Romeo and Juliet Character Analysis

Romeo and Juliet character analysis Juliet is the daughter of Lord and Lady Capulet. When the play begins, we learn from the nurse that Juliet is soon turning fourteen (“Even or odd, of all the days in the year come Lammas-Eve at night shall she be fourteen”). In Juliet’s first meeting with her mother and the nurse, she seems to be an obedient and responsible child.

She comes immediately when they call her and answers always respectfully to her mother: “Madam, I am here, / What is your will? ” (“Act 1, Scene 3).

She is also clever as when her mother asks her what she thinks about marriage, she gives an ambiguous answer by saying what her mother wanted to hear really: “it is an honour I dream not of” (“Act 1, Scene 3). We learn that she is an intelligent woman also when instead of asking the nurse Romeo’s name directly, she asks her about the names of several other men leaving the party, and Romeo was among them. She then realizes that she is in love with an enemy of her family. Romeo is the son of Lord and Lady Montague. He first falls in love not with Juliet, but a young woman named Rosaline.

At the beginning of the play, Shakespeare describes Romeo as acting in a strange way. His friend and cousin, Benvolio, discovers why: the cause is hopeless and depressed love. Rosaline has vowed to live without getting married and without a lover. (“She hath Dian’s wit, / And in strong proof of chastity well-armed / From love’s weak childish bow she lives uncharmed”). He goes out walking near the woods before dawn. If anyone sees him, he runs away into the woods to avoid having company.

(“stole into the covert of the wood” Act 1, Scene 1).

After being encouraged to look at other women rather than Rosaline (“Be ruled by me: forget to think of her” “Examine other beauties” Act 1, Scene 1), Romeo decides to go to the Capulet’s party which is where he first sees Juliet. When they meet, they fall in love immediately. (“O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright! ” “Beauty too rich for use, for earth to dear” Act 1, Scene 5) Tybalt is an aggressive, arrogant, intollerant and provoking character; we could even say that there is nothing good to say about him. At the beginning of the play, trying to stop the fight between the servants of Capulet and

Montague, Benvolio asks Tybalt to help him keep the peace, but Tybalt answers, “What, drawn, and talk of peace! I hate the word, / As I hate hell, all Montagues, and thee: / Have at thee, coward! ” (1.

1. 70-72). “Have at thee” is what you say as you attack, and Tybalt attacks Benvolio. At the Capulet’s feast, Tybalt overhears Romeo exclaiming on the beauty of Juliet; eventhough it doesn’t seem that he knows that Romeo is talking about his cousin Juliet). Tybalt says: “This, by his voice, should be a Montague. / Fetch me my rapier, boy.

What dares the slave / Come hither, cover’d with an antic face, / To fleer and scorn at our solemnity? / Now, by the stock and honor of my kin, / To strike him dead, I hold it not a sin. ” (Act 1, Scene 5) This speech shows us Tybalt’s arrogance. As soon as he identifies a Montague he sends his “boy” for his sword. Capulet sees that he is upset and by totally taking control over him he calms him down (“Am I the master here, or you”), and then sarcastically calls him “boy” (“What, Goodman boy? ” Act 1, Scene 5) and tells him to shut up. As Tybalt leaves the party, feeling offended, he swears that Romeo will pay.

Benvolio is a nephew of Montague and a cousin and friend of Romeo. He is a loyal and a peacemaker. Benvolio tries to stop the fight between the servants at the beginning of the play saying, “Part, fools! / Put up your swords; you know not what you do” (Act 1, Scene 1) However, Tybalt enters, calls him a coward and provokes him. Early in the play, Montague and Lady Montague are worried for their son because he has been acting very strangely and trying to avoid everyone. Benvolio tries to help them by learning from Romeo why is he feeling troubled.

He asks him and learns that his problem is that he is suffering because he loves someone, but who does not requite his love. Benvolio advises to look at other beauties and forget about Roseline. Mercutio is a relative of the prince and friend to Romeo. He is an eloquent man and becomes the center of attention whenever he appears in the play. It seems like he dominates Romeo with his teasing and irony.

He mocks Romeo as he thinks he is too sentimental and tells him how foolish he is; he turns all of Romeo’s thought about love into sexual metaphors. “And to sink in it should you burden love –

Too great oppression for a tender thing. ” (Act 1, Scene 4) It might be that he is jealous of Romeo that prefers thinking about love rather than spend some time with him; Mercutio wants his friend back. Mercutio tries to get Romeo’s mind on something else. He also describes imagination in a powerful, memorable way in his “Queen Mab” speech (Act 1, scene 4). The speech shows Mercutio’s eloquence and it describes dreams as coming from a fairy creature.

He is clever man. Paris is a noble man who asks Lord Capulet his daughter’s hand. He represents a sort of competition for Romeo.

He seems quite reasonable, young and quite wise. He is described by lady Montague as a very handsome man (“examine every married lineament , / and see how one other lends content”. The nurse also admits his beauty “Nay, he’s a flower – in faith, a very flower! ” Act 1 Scene 3) Lord Capulet is the head of the Capulet household and Juliet’s father.

He seems to be an honorable and tolerant man; he does not mind Romeo’s presence at his feast (“A bears him like a portly gentleman” Act 1, Scene 5) and prevents Tybalt to ruin the atmosphere of his feast who wanted to put up a fight.

He is also a humorous character seen by when he makes jokes with the guests, (” ah ha, my mistresses! Which of you all will now deny to dance” Act 1 Scene 5). Lady Capulet is Lord Capulet’s wife and Juliet’s mother. In Act I Lady Capulet makes Juliet think about marriage “Tell me, daughter Juliet, / How stands your dispositions to be married? ” and she informs Juliet that “The valiant Paris seeks (you) for his love”. (Act 1, Scene 3) Lady Capulet also reminds Juliet that she herself became a mother when she was about Juliet’s age.

(“I was your mother much upon these years”). Act 1, Scene 3) Even though she is talking about the idea of marriage there is no mention of true love, just physical, sexual love. Lord Montague is the head of the Montague household and Romeo’s father. Although he does not appear many times in the play, the audience understands that he is very close and thoughtful towards his son when in Act 1 scence 1, talking to Benvolio to understand the reason behind Romeo’s unhappiness, he seems very worried (“could we but learn from whence his sorrows grow / we would as willingly give cure as know”).

Lady Montague is Lord Montague’s wife and Romeo’s mother.

She has very few lines in the play. She seems to be a person of reason and restraint, physically holding her husband back from fighting, and tells him not to “stir one foot to seek a foe” (I. i. 80). In the final scene of the play, the audience hears from Lord Montague that his wife has died of grief over Romeo’s banishment.

The Nurse is a servant in the Capulet household.

She feels affection and great devotion for Juliet, and she is probably the closest person to her. Whenever she speak the audience have the impression of her being a loud character. She is often manipulated by Juliet’s intelligence. We have a proof of it when Juliet does not ask Romeo’s name directly, she asks her about the names of several other men before. Abrham is a servant of the Montagues, while Gregory and Sampson are servants of the Capulets.

They are mentioned only once so far in the first scene of Act 1.