Outline the Development of Romeo's Character from Love-sick Callowness to Determined Passion

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Saher Ali

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Outline the Development of Romeo’s Character from Love-sick Callowness to Determined Passion

‘From forth the fatal loins of these two foes,

A pair of star crossed lovers take their life…’

Already from the prologue the audience know the protagonists die. The situations that Romeo experiences are what change his character from lovesick callowness to determined passion over a period of only five days.

After the fray in the beginning of the play. Montague and Benvolio are discussing Romeo’s recent behaviour. Romeo has been hanging about ‘the grove of sycamores’ in the early mornings. Notice the pun on sick-amour. ‘Many a morning hath he been seen with tears augmenting…’ The primaritive impression the audience get of Romeo is of an immature and sensitive boy because he has been crying a lot lately due to him being lovesick over Rosaline.

When we first actually meet Romeo we find he is artificial in his speeches and sad in the sense that you wouldn’t want to know him. He moans that ‘sad hours seem long…’ This implies he doesn’t do much all day except crying. Also he has been avoiding his friends lately.

Romeo physically deprives himself of light this is a very dramatic and over the top thing to do. This is also typical of his character at this stage.

‘Away from light steals home my heavy son,…

Shuts up his windows and locks fair daylight out’

Later in the play we find Romeo describing Juliet as light in darkness. Juliet becomes Romeo’s saviour, from taking him out of this morose mood and the darkness by being his light, - as he describes her.

The audience gather that Romeo has unrequited love for Rosaline, which arguably isn’t love at all. ‘Out her favour where I am in love’ this shows this apparent love is one-sided so it can’t possibly be genuine love. Rosaline isn’t returning his love. Romeo is forcing himself to carry on in a lovesick manner. What is driving him to act in this manner is the fact that he is in love with the idea of being in love. He is playing the part of the Petrarchan lover. Another reason for why Romeo is acting like this could be, because in Shakespeare’s time endless complaints in the language of love, were considered fashionable within intellectual circles. Shakespeare most probably made Romeo act like this in the beginning to appeal to the audiences of that time; So Shakespeare’s audience would appreciate and enjoy the play.

The rhyming couplets furthermore make his language seem well –rehearsed meaning fake like;

‘Alas that love whose view is muffled still

Should without eyes see pathway to his will’

Romeo sounds very intellectual for a teenager but the creditability of his language in the beginning of the play has to be questioned because to the modern audience it is evident Romeo has got he wrong idea of love with Rosaline. The audience will think he has got the wrong idea of love because he describes love as things not typically described as love such as sickness.

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‘Bid a sick man in sadness to make his will

A word ill-urged to on one that is still…’ He thinks because he is in love he mustn’t do anything else except mope.

Also the use of oxymorons like ‘ brawling love’ and ‘loving hate’ show that Romeo thinks that love is something that is supposed to make you morose and feel tormented. Later he will find his earlier views to be wrong. Romeo’s infatuation with Rosaline distorts his vision of the world around him. This is in keeping with the Elizabethan view that any kind of extreme of passion ...

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