Who Is Romeo And Juliet Tragic Hero

Romeo and Juliet is a tragic story written by William Shakespeare in 1597 about a young couple who fall in love only to wind up dying for each other. The main characters, Romeo and Juliet are the children of two feuding families, Romeo belonging to the Montagues and Juliet belonging to the Capulets. Romeo and Juliet, in their own way, could be considered a tragic hero. A tragic hero is a literary character who makes a judgement error that leads to his or her own personal destruction. Romeo and Juliet could not control their fate as forces were often beyond their control, particularly in their love story and people that got in the way of their relationship and caused most of their troubles. Forces surrounding Romeo Montague led to the downfall of his life. At the beginning of the book, Romeo was madly in love with a girl named Rosaline. Although she did not return his love and vowed to be a virgin, he still longed for her. In Act I scene 2, an illiterate man happens to walk up to Romeo and his close cousin, Benvolio. The man not read the
letter his master had given him. The letter held the list of people invited to the Capulet masquerade ball. Benvolio decides to attend and bring Romeo with him in hopes of finding him a new girl. Romeo meets Juliet at the masquerade and they quickly fall deeply in love. This was one of the first forces Romeo could not control as it was not his choice. Benvolio was only trying to help out, unknowing the fate of his fellow cousin and his new love interest. In Act V scene 1, Romeo was banished to Mantua for killing Juliet’s cousin, Tybalt. Friar Lawrence, a dear friend of Romeo and Juliet, managed to create a plan for Juliet to be with Romeo again. The plan was for her to drink a potion that’ll put her into a deep sleep and trick her family into thinking she had passed away. Romeo would then receive a letter that Juliet was in fact not dead and for him to come to her tomb so they can run away together. Sadly, the letter could not be sent as Friar John was stuck in a quarantined house due to an outbreak of the plague. Romeo, upon hearing of Juliet’s death by his servant, Balthasar, goes to kill himself and lay next to his lover. This whole circumstance could not be controlled by Romeo. In fact, none of the events mentioned could have been stopped by Romeo as they were caused by other people. Romeo’s star-crossed lover, Juliet Capulet, could not control the forces in her life that would very quickly lead to her death.
In Act III scene 1, Tybalt, Juliet’s cousin, kills Romeo’s close friend Mercutio. Out of anger, Romeo kills Tybalt. These deaths led to the banishment of Romeo. Juliet was not there to watch, and she could not stop Romeo from murdering Tybalt. The people responsible for this force on Juliet were only Mercutio, Romeo, and Tybalt. In Act IV scene 3, Juliet fakes her death and Romeo comes to kill himself to be with Juliet forever, unknowing she was just in a deep sleep. Minutes after Romeo dies, Juliet awakens and sees her lover dead next to her. She takes Romeo’s dagger and kill herself out of tormented guilt of her lover’s passing. Juliet did not know Romeo would kill Tybalt and did not know he would kill himself upon finding her, she thought that he would receive the letter and wait for her to
awaken. Romeo and Juliet had nearly unstoppable forces controlling their relationship. Romeo, nor Juliet, knew they would fall deeply in love so swiftly in just a matter of a few days. The conquering power of love can most often never be controlled by those who find themselves in it. If they hadn’t met, there’s a strong chance they would have never fallen in love and more importantly, still be alive. Another force Romeo and Juliet could not control was the lengthy feud between their families. The reason for the feud is left up to imagination for the reader, but it was powerful enough to lead to Romeo and Juliet’s deaths. If the two star-crossed lovers met and there hadn’t happened to be a feud between their families, it is likely their relationship wouldn’t’ have had to be so secretive and could have been more accepted. Once again, Romeo nor Juliet could stop these forces from taking over their relationship. Without their deep love and roaring parental feud, their relationship could have been more rational without them having to kill themselves to be with each other forever. Romeo and Juliet both have forces, typically people, being held against them and controlling them. For Romeo, the fact the illiterate messenger asked him to read and the letter not being able to reach him. For Juliet, the forces were Romeo killing Tybalt, and Romeo killing himself. For the both, their feelings for each other and their families feud. While each of them did end up making some of their own decisions and ended up facing consequences, it was more so other people unknowingly partaking in leading to Romeo and Juliet’s fate. The tragic love story of the two forbidden lovers can be compared to modern day as today, teenagers tend to hide away their relationships from disapproving parents. Romeo and Juliet’s parents were the reason for the secrecy of their relationship, leading to all other factors involved in controlling their fates.