.

” Romeo compares Juliet to a saint, the imagery of light is very important. Romeo’s earlier love was characterised by grief, melancholy, tears and darkness. This is very distinctive of his character, earlier he was so sure that the only love for him was Rosaline but now a scene later, he’s fallen in love with Juliet. This divulges how naive and childlike Romeo really is, he is more inclined to express the rapture long his love, rather than to do anything about it, which supports the earlier point of that Romeo is in love with the thought of being in love, and his emotions and actions take him to where he is now.

Now that Romeo’s infatuation for Rosaline has ended, act 2 begins with the unaware Mercutio mocking Romeo’s love for Rosaline. Mercutio pretends to be a magician, using sexual innuendo “demesues, spirit circle, stand, down, medlar, open-are” to tease Romeo. Mercutio’s sexual joking opposes and highlights the true love of Romeo and Juliet. Following Act 2 scene 2 Romeo’s first line is a dismissive comment about Mercutio’s joking about love “he jests at scars that never felt a wound. ” This means that someone who has never experienced being in love, finds it easy to mock the suffering of a person deeply in love.

Act 2 scene 2 is particularly distinctive of Romeo’s character, Romeo who is hidden from Juliet in the Capulet orchard, sees Juliet at an upstairs window. Romeo compares her to the sun, stars and heavens, ” fainst stars in all the heaven ” this all symbolizes Romeo’s obsession with Juliet and how his character has developed from infatuated to desperate. The first time we meet Friar Lawrence is on Act 2 scene 5, he is gathering flowers and herbs. He reflects that, like people, they contain both healing medicine and poison, both good and evil.

He shows this by the use of antithesis “day/night,” ” mother/tomb,” “fair use/abuse,” “grace/rude. ” Friar Lawrence’s use of oppositions or antithesis help us understand the play will be conflicting both love and hate emotions, his speech gives us an understanding that if the play will be contrary, so will the character of Romeo. Romeo’s first meeting with Friar Lawrence is also on act 2 scene 3. Romeo goes to Friar Lawrence to make a confession. However Friar Lawrence doesn’t find Romeo’s explanation clear, he emphasises the fact by using rhyme, the rhyme shows how much Friar Lawrence is in the dark about Romeo’s confession.

Friar Lawrence tells Romeo that ambiguous, unclear confessions will only be given similar unsatisfactory forgiveness “riddling shift. ” This expresses that Romeo has mixed feelings over disclosing the secret of his love for Juliet, and he’s not entirely sure who to put his faith in. The differences between old and young, between cautious, mature, wisdom and youthful emotion are striking in the play. Romeo’s passion is evident “I stand on sudden haste. ” The contrast with Friar Lawrence’s advice is vivid as he urges “love moderately, long love doth so” the opposite to Romeo.

After Friar Lawrence accused Romeo of a mere infatuation, “young men’s loves then lies Not truly in their hearts, but in their eyes” and making jokes “For doting, not for loving, pupil mice,” Friar Lawrence finally agrees to marry Romeo and Juliet, because he believes it will end the feud between the Montague’s and Caplets. Romeo’s character in this scene seems to have matured, he has the courage to come and talk to an adult about love, maybe proving that he is no longer a child and ready to get married to Juliet.

Subsequent to Romeo’s fight and murder of Tybalt, the Prince sentences Romeo to be banished from Verona. These circumstances again brings about Romeo’s childlike and immature behaviour, he loses all self-control and throws himself to the floor in agitation ” taking the measure of an unmade grave. ” Romeo is so outraged with the decision to banish him, he is contemplating committing suicide ” shot from the deadly level of a gun. ” His banishment causes Romeo to cry out with extreme anguish to Friar Lawrence who reprimands Romeo.

This havoc is unbearable for Romeo, for he feels being banished from the city of Verona is worse than death. ” Hence ‘ banished ‘ is banished from the world, And the worlds exile is death ; then ‘ banished ‘ Is death mistermed. ” This order of events underline Romeo’s dedication and devotion to Juliet, he would rather die than leave Juliet. It also underlines his immaturity as Romeo’s obsession and fascination with Juliet may perhaps cause this romantic tragedy to emerge. In conclusion Romeo’s character has distorted right through the play.

The change in situations through the acts have influenced Romeo’s personality, mood, emotion and most importantly his actions. The first impressions of Romeo as a depressed, neglected young man transformed when he met Juliet, however the same affectionate emotions for Juliet become obsessive and fanatical which causes him to change under the pressure of the feuding Montague’s and Capulet’s. Commencing from the infatuation at the Capulet party to the obsession and hurried decision making at the tomb, it was all too much for Romeo who’s uncompromising attitude inevitably caused this impractical catastrophe to surface.