Romeo And Juliet Tragic Hero Essay

A tragic hero is a character within a story whose defined characteristics precipitate the downfall of the plot. By Aristotle’s definition, a tragic hero is one who possesses a characteristic flaw, leading to his wrong actions, careless personality, and realizes his mistake towards the end of the story. In William Shakespeare’s tragedy Romeo and Juliet he creates the story of two lovers from brawling families who wish to be with one another more than on side with their families. It can be argued that Shakespeare’s original intention of the play was to create a tragedy resulting from the actions of a tragic hero, which brings the death of the two lovers in the end. Romeo is an example of the classic tragic hero, exhibiting one’s many characteristics.
Through creating the rich story of Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare accentuates Romeo as the primary individual whose actions bring upon the deaths of the lovers. Conversely, Shakespeare creates Juliet as the lover of Romeo to provide a more stable personality in contrast to Romeo’s. Romeo, being the tragic hero, acts as a fictional representation of what Shakespeare perceives as an immature teenager with a precarious personality, who has no control over his actions. Nonetheless, the definition of such a tragic hero, like Romeo, can be applied to reality. One begins out as an an enthusiastic person, then of which whose enthusiasm leads to their grave mistakes. Slowly, after committing many errors, do they begin to realize their faults, and near death is when they regret their mistakes and realize the damage they have done to themselves and society. Romeo behaves in this process the same way, showing enthusiastic love for Juliet to being impulsive to finally understanding his faults. Perhaps Shakespeare’s intention was not just to create the tragedy of the tragic hero Romeo, but to exemplify how every man or women acts as a tragic hero/heroine through the course of their life as