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Tragedies show events that make the audience feel pity and fear for the tragic heroes because of the things that the characters had to go through. Many people feel that a tragedy is something that is sad and nothing more. However, that is not the case with Aristotle. According to Aristotle, a tragedy has several key components that have to be fulfilled before it can be considered a true tragedy. Romeo and Juliet, a classical play by William Shakespeare, has been called many things. An Aristotelian tragedy is one of them. This play is an Aristotelian tragedy because Romeo has a single tragic flaw, Juliet has a single flaw, and it has many key Aristotelian tragedy characteristics,.
Primarily, Romeo has a single flaw of being very rash in his actions. Romeo is rash in his actions concerning love. The best example of this is when Romeo wants to get married to Juliet the day after he meets her. Also, he just got out of his love with Rosaline and he falls into another supposed true love. The friar warns him that he is being hasty in his decision, but Romeo is blinded by love and pronounces “I stand on sudden haste” (II, iii, 93). This clearly displays that he is rash and that is his tragic flaw as he states it himself. He is also impetuous in the sense that he immediately picks a fight with Tybalt because Tybalt killed Mercutio. Romeo does not even bother to ponder about what happened nor does he speculate the consequences. He is blinded by his heart and he is not thinking with his head. Romeo’s “problem is not with the intensity of the emotion, but the inability to control and direct that emotion in a positive way” (Kerschen 261). To explain, Romeo goes with the flow and does not think about the effects of his actions which lead to ...
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...Romeo is rash in his actions, and Juliet has issues with loyalty. Undoubtedly, Shakespeare has incorporated all the key parts of a tragedy because he has the single tragic flaws in each tragic character and he has the elements of a tragedy. Tragedies are an imitation of real life, but it has to be something that is possible and has very strict rules. This means that it is not something that has happened, but rather, it is something that can happen.
Works Cited
Kerschen, Lois. “Criticism.” Drama For Students. Vol. 21. Ed. Anne Marie Hacht. Detroit: Gale, 2005. 258-261.
Shakespeare, William. The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. Prentice Hall Literature: Timeless Voices, Timeless Themes. Ed. Kate Kinsella, et al. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2002. 770-784.
Thrasher, Thomas. Understanding Romeo and Juliet. San Diego: Lucent Books, 2001. 78-79.
” Drama for Students. Ed. Anne Marie Hacht. Vol. 21.
The Deaths of Romeo and Juliet Was it just one person’s fault, or a mixture? In this essay, I will include many different reasons as to why Romeo and Juliet die. I will explain in detail each point and put forward my own opinions. I will use quotes to back up each point and explain why the historical context is relevant.
In Romeo and Juliet, the tragic love story, emotion is also surrounded with both the protagonists and brought themselves a tragic ending. Early in the story, Romeo and Juliet made an unacceptable forbidden decision which created a path towards their graves. After knowing themselves as the enemy of their household, the two teenagers yet fall in love with each other. Their idiotic actions of love have brought themselves a road to death at the end. Is unworthy to cost your life by your foolish decision. Furthermore, Romeo made another decision out of momentary anger and caused himself a disastrous problem. After Mercutio's death, out of anger Romeo duel with Tybalt and demands to slay him. After his revenge, he brought a death sentence on himself if he is ever found within the city again.
There are many characters that Shakespeare has portrayed to the audience as being responsible for the tragedy.
The Death of Romeo and Juliet William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is considered to be one of the greatest love tragedies of all time. Shakespeare, who is known to be a successful playwright for his remarkable plays and beautiful poetry, manages to create a classical play filled with strong emotions, tension, action, violence, humor and most importantly, love. This play is set in Verona when two “star crossed lovers” meet and fall in love passionately. Most of the responsibility for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet should be put upon their parents, themselves, and fate. Romeo and Juliet’s parents should be hold responsible for their children’s death.
What are we made of? I mean humans of course, but what are we made of. We know what our bodies are composed of but what is in our souls or spirits. Are humans really superior to other living things. Yes we can talk, but what are we made of? We are made of our feelings. Our standards, our way of life, our way of thinking and everyone is different. Some may be straight A students with a normal life while some have had a rough journey and less than perfect grades. But there are some things that I think most people have in them. It’s a positive spirit. Now, everyones is triggered by different stuff but we all have one. But, of course where there is a positive spirit there is a negative spirit which is much, much easier to catch. Even though The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet doesn’t scream positive messages about human spirit there are still some in it such as, love can make you do crazy things, in hard times people can unite, and that even when everyone is against you, you can still do what’s right.
