Romeo and Juliet Character Analysis Essay

Some say, “Love makes you blind.”  I don’t think there is a person who symbolizes that more than Juliet.  She continuously makes unwise decisions because of her affection towards Romeo, it costs her her life in the end.  In the beginning of the story, Romeo is heartbroken over a girl he found attractive who didn’t like him in return. But then, he meets Juliet. Romeo and Juliet is a tale of tragedy. They fall in love and soon enough they get married. Unfortunately, Romeo kills Juliet's cousin, Tybalt, and he is banished from Verona. Juliet’s parents are concerned about her mental health after Tybalt’s death so they arrange for her to be married to Paris. Little do they know, Juliet is already married to Romeo.  With the help of Friar Lawrence, Juliet chooses to take a potion that will put her into a deep sleep for 42 hours, to avoid the wedding.  When Juliet awakens, she finds Romeo dead so she kills herself as well.

Throughout the story of Romeo and Juliet, Juliet is a static character, consistently being naive. This is proven by her decisions throughout the story. The first example of Juliet’s naive behavior is in Act 1 when Juliet sees Romeo for the first time and asks her Nurse what his name is so that they can be married. She is unaware that he is the son of her family's enemy. Juliet’s Nurse responds by saying, “He is a Montague, the only son of your family’s enemy!”  Juliet says, “Then I must live with a loathed enemy.” (1. 5.135-140)  Now Juliet knows that she and Romeo should not be together but she is too young and immature to accept and understand that. Later in the next act Romeo risks his life by deciding to be with Juliet. He knows that he could be killed by her family. Romeo runs through the night to meet Juliet at her house, knowing that if he is seen at the Capulet home, he will be killed on the spot.  Juliet however, is not concerned about this because she just wants to be with him.  Juliet reassures Romeo by saying, “Tis thy name that is my enemy thou art itself thou, not a Montague, what’s a Montague? Just some names!” ( 2,.  2, 37-44). What Juliet is really saying is that a person’s last name has no value and why should anyone care, they are just names. Juliet has been intrigued by Romeo’s shining good looks and is too young to understand that they cannot be together because their families are ancient enemies.

By the middle of the play, Juliet has stayed the same. She is still naive. In Act 3, Juliet’s cousin Tybalt is killed by Romeo and the only thing she cares about is if Romeo is alive, not caring that he is a murderer.  Juliet’s Nurse asks, “Weeping and wailing over Tybalt's course? I will bring you thither.” Juliet says, “While eyes are dry mine are not, poor ropes both for you and I, Romeo is exiled!”( 3, 1, 127-133.) Juliet is weeping and wailing over Romeo’s banishment instead of weeping and wailing over her cousin being killed by that same man. She is so blind in this situation. You can understand that she loves Romeo a lot but he just killed a man who happened to be her cousin, someone she probably had a decent relationship with and grew up with. Another example of Juliet’s naive behavior is that she is willing to be kicked out of her own family just to stay with Romeo, who can't even live in Verona. Juliet's parents have found a groom for her but obviously, they don’t know that she is secretly married to Romeo. Juliet begs, “Good father, I beseech you on my knees.”  Lord Capulet replies, “Disobedient wretch! I tell them to get to the church on Thursday or never look me in the face again! If you are not wed, graze where you will but you shall not house with me!” (3. 5.147-188.)  Juliet is given the “option” to marry Paris. However, she tells her father ‘no’ because she is already married to Romeo. Sadly, Romeo is banished from Verona and Juliet may never see him for the rest of her life. Juliet’s father tells her, either marry Paris or never be seen in his house again. And of course, which option does Juliet choose? Juliet chooses not to marry Paris and stays married to Romeo.  This just shows how naive and blinded by love Juliet is. Juliet is presented with a good replacement for Romeo, who is in deep trouble and is banished, away from Juliet. But she doesn’t care; she loves him to the point where she would be kicked out of her house to stay with Romeo.

While Juliet has remained constantly naive, by the end of the play this trait has become apparent in new ways.  Juliet foolishly makes the decision to take poison rather than marry another man. She would rather take poison to avoid the wedding and stay with Romeo. On the night before the wedding with Paris, Juliet is about to take the poison and says, “O, if I wake shall I not be distraught? Tangled with Tybalt's bones and such. O look I see my cousin's ghost talking to Romeo. Romeo, I come I do drink to thee! (4 3 49-57.) Juliet even has some second thoughts about this decision which is foreshadowing what eventually happens. But of course, she doesn’t put two and two together and eventually follows through with this crazy far-fetched plan. Moving into Act 5, Juliet makes the most naive decision of all.  At 14 years old she has convinced herself that she could not live the rest of her long life without Romeo. As Romeo walks into Juliet's tomb he kills himself not knowing that she is still alive  Juliet says, “What’s this cup of poison in hand? And left no friendly drop after. Then I'll be brief. O happy dagger and let me die.”  (5 3 148-170.) Juliet discovers that Romeo has killed himself so she decides that she will kill herself as well. She makes this decision instantly after finding Romeo's dead body which is something exactly like she would do. She has no concept of life without Romeo so she might as well kill herself. This is making a rash and naive mistake. Juliet and Romeo’s love was so instant and quick just like their eventual deaths which you could say would bring the story full circle.

Juliet is a static character throughout the book as she is naive in every act with many instants of rash and impulsive behavior something a fourteen-year-old would do. Juliet throughout the story has shown her inexperience in dealing with love, the experiences she gets into eventually lead to her eventual demise. Juliet's actions in this play influenced it heavily, namely by becoming the love interest for the main character and also becoming the reason why Romeo and Juliet is considered a tragedy.