Tragic Heroes
Everyone can be good looking, but there is always a flaw that makes someone ugly. Tragic Heroes are usually people with great qualities but, have one horrible flaw.
In Romeo and Juliet, Juliet can be considered as a Tragic Hero. Juliet was willing to sacrifice her life in order to be with Romeo. Her tragic flaw is her loyalty to Romeo. She loves Romeo so much and she is very loyal to him, to the point that she could not stand to be without him. “And, in this rage, with some great kinsman’s bone, As with a club dash out my desp’rate brains? O, look! methinks I see my cousin’s ghost, Seeking out Romeo, that did spit his body, Upon a rapier’s point.
Stay, Tybalt, stay! Romeo, I come! this do I drink to thee.” (Act 4, Scene 3, Lines 55-60) Juliet pretends to take her life, to preserve her love to Romeo. Romeo’s tragic flaw is his quickness to fall in love. Romeo is very impulsive and likes to make decisions without considering the consequences that might come with the decision. “–O my love, my wife! Death, that hath sucked the honey of thy breath, Hath had no power yet upon thy beauty. Thou art not conquered.
Beauty’s ensign yet Is crimson in thy lips and in thy cheeks, And death’s pale flag is not advanced there—”(Act 5, Scene 3, Line 100-105) this is what Romeo says when he notices Juliet. Romeo does not like to look before he leaps so; he decided to take his own life. “Oh, here Will I set up my everlasting rest, And shake the yoke of inauspicious stars, From this world-wearied flesh. Eyes, look your last, Arms, take your last embrace. And, lips, O you The doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss, A dateless bargain to engrossing death.” (Act 5, Scene 3, Line 119-124) Juliet would have to be the biggest Tragic Hero in Romeo and Juliet.
She is very young so, she is quick to do anything. If she a smart and quick witted she would have been able to stay alive. Juliet was very quick witted but, she was not smart when it came to her rash decisions. “Yea, noise? Then I’ll be brief. O happy dagger, This is thy sheath. There rust and let me die.
” (Act 5, Scene 3, Line 182-184) As soon as Juliet saw Romeo, laying there lifeless she decided to immediately kill herself. She did not hesitate to think about what she was doing to herself. She wanted to remain loyal to her true love. In conclusion, Tragic Heroes are everyday people with hidden personality traits. Romeo and Juliet had amazing personalities, but there Tragic Flaws killed them.
