"Romeo's Fatal Flaw" Essay
My assignment was to write an essay on "Romeo's Fatal Flaw". Before I turn it in, I was hoping to get one or more of you to proof-read it, etc. I'm in 9th grade Honors English I, so if you could tell me what you think from the perspective of an instructor teaching at the level, it would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks :)
Romeo's Fatal Flaw
Romeo was a very flawed character whose impulsive, capricious, and often times unpremeditated demeanor led to the demise of himself and of his beloved Juliet. There are several instances in “Romeo & Juliet” where this becomes apparent to the audience (or reader). One of these is his seemingly nimble transition between his love for Rosaline to Juliet. Despite the fact that he professed his undying love for Rosaline for the first half of Act I, his love moved without difficulty or remorse from Rosaline to Juliet after laying eyes on the Capulet, whom he had never spoken to or met before. Another thing that showed how spontaneous the character is was the lack of thought he put into his actions. It is crystal clear that Romeo is a typical teenager, even by the standards of our time. Rather than putting thought into his future, he chose to focus on the “now” of situations, which would eventually lead to not only his own death, but the death of some of the people closest to him.
One of the examples of his whimsical disposition is the quick and easy transition of his love for Juliet from his love for Rosaline. In the beginning, Romeo’s anguish is described when Shakespeare writes, “Here’s much to do with hate, but more with love. Why then, O brawling love, O loving hate, O anything, of nothing first created…Still-waking sleep, that is not what it is! This love feel I, that feel no love in this. Dost thou not laugh?” (742). We see his obvious torment by the fact that the woman he loves does not love him back, and in fact, ignores him (or pretends to) most of the time. This puts Romeo in a tizzy, resulting in an inability to function. As the days go on, he becomes more and more distraught. He loses all desire to eat, sleep, and live his life as a normal person. He spends all night outside, roaming the streets in a state of solitude, and all day sleeping. Because he is what would be considered “spoiled” by today’s standards, his parents see no problem with letting him operate in such a way. While at the Capulets’ party, he sees Juliet for the first time and instantly forgets about Rosaline, the girl whose affection he tried to win for so long. To describe his newfound feelings, Shakespeare writes, “Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight! For I ne’er saw true beauty till the night.”(757). All of these events help to support the fact that Romeo’s fatal flaw is the fact that he falls in love too easily, too quick, and much too hard.
Another thing that led to Romeo’s downfall was that he moved much too quickly with every decision that he made. After seeing Juliet for the first time, he “knew” that she was the one he was meant to marry. That night, once again acting solely on his impulses (otherwise known as hormones), he jumped over the wall surrounding the Capulet manor and went to Juliet’s balcony, where he called to her and conceded his eternal love for her. Just the fact that he chose to jump over the Capulet wall was a bad decision in itself. If he had been caught by a Capulet or the guards he would surely have been killed, and then it would all have been for nothing. As Romeo and Juliet wooed each other in the balcony scene, Romeo proposed to her, after knowing her for not even a day! We see how quickly he moves in relationships (and how he lets feelings run him) when Romeo responds to Juliet’s question of what satisfaction he wants from her by saying, “The exchange of thy love’s faithful vow for mine.” (771). They move quickly in their relationship, deciding to be wed the very next day. Another mistake of his in regards to moving to quickly was his decision to kill himself after finding Juliet “dead”. If he had chosen to think about his decision to drink the poison before drinking it, Juliet would have woken and they both would have remained among the living.
The final flaw of Romeo’s that proved to be fatal was his inability to see that every decision he made had a consequence that came along with it. He was too hasty in almost every one of his choices throughout the play. For example, he was too quick in marrying Juliet. After that, he chose not to think before killing Tybalt, which is the action that led him on a downward spiral from which he would never recover. When he killed Tybalt, he was once again acting on his impulses. This time, however, his impulse was one of anger, hatred, and rage. In a duel that was to prove his greatest mistake, he slayed Tybalt. Though Tybalt was an enemy of the Montagues, he was also a cousin of Juliet’s and a relative of the Prince’s. Because of his choice to murder this man, he was exiled from Verona. Because he was exiled, Juliet became upset and went to the Friar for help, resulting in the mistakes that led to their deaths being made.
In essence, Romeo’s greatest flaw was that he was a teenager—a teenager much too immature to handle the relationship that he had become a part of. He was far too impetuous to be a part of a serious relationship, let along be a husband to someone. Romeo is a classic example of the phrase “Sometimes love is not enough”. No amount of loving Juliet would ever change the fact that he was simply too young to handle a relationship as serious as the one he and Juliet shared.
