Romeo and Juliet 2

Character analysis
Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written

by William Shakespeare early in his career
about two young lovers whose deaths
ultimately reconcile their feuding families. It
was among Shakespeare's most popular plays
during his lifetime and, along with Hamlet, is
one of his most frequently performed plays.
Today, the title characters are regarded
as archetypal young lovers.

Romeo is the only son of Lord Montague, the
head of a reputed and rich family of Verona that
is plagued by its longstanding feud with the
Capulet family.
Romeo is really in love with the idea of love.
When he does not receive love in return, he
grows melancholy and brooding.
Romeo is young, inexperienced, hasty, and
impatient. He immediately falls in love with Juliet,
but it is a much deeper and more genuine love
than he has ever known.
Because of this incredible love for Juliet and
desire to be with her for eternity, Romeo has
been identified as one of the worlds greatest
lovers.

Shakespeare is said to have created a
masterpiece in the development of the
character of Juliet. Her exquisite beauty and
personal charms are amongst the finest in
literature. In describing Juliet, Romeo
captures the depth of her loveliness. Juliet is
the sun and the brightness of her cheek
would shame the stars.
Juliet, who is almost fourteen years old, is the
only child of the Capulets.
She is blissfully ignorant, and at the
beginning of the play turns to her Nurse for
guidance and advice.

As the play develops and Juliet becomes the
wife of Romeo, she quickly matures into a
new person who can think for herself and
stand on her own.
Juliet is an innocent who has never even been
in love until she meets Romeo. On the
balcony, she almost swoons before him.
Later, she feels embarrassed that she has
been so immodest in revealing the depths of
her sentiments to Romeo.
The power of love transformed her from a
submissive child to the height of
womanhood.

Mercutio is a relative of the Prince and a man
of rank.
His sarcasm, scorn of love, and interest in
dueling are exactly the opposite of the
sincerity, passion, and pacifism of Romeo.
Mercutio is a skillful duelist. When Romeo
refuses to fight Tybalt after being insulted by
him, Mercutio decides to fight with Tybalt
himself, which sets the pattern of tragedy in
motion for the rest of the play.

Benvolio is Romeos cousin and close friend
and Lord Montague`s nephew.
His name, Benvolio, means well wishing,
which is reflective of his character throughout
the play.
Although not directly, Benvolio does much to
propel the action forward in the play.

Friar Lawrence is a likable old gentleman. As a
monk of the Franciscan order, he is devoted to
preaching, caring for the sick, and doing
missionary work.
A peace loving man, Friar Lawrence is greatly
concerned about the rivalry between the two
families and seeks a way to bring peace between
them.
Because of this desire, he consents to secretly
marry Romeo and Juliet, hoping that their union
will be able to reconcile the warring factions.

Tybalt is the nephew of Lady Capulet.
When he meets Romeo, he insults him by
calling him a villain. Romeo refuses to fight
with him.
Mercutio interferes, Tybalt fights with
Mercutio and kills him. He flees for the
moment, but after some time returns to face
Romeo again. Romeo fights and slays him.
The death of Tybalt snowballs the crisis for
Romeo and Juliet.

Lord Capulet is the head of his family and
father to Juliet.
Lord Capulet is much guiltier than Montague
about continuing the rivalry between the two
houses, and it is his faction that usually
provokes the fighting.
In his good moods, Capulets language is
smooth, genial, and courtly; in his passion,
he becomes insulting and coarse; and in his
grief he is simple and dignified.

Lady Capulet is still a young woman, many years
younger than her sixty year-old husband and
mother of Juliet.
She has very little influence over her daughter
and still treats Juliet as a child.
The shock that Lady Capulet receives over Juliets
supposed death removes all superfluity from her,
and the grief-stricken mother comes out. Her
sorrow over the loss of her child is immense,
which she clearly expresses with a string of
adjectives. Accurst unhappy, wretched hateful
day!, are genuinely from the heart. Lady Capulet
is an unsympathetic, heartless woman, until she
is overtaken by tragedy.

Lord Montagues social position in Verona is
the same as that of the Lord Capulet, but he,
his son Romeo, and his nephew Benvolio, are
far from being eager to fight their enemies.
He does not want to be involved in a fight
with the Capulets. Lord Montagues role in
the play is limited.
He shows his mildness and self-control
during the play.

Lady Montagues character is not much
developed in the play.
Lady Montague is cast in a more suave and
womanly manner than Lady Capulet is.
She is more interested in her sons welfare
than in the cause of the fight.
She is devoted to her husband and her son
and in the end dies a sad death.

Prince Escalus is the absolute ruler of an
independent Italian city-state.
He is a type rather than a personality.
He stands as a supreme power over the
welfare of the city.
He appears at the opening of the play as a
director, in the middle as a watchful observer,
and at the end as a judge.
Count Paris is a close relative of the Prince
and, therefore, is not involved in the enmity
between the Capulets and Montagues.
Very handsome himself, he is attracted to the
beauty of Juliet and asks Lord Capulet for her
hand in marriage.
He is purely conventional and unromantic
about love and marriage, offering his rank in
exchange for Juliets beauty. He knows he is
worthy of Juliet, for he is a man of good birth,
culture, and uprightness in life.

The Nurse is a triumphant and complete
achievement of comic personality.
The Capulet family has employed her since the
birth of Juliet, and the young girl has been left
entirely in her hands. She is fondly attached to
Juliet, whom she calls as her lamb and her
ladybird.
The Nurse displays the workings of an
uneducated mind. The humor lies in the fact that
she tries to affect the language and manners of
educated people.
The Nurse is the liveliest character in the play
and one of Shakespeares most memorable
humorous characters.
Shakespeare's use of his poetic dramatic
structure, especially effects such as switching
between comedy and tragedy to heighten
tension, his expansion of minor characters,
and his use of sub-plots to embellish the
story, has been praised as an early sign of his
dramatic skill.
The play ends with the Prince's elegy for the
lovers: "For never was a story of more woe /
Than this of Juliet and her Romeo."

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Character analysis

Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written

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