Character essay on Romeo

In the text of Romeo and Juliet, Romeo is the main character who lives near the beach in Verona. Romeo is a bachelor and is always looking for the right lady. Romeo is a member of the Montague family, his main characteristic is his impulsiveness which leads to his downfall towards the end of the play. Romeo’s impulsiveness helps me to understand the main idea of the play which is the negative consequences of revenge.

I particularly enjoyed reading about Romeo because he is a typical teenager in love. Romeo’s impulsiveness causes him to make rash decisions. For example, Romeo show his impulsiveness when he kills Tybalt. He is unable to let his feelings go and therefore seeks revenge on Tybalt. This event shows that Romeo acts without thinking and doesn’t think about the consequences of his actions. He acts totally on impulse and this is how he shows his immaturity. The negative consequence of his action is shown shortly after killing Tybalt.

Romeo is also a very rebellious character, and he does not stay within the law. For example, towards the beginning of the play the Montagues decide to crash a Capulet party (rival family). This rebellious characteristic turns out to be a good thing for Romeo because he finds Juliet, the love of his life. Romeo is a rule breaker throughout the entire play and he does not care for authority.

Romeo is a very emotional character in the play. He is very unstable emotionally and by his constant changing emotions he shows his immaturity. Romeo’s life and emotions are constantly going up and down. For example, the day when Romeo falls in love with Juliet. Only hours before meeting Juliet, he was in tears for losing his ‘love’ Rosaline. Romeo shows this bad emotion when he says “O brawling love! O loving hate! O anything of nothing first create!” He then falls in love with Juliet only hours later.  

In the play Romeo and Juliet, the main idea is how revenge ends badly. Romeo’s impulsiveness helps me to understand the main idea. Romeo’s impulsiveness and reactions are in some cases negative consequences of revenge. The killing of Tybalt was a key contributor to the main idea of how revenge ends badly, it also shows Romeo’s impulsiveness. The negative consequence of crashing the Capulet party was that it made Tybalt want revenge on them. He shows this when he says “By the stock and honour of my kin to strike him dead”. Tybalt then approaches Mercutio and Romeo and picks a fight with Mercutio. Tybalt manages to catch Tybalt off guard and deal a killing blow to him; this action causes another negative consequence by Romeo seeking revenge on Tybalt to avenge his friend. This scene show how revenge ends badly and no good comes from it. Romeo’s part in this helps me to understand it better. The two negative consequences were the deaths or Romeo and Mercutio.

In the play Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare makes Romeo’s character very enjoyable to read about. He does this by the way he makes him very impulsive, rebellious and emotional. Romeo helps me to understand the main idea that no good comes from revenge.