William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet

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Character Essay Romeo

In William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, one of the main characters, Romeo, is described as a passionate yet immature person. Throughout the play Romeo is in search of love, which is why he is seen as passionate, but how he looks for love, it is seen as immature. In the beginning his need for Rosaline was very passionate but the fact his mind was changed so easily shows his immaturity. His love for Juliet was very passionate but the fact that he went for her so quickly shows his immaturity.

“Ay me! Sad hours seem long” (Pg 22). This is a quote of Romeo’s distress of being away from Rosaline. He is so passionate about his love for Rosaline that the thought of being away from her makes him unhappy. Throughout this scene Romeo talks of her beauty “she is too fair, too wise, wisely too fair, to merit bliss by making me despair” (Pg25). Romeo is saying that she is too wise and beautiful that she could not find happiness in making him despair. This quote shows that passion and supposed love he feels for Rosaline is so great that it makes him despair when she does not love him like he loves her.

Romeo’s immaturity is showed when he attends the Capulet ball and gets sight of Juliet. He meets Juliet and proclaims his love for her and describes her beauty in the same passion as he did Rosaline. This shows his immaturity because it shows he doesn’t truly know what love is yet he proclaims it to every woman he is attracted to. “did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight! For I ne’er saw true beauty till this night” (Pg65). In this quote Romeo denies that he has every loved before this night when only a few hours earlier he convinced himself he was in love with Rosaline. This shows his true immaturity because he is in love with an idea in his mind of love. He does not feel what he says he only thinks he does.

Romeo’s passion is shown when he pronounces his love for Juliet. “O, she doth teaches the torches to burn bright! It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night like a jewel in an Ethiop’s ear” (65). In this quote Romeo is saying her beauty surpasses the light of torches. Romeo shows his passion when he meets Juliet and automatically asks for a kiss before he knows her name or anything.

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