Term Papers on Romeo And Juliet: Romeo - A Tragic Hero

Term Paper Title	Romeo And Juliet: Romeo - A Tragic Hero
# of Words	1174
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	4.7

Romeo and Juliet: Romeo - A Tragic Hero

        Shakespeare is a well known author who wrote in the 1500's.  Many of his
plays are classified as tragedies.  According to the Oxford dictionary of
current English, a tragedy is described as a serious disaster or a sad event.
In Shakespeare plays, tragedy is identified as a story that ends unhappily due
to the fall of the protagonist, which is the tragic hero.  For a play to be a
tragedy, there must be a tragic hero.  In the play Romeo and Juliet, Romeo is
the tragic hero.  The theme of tragedy plays a great role in the play Romeo and
Juliet.  By analyzing Romeo's tragic flaw, his noble birth, his series of poor
decisions, the suffering of Romeo that extends beyond himself, it is evident
that Romeo and Juliet is classified as a tragedy.
     A person must posses certain qualities that classify one as a tragic
hero.  One of these qualities is the noble birth of a character.  In the play
Romeo and Juliet Romeo being the tragic hero, possesses that quality.  Romeo is
a Montague, and in the city of Verona the Montagues are a well known and
respected family.  It is a known fact that the Montagues are of noble birth when
it is said by Benvolio in Act 1, Scene 1, Line 141: "My noble uncle."  Benvolio
is referring to Lord Montague, who is the father of Romeo.  The Montagues are
also a rich family, and that is one of the reasons for the respect for Romeo.
"Verona brags of him... a bears him like a partly gentleman."  This was said by
Lord Capulet in Act 1, Scene 5, Lines 65-66.  This quote illustrates that even
Romeo's enemies know well of him and know that he is respected and talked about
by the citizens of Verona.  Usually when a character is introduced as being
noble, the audience is aware that in the end of the play, the character will
have a tragic fall.
     Another necessary quality possessed by a tragic hero is the hero's
tragic flaw, which in Romeo's case is falling in love too quickly and deeply.  "
To seek a tragic flaw in either Romeo or Juliet is a foolish and futile." -
comments Harold Goddard, a critic from the book: " Modern critical views,
William Shakespeare the Tragedies."  Goddard supports the idea that having a
tragic flaw is a part of being a tragic hero.  Another critic states that " if
Romeo's character does have a tragic flaw, it is youthful impetuosity; an older
or more deliberate man might somehow have managed to avoid the quarrel and would
not rush to kill himself as soon as he believed that Juliet was dead." ( Phillis
Rackin, author of " Shakespeare Tragedies.")In the play Romeo and Juliet romeo's
tragic fall being he falls in love too quickly and too deeply, brings him to an
awful end.  In the beginning of the play one is introduced to Romeo being deeply
and hopelessly in love with Rosaline.  However Rosaline does not feel the same
way about Romeo.  This is when Romeo is unhappy and says to Benvolio: "Not
having that which makes having short." ( Act 1, Scene 1, Line 162).  This  very
well illustrates how deeply Romeo was in love with Rosaline.  In the next scene
the audience realize that Romeo ha fallen for another, which is Juliet.  "For I
ne'er saw true beauty till this night." -Said by Romeo in Act 1, Scene 5, Line
52.The audience can quickly identify Romeo's flaw of falling in love too quickly
and deeply when he forgets about his feelings for Rosaline and concentrates on
Juliet.  Juliet too realizes that Romeo's love for her was too fast when she
said : "It is too rash, too undvis'd, too sudden."( Act 2, Scene 2, L...

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