Mohammed Naumann
Romeo and Juliet
‘ Romeo and Juliet ’ is a tragedy play written by William Shakespeare. The author uses a variety of good points and bad points to describe his central character, Romeo. Some features we admire about Romeo whilst others we dislike. In this essay I shall examine both sides of Romeo’s character. One aspect of Romeo’s personality that I found rather irritating was his immaturity. Romeo acts childlike and Shakespeare’s use of oxymoron reinforces this idea:
“ O brawling love, o loving hate…Feather of lead, bright smoke, cold fire…”
Romeo is in love with Rosaline, a Capulet, Romeo is confused and in two minds about everything because he realises that the woman he loves, his dearest Rosaline, does not love him back. Romeo has secluded himself from his friends and family because of his predicament. From Romeo’s speech the reader learns that Romeo is quite spontaneous and tends to over-exaggerate things. When Romeo first meets Juliet he is in awe at her beauty, to describe Juliet’s beauty Romeo uses a lot of imagery:
“ Like a rich jewel in an Ethiope’s ear,
Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear ”
Romeo’ speech makes reference to both light and darkness. From this it is illustrated that Romeo is immature because he like to exaggerate things e.g. Juliet’s beauty, and instead of thinking about his actions he makes decisions on the spot, this can get irritating because it makes the reader wonder if he had thought more thoroughly about his actions then both he and Juliet would have not been in this mess and would have not died so quickly. When comparing Juliet’s reaction to that of Romeo’s when both lovers first meet it is apparent that Juliet is more practical and level-headed than him, this is evident through Shakespeare’s uses of hyperbole. Romeo is 15/16 and according to the Nurse Juliet is 14 years of age but despite this Juliet is far more mature: