Romeo And Juliet: Who Is The Protagonist?

Who is the protagonist? Discuss.

The definition of a protagonist is the lead character in a play, film or novel, because of this the topic of the protagonist in Romeo and Juliet is a hard one to tackle. There are strong arguments for both sides of the discussion. On one hand you could say that Romeo is the protagonist as the play revolves around him and the things he causes, but on the other hand Juliet is a candidate for the protagonist position, because the play is about somebody meeting her and the events that follow. The argument for Romeo being the protagonist is a very strong one, as the play revolves around him. We meet Romeo, and form the get-go he appears to be the obvious protagonist. He is moping around and talking about loving someone who does not love him, this sets the play up to be about Romeo and his love who does not love him back, this idea is further backed up by Benvolio telling Romeo to “Examine other beauties”, this setting up the story for Romeo to meet someone else. The line that Romeo responds with

These two reasons make Juliet a likely protagonist. During the play she starts off listening to her parents and respecting their decisions and ideas, like when asked about marriage she says “It is an honour that I dream not of”. However, after she marries Romeo she starts changing very quickly, this is something that Romeo does not do. Romeo acts rashly and predictably the whole play, and Juliet goes from an naïve person to a person making decisions for themselves and being independent from her parents. Juliet involuntarily causes her own and Romeo’s death by making a rash decision in a time of sadness, this then sets off a set of reactions that ultimately get them both killed. She is then effected by that, and that is her facing the consequences, something that a main character would