Essay About Romeo’s Tragic Flaws

The famous love story The Notebook observes a young couple whose love is not permitted. As Noa and Allie attempt to be together, Allie’s parents do not approve of her relationship with Noah due to their family’s different social status, a higher social status. Likewise, William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet observes how many characters are willing to fight for their love but in the process are not alert to their actions. Romeo is a charismatic character who puts his full effort into love in an attempt to make Juliet fall in love with him, but he does not yet realize what the outcome of this prohibited love may be. So although Romeo is a young man who is committed and true to his love, Romeo’s tragic flaw, irresponsibility which is born from his impetuousness, drives him to his downfall, suggesting that Romeo has not yet thought about how his actions can lead to consequences.

One way that Romeo’s recklessness has propelled him to his downfall is when he decides to let his heart manage his decisions. Romeo’s fixated love for Rosaline drives him to act quickly and become overwhelmed by his emotions. Being shut away from Rosaline, Romeo allows his emotions to control him, and this creates an unstable area for Romeo and his behaviors. This makes him describe love as “O brawling love, O loving hate,/….This love feel I, that feel no love in this” (1.1.180-181…187). This oxymoron shows entirely how Romeo is consumed by his emotions with a Capulet even if he has only known Rosaline for a couple of hours. Romeo barely knows Rosaline and he is already in a deep dejected state. He describes how desperate he is to feel love and that the misery he is experiencing is not what he is supposed to go through. Romeo illustrating his love like this, especially with someone his family is not allowed to be with, shows his careless behavior because he does not think about the consequences of this love and why he truly loves Rosaline. Later, when Romeo sneaks to a Capulet party and eyes Juliet because of her beauty, he shows again how quickly he falls into a love trap without paying attention to how rapid this transition is. Romeo announces “forswear it, sight,/ For I ne’er saw true beauty till this night,” (1.5.59-60) which describes how Romeo has never seen beauty before even though he just mentioned around an hour earlier that Rosaline was the prettiest thing he has ever seen. Childish actions with love is not recognizing its true roots such as the behaviors that are only correlated with sex and other physical attractions. Romeo following this exact pattern shows how he hasn’t realized how his infatuation with Rosaline switched almost instantly because he has fallen in love with another girl, Juliet.

Moreover, Romeo’s quick judgment on Juliet shows his unconsidered thoughts.

Romeo immediately wants to kiss Juliet the instant he lays eyes on her, and this is demonstrated when he describes themselves as “two blushing pilgrims, ready stand to smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss” (1.5.106-107). Romeo just thought that Rosaline was the new profound beauty in his life, but shortly after, Romeo has already moved on. In just a few hours Romeo is now obsessed with a new girl and instantly wishes to kiss her. Furthermore, Romeo’s hurried love is described when he uses the metaphor of schoolboys and their books. By saying that his “love goes toward love as schoolboys from their books/But love from love, toward school with heavy looks”(2.2.166-168), this easily shows Romeo’s behaviors because Romeo is describing his intense excitement and how he can’t resist loving Juliet. Romeo is so in love with Juliet that he doesn’t realize how quickly he is moving. Following, Romeo also emphasizes how Juliet has taken his past emotions with Rosaline when just communicated how in love he was with her. Romeo uses personification when he describes Juliet as the sun and mentions “arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon” (2.2.4). Romeo now imagines that the moon is Rosaline and his current imagery of Rosaline becoming the moon shows that his love is now dim, and that the sun, Juliet, is now bright and the only thing in his view. Romeo just loved Rosaline and thought that she was the prettiest thing in his life up until a few hours ago. This suggests that Romeo falls in love without being careful, and that Romeo is a desperate lover.

Romeo slides into this category of inattentiveness once again when he speeds into making a life altering decision. Romeo deciding to marry Juliet after under 24 hours demonstrates his thoughtless actions because he does not know the true meaning of love. Romeo making the choice to spend the rest of his life with Juliet, communicates his hasty ways especially when he describes how nothing “cannot countervail the exchange of joy/ That one short minute gives me in her sight./Do thou but close our hands with holy words,/Then love-devouring death do what he dare,/It is enough I may but call her mine” (2.6.4-8). By admitting that he has only known Juliet for a little while, Romeo knows what he is doing and committing to. He additionally says how the small moment he did see her impacted him and in such a way that he feels like he can call Juliet his. Romeo is rushing his relationship with Juliet because he is still in the excitement stage, so he does not know what actual love is because he only knows the physical aspect. Along with this, the Capulets and the Montagues’s family fueds will for sure come for them if they announce their marriage, so they have to keep their marriage a secret. Romeo dashes to the Friar to marry them right after he tells Juliet that they will marry, but this is not a good thing because Romeo has not even had a chance to process the fact that he is getting married or if it is even a good idea. By saying that “by holy marriage. When and where and how/ We met, we wooed, and made exchange of vow/ I’ll tell thee as we pass, but this I pray,/ That thou consent to marry us today” (2.3.65-68), Romeo is caught up in his teenage emotions and has not spent enough time with Juliet to know if he really understands what his emotions are trying to tell him which is if he likes Juliet physically or emotionally.

Romeo progresses with his loss of success when he turns to violence.

Romeo’s chaos arrives when his friend Mercutio dies which causes him to act in despicable ways toward Tybalt. Romeo seeks revenge for his friend’s death, but while he tries to do that, he acts on his fury and ends someone’s life. This is shown when “they fight. Tybalt falls” (3.1.137-138). Romeo’s disastrous behavior makes him banished and unable to fulfill his love with Juliet. Killing is an action that is irreversible and if Romeo thought about that and how that would’ve affected him, things might not have turned out the way that they had. Romeo continues with this violence when it comes to himself. Romeo thinks that Juliet has ended her life, so he answers to this by stating “come, bitter conduct, come, unsavory guide!/Thou desperate pilot, now at once run on/ The dashing rocks thy seasick weary bark!/ Here’s to my love. Drinking. O true apothecary,/Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die” (5.3.116-120). Romeo is unaware that Juliet has actually faked her death and makes an unconsidered action that like Tybalt, is not something that Romeo can just take back. The failure of this action is that his blinding love has lead the path for himself.