Romeo and Juliet Characters Romeo is impulsive and
- Slides: 5
Romeo and Juliet Characters
Romeo is impulsive and immature, but has great passion. He lives in the middle of a violent feud between his family and the Capulets, but he is not at all interested in violence. His only interest is love which makes Romeo a romantic. However, he is also fickle because at first he is madly in love with Rosaline, but the instant he lays eyes on Juliet, he falls in love with her and forgets Rosaline. This makes us question: how real is his love? Or does he love being in love and only does so for the sake of it?
Juliet is a beautiful, naïve, thirteen-year-old girl who has not ever thought of marriage. When she falls in love with Romeo, she instantly trusts her life and entire future to him. Juliet would give up her family and everything she has to be with him. This makes us question: How can a thirteen year old make this decision now when she has never given it a single thought before? Does she really know what she is doing?
Friar Lawrence A Franciscan friar, friend to both Romeo and Juliet. He is kind and is always ready with a plan. As well as being a Catholic holy man, Friar Lawrence is also an expert in the use of seemingly mystical potions and herbs. He is also the most scheming and political of characters in the play. This makes us question: How can a holy man of God know so much about herbs for poisons and sleeping potions, be a person who has secret motives to unite families through marriage, and still be a man of God? If he were a woman, she would be cast as a witch.
Mercutio is the most seemingly real character while Romeo is lofty (in the clouds) with the idea of love. Unlike the other characters who blame their deaths on fate, Mercutio dies cursing all Montagues and Capulets as he believes that specific people are responsible for his death. This makes us question: Why was a character with a clear sense of reality killed off? Does this mean that Shakespeare was trying to keep the audience trapped in a romantic world of true love and the real world should be ignored?
