Romeo Flashcards
What type of character is Romeo?
Romeo is a tragic character, not just because he dies, but because he makes rash decisions and suffers bad luck.
How does Shakespeare present Romeo as childish?
Shakespeare presents Romeo’s childish nature when he presents him as a boy who is more in love with the idea of being in love, rather than being in love with an actual person.
What is the Juliet effect?
-Shakespeare shows Romeo’s childishness again when he sees Juliet in Act 1 Scene 5 and completely forgets about Rosaline.
-Romeo says ‘Did my heart love till now… For I ne’er saw true beauty till this night.’
-He admits that these apparently intense feelings for Rosaline were not real.
How is Romeo’s love for Rosaline exaggerated?
-In Act 1 (until the party in Scene 5) we see how immature he is. He repeatedly declares his love for Rosaline and complains that she does not love him back.
-In Act 1, he exaggerates his love for, and obsession with, Rosaline. He repeatedly says that his feelings are unrequited (not felt back).
-He uses a lot of oxymorons (opposite ideas), such as ‘O brawling love! O loving hate!’ and ‘misshapen chaos of well-seeming forms!’ to highlight how confused and depressed he feels.
How is Romeo presented after meeting Juliet?
-Initially, Romeo is still presented as childish after he meets Juliet.
-He keeps trying to woo her (gain her love) by speaking in sonnets (which are traditionally love poems) to exaggerate his love for her.
How does Romeo mature?
-Because Juliet is not easily won over, Romeo’s language begins to change as he adapts to her needs and woos her (gains her love).
-In Act 2, Romeo starts to speak less in sonnets and more in a mixture of sonnets and blank (non-rhyming) verse. This means his feelings sound more genuine as his language sounds more natural.
-This transition from childish boy to a more mature young adult may make audiences like Romeo more as he becomes a more genuine likeable character.
What type of person is Romeo at the start of the play?
-From the start, Romeo is shown as quite a peaceful, loving character. This is very different to characters such as Tybalt, the Capulet and Montague servants and Lord Capulet and Lord Montague themselves.
-Romeo is a more romantic character. In Elizabethan England, it was much more common for men to fight to defend themselves and their family names but Romeo is obsessed with being in love instead.
-Even in Act 3, when Tybalt is trying to provoke Romeo to fight by insulting him, Romeo continues to refuse to fight. He said to Tybalt, ‘good Capulet - which name I tender as dearly as my own - be satisfied.’
What type of person does Romeo change to in Act 3?
-In Act 3, Romeo becomes very aggressive and threatens Tybalt: ‘Mercutio’s soul is a little way above our heads… either you, or I, or both must go with him.’
-He tells Tybalt that either Tybalt will die, Romeo will die or they will both die.
-In an instant, Romeo loses all sense of self-control as he changes from being obsessed with love and celebrating his marriage to Juliet, to threatening to murder her cousin.
Why could the audience feel sympathy for Romeo?
-Because Romeo has become a tragic character whose anger has overtaken him.
-Romeo has tried to avoid the fight by talking Tybalt out of it, but Tybalt had refused to back down. Tybalt has instead murdered Romeo’s best friend.
-Romeo reacts out of grief and makes a very tragic mistake. This mistake has terrible consequences.
Why could the audience feel anger towards Romeo?
-He put his need for revenge above his love for his wife and their future.
-He did this when he knew that their families hated each other and that their future was always going to be difficult.
How does Romeo’s character change when banished?
-Romeo shows signs of immaturity again.
-After being exiled to Mantua, Romeo hides in Friar Laurence’s cell while they make a plan.
-He howls and cries about his fate. Friar Laurence tries to calm him. He tells him that he should be grateful that he is only banished (sent away from his native land) and not sentenced to death.
-Romeo says that he would rather be dead than banished, as he will not be able to see Juliet again.
How does Romeo react when Juliet is upset?
-When the Nurse arrives and tells Romeo that Juliet is upset, Romeo’s first thought is to kill himself.
-Friar Laurence has to tell him to stop and think of Juliet’s feelings. Again, Romeo failed to think about his wife, highlighting his immaturity.
-Romeo’s thoughtless and immature actions here may increase the audience’s dislike for him.
-But audiences may feel sympathy for him. They may see him as a very upset young man who cannot find a way out of a bad situation.
How does Romeo respond to Juliet’s death?
-As we enter Act 5 and Romeo thinks that Juliet is dead, the audience sees his level of maturity increase again. He becomes the tragic hero again.
-He says that the only thing he wants is to be with Juliet. He decides to commit suicide so he can be with her.
How does Romeo show compassion and understanding towards Paris?
-Although he is aggressive when he fights (and kills) Paris, Romeo shows his compassionate, mature side when he agrees to lay Paris’ body next to Juliet (Paris’ dying request).
-Romeo feels sympathy for Paris because he had loved a woman (Juliet) who did not return his love. Romeo used to love Rosaline, who did not love him back.
-Shakespeare presents Romeo as a tragic hero here. He is compassionate and understanding. He makes a mature decision to honour his enemy’s last request.
How could the audience feels sympathy towards Romeo’s death?
-We get the sense that he just wanted to live a happy life that is full of love, but that the fates conspired (plotted) against him are too much.
-He is left feeling that he has no alternative but to commit suicide.
-Shakespeare also uses dramatic irony here (where the audience knows something the characters do not).
-This causes the audience to feel sad as they know that Juliet is not really dead. The audience also knows that they could have lived happily ever after together if Romeo had received the right information.
