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ROMEO.CHR
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1979-12-31
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5
14
Our first impressions of Romeo are not very good. We meet him
in a very melancholy mood bewailing his futile love for
Rosaline.
She hath forsworn to love and in that vow
Do I live dead that live to tell it now.
His exaggerations and his self-pity about his misfortune i
love prevent us from feeling very sorry for him.
However this is not the real Romeo as we can tell from his
friends' concern for him and even from Lord Capulet who
speaks of him as a:
virtuous and well-governed youth.
More revealing of his true character is his behaviour when he
first meets Juliet.
14
Romeo's love for Juliet seems instantaneous and having once
seen her he quickly plans how he can meet and speak with her.
What is more he quickly seizes the chance to ask her for a
kiss in charming and courtly language that is echoed by Juliet
herself.
These actions show Romeo's impulsive and passionate nature
characteristics that he exhibits throughout the play.
For example he rushes Friar Lawrence to conduct the marriage
and will not stand for any delay.
Even when he succeeds in holding his temper with Tybalt (IIIi)
it is not for long as he seeks revenge for Mercutio's death
with the words:
fire-eyed fury be my conduct now.
14
Another side of Romeo's character is shown in Act II scene iv
when he engages in a duel of wits with Mercutio and emerges
the winner.
Although there have been hints of his wit and intelligence
before here we see him in sparkling form which prompts
Mercutio to exclaim:
Now art thou sociable now art thou Romeo.
He is peaceable by nature and tries to avoid quarreling with
Tybalt yet when he feels that he must fight he shows that
he is certainly not a coward and is a skilled swordsman.
We must remember that Romeo is very young and at times his
immaturity shows.
14
For example after he is banished by Prince Escalus for killing
Tybalt he hides in Friar Lawrence's cell feeling very sorry
for himself.
When we see him in Act III scene iii he is raving with self-
pity and even attempts to kill himself.
This childish despair is rightly condemned by Friar Lawrence
and the Nurse and after this Romeo seems to grow into a new
maturity as the play progresses.
The over-riding feature of Romeo's character however is the
depth of his love for Juliet.
It is this love and the beautiful poetry in which he expresses
it that makes us overlook his faults and feel the tragedy of
his fate in the final scenes.
12
From the moment he first sees her until the instant before
his own death Romeo's love for Juliet is unchanging.
It sets him apart and makes him careless of the real world:
there lies more peril in thine eye
Than twenty of their swords. (IIii)
and adds beauty to his words of love:
here lies Juliet and her beauty makes
this vault a feasting presence full of light. (Viii)
So despite his impetuous sometimes childish nature Romeo
takes on the majesty of a true tragic hero as a result of
the sheer power of his love.