The Many Changes in Romeo Throught the Play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
The play “Romeo and Juliet“, which was written by William Shakespeare
conveys many different ways in which the character of Romeo changes
during the tragic play of Romeo and Juliet as well as the ways this
contributes to the tragedy. It is very clear that the character of
Romeo changes for many different reasons, the main reasons being the
way he speaks, they way in which the characters speak to him, the way
he speaks with other characters, what others do to him and how this
contributes to the tragedy along with any other factors that should be
considered. In my conclusion, I will be talking about all the
different range of ways he has changed and whether other characters
contribute to the tragedy of “Romeo and Juliet“.
In the opening scene, we are introduced to Romeo who expresses his
feelings about Rosaline, who we understand does not return Romeo’s
lust. It is highly significant that she doesn’t return his desire for
her, because it shows Romeo bad-tempered that he isn’t having sexual
intercourse with her. The motive for this is because she has sworn a
Vow of Chastity, meaning she can’t have sex before marriage. We
clearly see that Romeo’s love is just artificial, “Out of her favour,
where I am in love.” The way in which Romeo speaks is highly relevant,
as he uses oxymoron to describe his emotions, “O Brawling Love, O
Loving Hate.” Our first impressions of Romeo are depressed and
confused, which could mean he doesn’t love Rosaline but lusts her.
When we are introduced to Romeo, he is upset because he can’t have sex
with Rosaline and he lusts her.
Romeo then meets Juliet at the Capulet party, where he turns up
uninvited. When he sees her, he is struck by her beauty. They approach
each other and begin to speak. Romeo’s actions are exceptionally
romantic, as he speaks in a sonnet, which is a fourteen line poem
which usually has a rhyming scheme.
1. Romeo is so love struck that he compares Juliet to many things that show contrast to one another. For example he says that she stands out against the darkness like a jeweled earring hanging against the cheek of an African. “It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night like a rich jewel in an Ethiope’s ear.” He also says that she is like a white dove in the middle of a flock of crows; “So shows a snowy dove trooping with crows.” At this point it clear that Romeo has fallen out of love with Rosaline and fell deeply in love with Juliet.
In William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Romeo’s impulsiveness contributes to the tragedy of the play. There is no doubt that Romeo rushes into love throughout the play. One example of this is when he falls in love with Rosaline. Although Rosaline is not a major role in the play, it shows the sorrow and uncertainty Romeo goes through after not being loved back. Marilyn Williamson said “During the time in which he was infatuated with Rosaline, he was … withdrawn into darkness” (6). The fact that Rosaline never shares the same feelings with Romeo, shows how quickly Romeo is to fall in love. “Out of her favor, where I am in love” (Rom. 1.1.158). Ironically, Romeo falls in love with Juliet during his plan to get closer to Rosaline. He is at a Capulet party when he first sees Juliet and
Most importantly, Romeo’s poor choices and decisions lead to the tragedy of the drama. From the beginning of the story Romeo reveals his immaturity and ill-equipped emotions. His first mistake reveals itself when he claims to be deeply depressed. Romeo claims that he feels like “sinking ‘under love’s heavy burden’,” (Dupler). At this point Romeo has succumbed to his emotions, due to the fact that a girl named Rosaline refuses to reciprocate his love for her. Romeo’s friends Benvolio and Mercutio “urge him to stop philosophizing about his lost love and to seek another young lady as a new object of his affections” (Dupler).Romeo now demonstrates that he seems incapable of listening to his friends’ suggestions and chooses to continue in a juvenile state of depression. Romeo makes another fatal decision when he nurtures an undeniably damned relationship. Romeo admits that he still loves Juliet once her lineage appears as Capulet when he says, “Is she a Capulet? O dear account! My life is my foes debt” (1.5.115). Romeo irresponsibly supports the idea of a relationship between himself and Juliet only because “The young hero is simply shifting his attention to a more receptive subject as he responds to the erotic spurring implicit in his name” (...
Changes in Romeo in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet After an emotional fight at the start of the play, the mood is brought down by the introduction of a love sick Montague by the name of Romeo. Throughout 'Romeo and Juliet,' Romeo's character goes through a number of changes, he matures from a self-absorbed child into a mature young man thanks to the trial and tribulations he encounters and overcomes in the play. Romeo is a very romantic character, but at the beginning of the play, the extent of his love is that of a teenager. He is infatuated with Rosaline, and due to her lack of love back, he childishly becomes depressed, locking himself in his room to in some foolish effort to get Rosaline. "Shuts up his windows, locks fair daylight out, And makes himself an artificial night.
