juliets tragedy?
Uploaded by jin_n_t0nic on Sep 25, 2004
In William Shakespeare’s tragic Drama ‘Romeo and Juliet’, the character of Juliet is arguably the central character within the play. The play captures Juliet’s journey as she evolves rapidly upon falling in love with Romeo.
The two main characters within the play are doubtlessly Romeo and Juliet, however we tend to notice that the story mainly evolves around Juliet. In this romantic tragedy, we tend to focus upon the growth of Juliet as she falls in love with Romeo. Initially Juliet is a naïve thirteen-year old that has given very little thought on marriage. ‘ It is an honor that I dream not of’ she says as her mother, lady Capulet introduces to her the subject of marriage. When Lady Capulet mentions Paris’s interest in marrying Juliet, she dutifully responds which indicates to us that she is childish and has an immature conception of love. Juliet’s first meeting with Romeo pushes her towards adulthood. Though Juliet is deeply in love with him, she is able to criticize his rushed decisions ‘it is too rash, too unadivized, too sudden’ After Romeo kills Tybalt and is banished, Juliet makes logical decisions that her loyalty and love for Romeo must be her guiding priorities. Juliet is the character in focus as we see her develop from a wide-eyed child into a self-assured, loyal and capable woman.
Although we see both the main characters make sacrifice for one another, it is noticeable that Romeo’s actions are far from heroic. Romeo is described to be a character that lacks the capacity for restraint. Love compels him to climb in to his enemy’s garden risking death simply to catch a glimpse of her. Anger compels him to kill his wife’s cousin to avenge the death of his friend. He is often emotional and has feminine characteristics. We see him ‘on the ground, with his own tears made drunk’ after he is banished from Verona, the nurse tells him to ‘stand and you be a man!’ Extreme behavior seems to dominate the character of Romeo and can sometimes seem rather pathetic. He seems to be the trouble maker in the relationship, had he restrained himself from killing Tybalt, or waited even one day before killing himself after hearing about Juliet’s death, the story would have ended happily. Although these characteristics may indicate to us that he is unafraid of danger, it also forces us to notice his...