where he blames the hatred of the two families for his misery of love.
This can show why Romeo does not like to get involved in the brawls between the two families, especially before the fight with him and Tybalt. I think Shakespeare is also making a point that Romeo often wants what he can’t have – which explains why he is then so attracted to yet another Capulet, Juliet.
When Benvolio tells Romeo to focus on other girls - Romeo replies;
“One fairer than my love? The all-seeing sun
Ne’er saw her match since first the world begun.”
He is certain that no one can compare to Rosaline.
Shakespeare emphasises Romeo’s young age here because he is emotionally impulsive, maybe because of his great admiration for love.
However, Romeo does not believe it is possible to fall in love with another woman and yet - when he goes to the Capulet’s ball and sees Juliet, it is love at first sight. He says;
“Did my heart love till now? Forswear it sight!
For I ne’er saw true beauty till this night.”
Shakespeare is showing us that Romeo falls in love too easily.
However the Friar says;
“Young men’s love then lies
Not truly in their hearts, but in their eyes//
Wisely and slow: they stumble that run fast//
These violent delights have violent ends.”
Shakespeare gives us a hint there that this love affair is bound to end in tragedy because the Friar shows that it may not be real love and that Romeo is rushing into the affair without realising the consequences of him being a Montague and Juliet being a Capulet. This emphasises to the audience that he is being impulsive. He is impulsive when he falls ‘in love’ with Rosaline and then he is impulsive in his feelings for Juliet.
Even when Romeo finds out Juliet is a Capulet, we see how Romeo does not think rationally, because he used to be a good son, who never involved himself in the fighting between the Capulets and Montagues, but now he is beginning to rebel against his own family (the Montagues) because he thinks he is in love. The first night he sees and talks to Juliet he wants to marry her and to forget his family name.
Once again Shakespeare is showing us how impulsive Romeo is (firstly with his emotions for Rosaline and now for Juliet). They marry immediately without thinking of the consequences for both families, where once again Shakespeare displays that this love affair could end in tragedy. Whereas a person who thought about his actions might try to talk to his family first – not marry within one day of meeting someone!
However, we see Romeo’s different sides when he is fortunate to be in love. From the middle of Act 2-Scene 4, when Romeo sees his friends, he is in a witty and fun mood where they have a friendly relationship. He jokes around with Mercutio and also shows how clever he is using many ‘puns’(skills with the sword). Shakespeare now shows that Romeo is in a happy mood because he now is truly in love with the woman he now desires and that he is to be married.
But in Act 3-Scene 1, we see again how impulsive Romeo can be – not thinking about his actions. In this scene Tybalt goes to Romeo’s friends to look for Romeo and when they encounter each other Tybalt realises that Romeo doesn’t want to fight. This is because the love Romeo endures for Juliet. However, when Tybalt kills Mercutio, Romeo is upset and his only thoughts are of revenge; he fights Tybalt and kills him, he forgets about his love and gives in to his feelings of hate. Two things show that he is impulsive and does not take responsibility for his actions. First of all, when Mercutio dies, Romeo says;
“O sweet Juliet! Thy beauty hath made me effeminate,”
He blames Juliet for making him weak, as he didn’t want to fight Tybalt in the first place. Then upon killing Tybalt, Shakespeare shows how he does not think of the consequences of his actions and does not take responsibility for what he has done by shouting - “O I am fortune’s fool!”
He blames fate and just rushes to action without thinking. Shakespeare shows this again when he kills Paris, where he then feels sad.
When Romeo finds out that he is to be banished, Romeo feels angry that he will be separated from Juliet and he feels that it is worse than death. He is even more angered to hear from the nurse of Juliet’s grief and he is ready to kill himself as he states;
“Hence banished is banish’d from the world//
For exile hath more terror in his look,”
Shakespeare makes Romeo an immature child because he should be grateful that he is not executed. Instead he only thinks of the negatives, that he will lose his love from Juliet as he is to be banished from Verona, he says he would rather die than leave Verona because he doesn’t want to leave Juliet.
At the end of the play again Romeo is shown to be impulsive. As soon as he hears from his messenger that Juliet is dead, he rushes off to buy poison so that he can kill himself. He does all of this in such a rush without stopping to talk to anyone else like the Friar. He blames destiny (fate) and suicide is his way of defying “the stars”, but his impulsiveness is the part of his character that kills him in the end – not bad luck.
Overall, I don’t think Romeo changes much – he was impulsive at the start of the play and impulsive at the end.