over her. He is also at times a little irrational when he takes on the
Through his motivation to find love, Romeo, a dynamic character, changes from a subdued individual, into a jovial lovesick character. In the early sections of the play, Romeo is in love with a woman named Rosaline who does not reciprocate those feelings. This leads him to drone on about, “sad hours “ (I.i.146) and how he would, “rather weep” (I.i.167) because he is, “out of her favour” (I.i.154). The importance of Romeo’s affection for each of his women is essential to address. The feelings that Romeo possesses inevitably leads him to become sorrowful over rejection but then, optimistic for Juliet. Later on in the play, once Romeo meets Juliet, he is quick to forget the love that he had for Rosaline and the grieving that he had underwent. After meeting her at Capulet’s ball Romeo states that she is, “my
In Romeo and Juliet it is very sad but also happy as even though they
of a book a person may want to know what’s the basic outline of the
As all love stories begin with a bit of struggling, so does ours, in this particular instance, Romeo is dealing with his infatuation towards Rosaline. As the story progresses, the reader is able to clearly see how easily Romeo “falls in love” with people, as show by his jumping from Rosaline to Juliet over the course of only a few minutes. The big issue that eventually caused the death of Romeo, and then Juliet, is their struggles with many teen issues. These issues consisted of peer pressure, depression, and rebellion. These
Character Development Essay The play "Romeo and Juliet", by William Shakespeare, is a dramatic love story. The characters in this play have static and dynamic conflicts. Internal conflict is a conflict where the person has trouble making a decision. External conflict is when another person, society, or situation gets in the way of the character.
Romeo and Juliet is one of the most famous love tales, but what if the play is not actually a tale of love, but of total obsession and infatuation. Romeo has an immature concept of love and is rather obsessive. Romeo is not the only person in the play who is obsessed though. Many people throughout the play notice his immaturities about love. Very rarely was true love actually shown in the play. attention. Romeo childishly cries to his friend, Benvolio because Rosaline will not love him back and says " She hath forsworn to love, and in that vow/ Do I live dead that live to tell it now" (I i 219-220). Romeo is stating that he's ready to die for loving Rosaline. This is exactly the same attitude Romeo had towards Juliet a little later in the play. During Scene I, Act ii, Romeo's friend, Benvolio tries to get him to go to the Capulet's party to help him get over Rosaline and meet other women Romeo gets very angry and emotional when he suggests this. “Now Romeo is beloved and loves again, / Alike bewitched by the charm of looks” (II 5-6). The chorus expresses Romeo’s juvenile way...
“We met, we woo'd and made exchange of vow, I'll tell thee as we pass; but this I pray, That thou consent to marry us to-day.” (Shakespeare II.III. 60). Romeo’s impulsiveness is clearly shown through this quote that he states. The reason for Romeo’s impulsiveness is because he just recently met Juliet and he decides to marry her very quickly. Also this quote reveals to the audience Romeo’s hamartia. Since he is too quick and rash it will inevitably lead him to his fatal death; and through this quote you could see where Romeo went wrong and how it will greatly affect him. Furthermore Romeo leads the audience to believe that he is just infatuated by Juliet’s looks; due to the fact he was strongly in love with Rosaline and then all of sudden falls in love with Juliet and forgets about Rosaline which he claimed to be his one and only love. “Young men’s love then lies Not truly in their hearts, but in their eyes.”(II.III.65). This quote that Friar Lawrence states planted into the readers mind that Romeo might not be truly in love but rather infatuated. This tragic play takes place in fair Verona where a quarrel between two families takes place due to an ancient grudge. Both families, Montague and Capulet hate each other with a great passion. Two lovers named Romeo and Juliet are both from the two opposing families and they love and marry each other in secret without their families knowing. Because of their impulsiveness and rash decisions it causes them to lead themselves to die a tragic death. Foil characters aid to heighten or highlight an attribute in another character which furthers the plot. Romeo is heightened and influenced by secondary characters that eventually brings out his hamartia, peripeteia, and anagnorisis. These chara...
Before I discuss my modifications to the play and how I would go about directing my own version, the way I see the relationship between Romeo and Juliet should be looked at. In my opinion, the couple isn’t genuinely in love. They feelings they have for each other is pure lust, rather then a deep passionate love. I find it unlikely that they can know each other well enough and on such a personal level to have a lasting, meaningful relationship. One minute Romeo is entirely in love with Rosaline and the next Juliet comes in to the picture and Rosaline goes out of his mind entirely. Shakespeare made note of this, by having Friar Lawrence state a question about Romeo’s short love affair with Rosaline. ‘Holy Saint Francis, what a change is here! Is Rosaline, that thou didst love so dear, So soon forsaken? Young men’s love then lies Not truly in their hearts, but in their eyes.’ (2, 3, 65-68)
In 1996 an australian film director Baz Luhrman introduces the new adaptation of the ageless love story – “Romeo and Juliet” by William Shakespeare. The action is moved to America and happening in the end of 20th century. In an imaginary city Verona Beach the two powerful clans Montague (Anglo-Saxon) and Capulet (Latinos) brutally rival. The swords are substituted with the guns, the ancient costumes with jeans and shirts. The art director Catherine Martin didn’t have any lack of materials, since the 20th century brought a great variety of heels, lighters, shirts, bikers, rockers, leather, tattoos, piercing, etc. The creators originally approached the small details: the street posters
From “the fatal loins” (Prologue.5) of Lord and Lady Capulet, protagonist Juliet is born in Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet. Early on in the play Juliet is portrayed as a very dutiful daughter to her family. After her encounter with Romeo however, she begins a rapid transformation from a naive young girl into a woman. By the end of the play Juliet’s transformation evolves her from a dutiful daughter, into a faithful wife that is willing to desert her family in the name of love.