Is Juliet more mature and heroic than Romeo?

[bookworm03]

I would like to know your opinions. It's for my finals. It's like a in-class essay. The teacher gave us 5 topics, and she's going to choose one for the final.

1. support or refute the following statement: Juliet is more heroic and mature than Romeo. Be sure to cite specific examples.

Personally i think Romeo is pretty immmature. He kills Tybalt, and he fall in and out of love so quickly. he's not patient like in the tomb... if he did wait a little, he and Juliet wouldn't have died...

2. Write what caused the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. Do you believe it was due to fate, or to human errors? Use specific examples of actions and/or dialogue from the text to support your answer.

i think it is fate. like how they met. friar John didn't get the mesage in time. Romeo killed himself right before Juliet woke up.

3. Romeo and Juliet do not act with caution and patience and wisdom. They act on impulse and haste. In an essay, tell what you think Romeo and Juliet should have done in at least three different points of the play, but failed to do. Be sure to give specific details to support your position.

they shouldnt have taken their time in the relashionship .and then romeo shouldnt have killed tybalt. In the tomb, he should have waited.

4. Compare and contrast the characters of Mercutio and the Nurse. The Nurse and Mercutio both have practical, earthy views of life. Both enjoy a joke, and both bring comedy to the play. But they are also totally different. How are Mercutio and the Nurse different in their values and loyalty? Be sure to draw on specific actions or dialogue to support your answer.

I dont really know this one.

5. Analyze Shakespeare’s use of Dramatic Irony throughout Romeo and Juliet. Be sure to include the specific scenes where the technique is used and explain the impact it has on the audience/reader.

i hope she doesn't pick this one. for those who doesn't know, dramatic irony is like when the reader find something revelent/important that the characters misses...
...maybe when there's the play of words, like with juliet and paris. the first time they met at friar's.

Please tell me what you think!

Thanks you soooo much!

[rabid reader]

Julliet is in my opinion much braver... she slows down her heart to a pace that makes people think shes dead. While I find it hard to identify if either is heroic

[auvira]

1) Juliet is, easily. Besides the well known fact that girls mature more quickly than boys (They hit puberty earlier, by about 2 years), Juliet outstrips Romeo in Heroism and maturity on many levels.
-Juliet, in the balcony scene, shows a desire to wait, to just flirt and get to know each other. It is only when Romeo insists on "exchange of thy love's faithful vow for mine" that marriage even comes up.
-Romeo stays up all night to convice the Friar to marry them that day. There is no waiting, no planning. The wedding must happen now, and they've known each other less than 24 hours.
-Romeo avoids his family for the most part, while Juliet lives with hers. She allows Romeo to visit her, in her parent's house, but shows prudence when it comes to kicking him out because her parents are awake.
-When Juliet's father insists on her marrying Paris, she refuses. She is heroic, and does the right thing, despite her father's anger. It is only when her Nurse turns on her as well that Juliet even BEGINS to consider suicide.
-We get to see individual reactions between the Friar and both of the lovers. In Romeo's interaction, he is petulant, whining, almost begging. In Juliet's interaction, she is strong, defiant, and stands up for herself and what she wants. (VERY UNCOMMON IN WOMEN OF THIS TIME)
-Juliet willingly imbibes the elixir that puts her to sleep. She does it for Romeo, so they can be together. Up until he hears that Juliet is "dead," Romeo is content to wallow in Mantua.

(Though I think Romeo and Juliet should have gone with the Friar to their parents and said "We're married, yo." Because in the time period, once a marriage was made, it was rarely able to be divorced, exceptions being royalty. At the point of their marriage, Romeo has every right to Juliet's dowry, and Romeo is required to provide for Juliet. THEY WOULD HAVE BEEN FINE. That's neither here nore there.)

There you go. I'm sure you can get the rest.

[BeingaBunny]

1) Juliet is, easily. Besides the well known fact that girls mature more quickly than boys (They hit puberty earlier, by about 2 years),

This comment is null. It's far too circumstantial. For example, I'm a man and was pretty much done with puberty at age 10. I don't know how old Romeo and Juliet are during the story, and as far as I know Shakespeare didn't comment on their age when hitting puberty. To further demolish this comment, I believe your definition of "mature" here is wrong - I think we are after mental maturity, not physical and sexual maturity.

I don't know, bookworm03. R+J are both just dumb kids. Honestly, you could fight for either one to be more mature, but to me it seems that your school has a feminist agenda. Of course, for the most part, all schools have a women and minorities rights agenda. This isn't a bad thing, but I personally found it offensive how consistent, in my face, and out of date it all was. It's as much of a joke as Kwanzaa.