ROMEO

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  • Created by: TessBlyth
  • Created on: 14-04-19 11:56

Personality

Role

  • Infatuated - At the beginning of the play, Romeo mopes about his unrequited love for Rosaline and believes that he will never feel the same way about anyone else. However, his feelings are short-lived as his affections turn towards Juliet.
  • Fickle - When Romeo meets Juliet, he quickly abandons his feelings for Rosaline - whom he had been moping about previously. This shows how he quickly changes his mind.
  • Stereotypical Petrarchan lover - Romeo has very ideological views of love and is a typical romantic of the time. He is often blinded by his strong feelings and cannot see their grave repercussions. It is love that leads to his ultimate demise.
  • Determined - Romeo is resilient in the play when it comes to his feelings and he is willing to pursue them by any means necessary. His overwhelming and instantaneous love for Juliet is something he fights for in the play, blind to their consequences. For example, after the ball, he climbs the Capulet orchard to reach Juliet - a strictly forbidden place for any Montague to enter. This shows his determination to get what he wants.
  • Naive - Romeo's juvenility and inexperience often leads him to make unprocessed decisions that have severe repercussions. For example, agreeing to marry Juliet on the day that they first met is a very bold and rapid commitment at such a premature stage in their relationship. This clearly wasn't well thought out and leads to each of their inevitable deaths at the end of the play.
  • Desperate - when Romeo hears of Juliet's death, his sorrow and genuine love for her leads him to make a valiant decision to kill himself with a potent poison. His desperation is clearly highlighted at this point in the play, and he wastes no time to be with the one he loves (unaware that she is still alive!)
  • Romeo is the protagonist and the whole narrative revolves around his character. His actions play a major role in the conflict that takes place.
  • He represents the idealism of a stereotypical Petrarchan lover which completely contrasts Mercutio's realistic views of love. His romanticism has severe consequences.
  • When Romeo kills Tybalt after becoming his kin, he is exiled. It can be argued that a proceeding chain of events catalyses the plot, leading to the 'star cross'd lovers' preordained deaths.
  • His overwhelming love for Juliet results in the two opposing households abandoning their enmity and reconciling, in honour of the lives they have lost.

Development (Growth & change)

Key Quotes

  • At the beginning of the play, Romeo is lovesick and infatuated - his unrequited love for Rosaline leaves him devastated and unable to move on. The counsel of his friends has no effect on him because of his fragmented and closed mindset.
  • However, when Romeo meets Juliet in act 1 scene 5, he has completely altered. Suddenly he has forgotten his feelings for Rosaline, highlighting his fickle nature, and instantaneously fallen in love with Juliet (unaware of her Capulet affiliations). He is solely fixated on her and is determined to pursue his feelings for her.
  • His affections for Juliet do not change over the course of the play, in fact, they only get stronger. After their marriage in act 2 scene 5, Romeo is optimistic and full of love - even for his enemy. Romeo doesn't reciprocate Tybalt's desire for violence, knowing that they are now linked by family. However, when Tybalt kills Romeo's closest friend Mercutio, Romeo alters completely and loses all sense of control. 'Fire eye'd fury be my conduct now.' He seeks vengeance and kills Tybalt - resulting in his banishment.
  • Later on in the play, when Romeo learns of Juliet's death, he becomes desperate. He plans to kill himself with a powerful poison in order to be with the one he loves (unaware that she is in fact alive). His mindset becomes fixated on suicide, with no sign of turning back.
  • "Ay me! Sad hours seem long." 1:1
  • "Ay mine own fortune is my misery." 1:2
  • "Is love a tender thing? It is too rough, too rude, too boisterous." 1:4
  • "my mind misgives some consequence yet hanging in the stars..." 1:4
  • "She teaches the torches to burn bright!" 1:5
  • "Have not saints lips and holy palmers too?" 1:5
  • "O dear account! My life is my foe's debt." 1:5
  • "O speak again bright angel!" 2:2
  • "The exchange of thy love's faithful vow for mine." 2:2
  • "With Rosaline, my ghostly father? no; I have forgot that name" 2:3
  • "Then love-devouring death do what he dare" 2:6
  • "good Capulet, which name I tender as dearly as my own, be satisfied." 3:1
  • "O sweet Juliet, thy beauty hath made me effeminate." 3:1
  • "Fire ey'd fury be my conduct now!" 3:1
  • "O, I am fortune's fool." 3:1
  • "Ha, banishment? be merciful say 'death' for exile hath more terror in his look." 3:3
  • "I have more care to stay than will to go" 3:4
  • "Then I defy you stars!" 5:1
  • "Thou art not conquer'd, beauty's ensign yet is crimson in thy lips and in thy cheeks." 5:3
  • "Eyes look your last! Arms take your last embrace! and lips, O you the doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss." 5:3
  • "Here's to my love!...Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die." 5:3

Comments

Emmiliini

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All of these resources are incredibly thorough and detailed. Thank you for the help