Walter Kerr says that Romeo’s flaw is furry (84). To argue human emotion as a flaw is ridiculous. If we consider these characters as real people, most people in love do not think logically. Romeo avoided confrontation, not encouraged it. Romeo and Juliet, blinded by love at first sight, reacted to their emotions for each other, unable to see any harm in their love.
As Romeo proceeds through the play he reveals many characterics that show him as a tragic hero. Romeo’s trait to jump conclusions led him to an early death. This loss was not pure loss because he finally got to be with his true love. The many tragedies Romeo endures during the play keeps the reader enticed and very interested. Romeo is not the town superhero or famous in any way he is a normal guy who endures in many downfalls, suffering, and defeats.
In “The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet,” William Shakespeare has given the characters realistic aspects. People can relate to Romeo's immature and rash nature, can admire Juliet's growth to maturity, and can find that their teen love is very convincing. To start off, Romeo is very rash and immature, especially when it comes to love. When talking about their relationship, Juliet even said, “It is too rash, too unadvised, too sudden.” Furthermore, Romeo was obsessed with Rosaline but soon became infatuated with Juliet. Friar Lawrence have said, “Young men's love then lies not truly in his heart, but in their eyes.” This aspect of Romeo is realistic because it is a flaw people can relate to. In addition, when pertaining to love, people can relate to Juliet's growth from being a naïve, dependent girl to a matured adult. When Lady Capulet asked Juliet what she thought of marriage, Juliet said, “It is an honor that I dream not of.” But after she fell in love with Romeo, she became more mature when it came to love. Juliet was the one who proposed the marriage to Romeo, saying “If that thy bent...
Shakespeare, William. Romeo and Juliet. Language of Literature. Ed. Arthur N. Applebee. Evanston: McDougal Littell, 2002. Print.
In the play Romeo and Juliet there is plenty of evidence that Romeo is a tragic hero. Romeo is of noble birth due to being virtuous, respected and of high social status. Also, Romeo's character flaw of impulsiveness influences his actions such as marrying Juliet, killing Tybalt and committing suicide.
I prefer to think of Romeo and Juliet as a love story with a tragic ending rather than a classic tragedy, because the love Romeo and Juliet find and share is beautiful and inspiring: there is nothing tragic about it.
“O Romeo, O Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo?” This quote from one of Shakespeare’s most well known plays “Romeo and Juliet” is probably one of the most well known quotes from the story. The tragedy of “Romeo and Juliet” starts out as a tale of two star-crossed lovers whose fate led them to meet while they each came from two families who hate each other. Throughout the play, they fall more and more in love and are so desperate to be together they end up killing themselves in the process. This may have ended the feud, but it still ended with two teenagers, one’s mother, one’s cousin, and one’s best friend dead. Romeo and Juliet may have killed themselves, but their deaths were caused by fate, and their families’ hatred toward one another.
In Aristotle’s book, Poetics, he defines tragedy as, “an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and possessing magnitude; in embellished language, each kind of which is used separately in the different parts; in the mode of action and not narrated; and effecting through pity and fear” (Aristotle 1149). Tragedy creates a cause and effect chain of actions that clearly gives the audience ideas of possible events. The six parts to Aristotle’s elements of tragedy are: Plot, character, language, thought, spectacle, and melody. According to Aristotle, the most important element is the plot. Aristotle writes in Poetics that, “It is not for the purpose of presenting their characters that the agents engage in action, but rather it is for the sake of their actions that they take on the characters they have” (Aristotle 1150). Plots should have a beginning, middle, and end that have a unity of actions throughout the play making it complete. In addition, the plot should be complex making it an effective tragedy. The second most important element is character. Characters...
In 350 B.C.E., a great philosopher wrote out what he thought was the definition of a tragedy. As translated by S.H. Butcher, Aristotle wrote; “Tragedy, then, is an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude; in language embellished with each kind of artistic ornament, the several kinds being found in separate parts of the play; in the form of action, not of narrative; with incidents arousing pity and fear, wherewith to accomplish its catharsis of such emotions. . . . Every Tragedy, therefore, must have six parts, which parts determine its quality—namely, Plot, Characters, Thought, Diction, Spectacle, Melody. (http://www.cnr.edu/home/bmcmanus/poetics.html)” Later in history, William Shakespeare wrote tragedies that epitomized Aristotle’s outline of a tragedy. Shakespeare’s Hamlet is one such tragedy.