Romeo And Juliet Tragic Hero

Rachael
Block H
Mrs.Cice
March 10th 2016

Tragic Hero In “fair Verona”, two families, the Capulets and the Montagues were “both alike in dignity”, however, they only have hatred towards each other is unparalleled. One night at the Capulet’s party, Montague’s son, Romeo and the Capulet’s daughter, Juliet, fall in love with each other. What sets them apart from the usual romance is that their story starts and ends in a tragedy. The star of the show is Romeo, who is the tragic hero of this classic love story. This love story is called ‘Romeo and Juliet’, which is written by William Shakespeare. A story of a tragic hero, whose tragic flaw, eventually led to their tragic demise. Therefore, due to his nobility, flaw, and his downfall, Romeo can be seen as a tragic hero.
A tragic hero can be defined as someone who has a high social standing, and has a personality, in which Romeo excels in both.
As his father is one of the Lords in Verona, Romeo’s upbringing was close to that of nobility. Since Benvolio, Romeo’s cousin addresses Romeo’s father as “My noble uncle”, we can see that his family is well respected. Furthermore, due to his nobility, he is a respected person with high reputation and plenty of friends such as Mercutio, Benvolio and some servants like Balthasar etc. When Tyablt, Juliet’s cousin sees Romeo at the Capulets’ party, he was going to cause a fray with Romeo. However, Lord Capulet asks Tybalt to “let him alone” and said “ ‘A bears like a portly gentleman.” This shows that he is even well respected by his enemies. Due to Romeo’s nobility and his reputation, he can be considered as a tragic
hero. A tragic hero can be portrayed as a decent person as well, however, he/she always has a tragic flaw, much like Romeo. Romeo’s flaw would be his impulsiveness. In the start of the play, Romeo loves a girl called Rosaline, however, she doesn’t accept Romeo’s love. Heartbroken, Romeo goes to the Capulet’s party with hopes of finding Rosaline there. Instead, his eyes meet Juliet and in a span of a few seconds, suddenly, he claims that he has never seen “true beauty till this night”. After meeting her at the party, they reunite at Juliet’s balcony and unhesitatingly decide to get married the day after even though Juliet realizes that his love is “too rash, too unadvised, and too sudden.” This shows that he is being impulsive by moving on quickly by just a look of his lover. Not only by these situations, can his flaw be seen. In the scene when Tybalt kills Romeo’s friend Mercutio, his flaw is very visible as well. Filled with anger, Romeo blindly chases after Tybalt and kills him even though he knows he is going to receive punishment. By looking at these scenes from the play, we can see that Romeo’s flaw can define him as a tragic hero. At the very end of story revolving around a tragic hero, there comes a downfall of the hero caused by his tragic flaw. Romeo’s impulsiveness led to his downfall, which is evident throughout the play. Much like in where Romeo’s impulsiveness causes him to kill Tybalt, he suffers a punishment, which is banishment from Verona. The love stricken Juliet is drowned in sorrow, which causes her parents to quicken her marriage with Paris. In grief, she seeks Friar Laurence for help, and he gives her an insane plan. Juliet will drink a potion that she will look dead, but in truth she is in deep coma just for 42 hours. Friar will send a message to Romeo explaining the situation and Romeo will return Verona in 42 hours, reunite with Juliet, and then flee to Mantua together. Juliet does exactly as planned; however, the messenger Friar sends to Romeo is in quarantine and couldn’t get the message to Romeo. Instead, Romeo’s servant informs him about Juliet’s death without knowing the actual plan. Without hesitation, and waiting for more news from Friar, he buys a poison from an apothecary then returns to Verona. Then, he finally dies with Juliet. Due to his flaw, it leads him to a path of banishment. His banishment leads to miscommunication, and which leads to his downfall. A downfall that fits with the criteria for a tragic hero thus making him a perfect candidate for such title fits in the criteria for a tragic hero. In this play of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ a tragic love story written by William Shakespeare, this concludes that Romeo is an example of a tragic hero. He is a tragic hero, due to his status and his personality. Romeo also has an important characteristic of a tragic hero: a fatal flaw, which leads him to his downfall at last. In the end, it’s clear that the character Romeo is a tragic hero in the tragedy of ‘Romeo and Juliet’.