Yong-Ping and Clarke 1

Noah Yong-Ping and Jordin Clarke

Elise Wierzbicki

ENG1D1 01

December 14, 2022

Romeo and Juliet: The Tragic Heroes

(Introduction)

A tragedy can start with tragic heroes. Tragic heroes are special types of heroes born

from a noble family with no perfection but they suffer greatly because they portray themselves as

virtuous characters with tragic flaw which usually leads them to defeat. The play Romeo and

Juliet by William Shakespeare is the story of two teens who fall in love with each other which

results in their deadly fate. Firstly, passion pushes each lover to face greater and greater

problems. It caused more problems when Romeo was banished from Verona for killing Tybalt.

One of those problems with passion causes suicide if they lose their passionate lover. Overall, it

is the passion in each of these teenagers which ultimately brings about their many

problems, deceit towards their families, and finally the ending of their own lives.

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Romeo and Juliet were deeply and passionately in love with each other. Firstly, they both

fell in love after seeing each other just once, and they decided to get married just a few hours

after they met. Romeo fell deeply in love with Juliet intensively when Juliet said, “My bounty is

as boundless as the sea, My love as deep; the more I give to thee, The more I have, for both are

infinite.” (Shakespeare 106) Undoubtedly, Romeo became blinded by his love for Juliet and he

was not able to see the truth and to think clearly, causing him to make impulsive actions. Romeo

was also impulsive by killing Tybalt and Paris, which made him become a murderer. Likewise,
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Juliet’s passionate love for Romeo also made her impulsive when she accepted Friar Lawrence’s

plan to drink a potion that will make her seem as if she is dead, but Romeo never received the

message that she was still alive, which causes him to poison himself. Romeo says, “O my love!

My wife! Death that hath suck’d the honey of thy breath.” (Shakespeare 286) Therefore, Romeo

and Juliet’s intense passion and love for each other created many problems that prevented them

from having a happy ending.

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Romeo and Juliet’s deceit toward their own families led a path to their tragic deaths.

Firstly, Romeo went behind his family’s back when Friar Lawrence married Juliet to him. As

Friar Lawerence marries Romeo and Juliet, Romeo wanted Friar Lawrence to just marry them by

saying, “O, let us hence; I stand on sudden haste.” (Shakespeare 120) As we see here, Romeo is

not patient when Friar Lawrence was conducting the marriage. The Montague family still doesn't

know anything about his secret marriage with Juliet. Romeo often goes out with Juliet without

permission because of the family feud. Likewise, Juliet lied to her parents about marrying Paris.

Instead, Friar Lawrence makes a plan to fake her death with a sleeping potion by saying, “Take

thou this vial, being then in bed, And this distilled liquor drink thou off;” (Shakespeare 234),

where he is talking about drinking the sleeping potion. In this scene, Friar Lawrence is telling

Juliet to drink the sleeping potion to fall asleep for 42 hours. This will fake her death and cause

the Capulet family to bury her in the family tomb, where Romeo will take her out of the tomb

and bring her to Mantua. The plan went absolutely wrong because Romeo never received the

letter, saying that Juliet was still alive. Therefore, the failed plan caused Romeo and Juliet to kill

themselves because Romeo thought Juliet was dead and that led to their tragic deaths.

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Romeo and Juliet’s actions throughout the play show constant careless behaviour that led

to their deadly fate. Firstly, Romeo was a murderer that got banished from Verona for killing

Tybalt because he killed Mercutio. Prince Escalus said, “And for that offence [of murder],

Immediately we exile him hence:... Else, when he’s found, that hour is his last.” (Shakespeare

172) Romeo shows impulsiveness for killing Tybalt, which led to his banishment. When he saw

Juliet in the tomb, he fought and killed Paris, which made him a huge murderer. When Romeo

believes that Juliet was actually dead, he went to the apothecary and bought himself a poison,

and he went to the tomb and he drank it to kill himself. Likewise, Juliet began to defy her father

ever since she met and married Romeo, and she became very sad when Romeo was banished

from Verona. Juliet compares

(use examples of Romeo’s careless actions and Juliet’s careless actions and find quotes to

support these actions.)

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