Hello everybody! In today’s video we’ll take a look at Shakespeare’s presentation of Romeo,
analysing the character in light of Aristotle’s
theories related to the tragic hero and dramatic structure.
Shakespeare’s play is a tragedy, and Romeo is the tragic hero. What does that mean?
Well, the Greek philosopher Aristotle, in his work ‘Poetics’, defined the tragic hero
as someone ‘highly renowned and prosperous’ who has a change of fortune from ‘good to bad’, and
whose misfortune is brought about by some personal ‘error or frailty’. We call this error hamartia,
or fatal flaw. So crucially, a tragic hero is not an out and out villain, but a
well-respected person who has one single negative character trait that leads to their downfall.
With that in mind, let’s look at the character of Romeo.
Firstly, is Romeo ‘highly renowned’. Surprisingly, we must turn to the words
of Lord Capulet for the strongest evidence of this. When Romeo gate-crashes the Capulet
However, Lord Capulet tells his nephew to ‘let him alone’ admitting that ‘to say truth, Verona brags
of him to be a virtuous and well-govern’d youth’. Capulet, then, informs the audience that Romeo is
thought of as highly moral. This is praise indeed coming from the enemy to Romeo’s entire family.
It’s also an impression which is reinforced through Shakespeare’s use of structure.
In the opening of Act 1 Scene 1, members of the Montague family fight with members of the Capulet
family, but Romeo is nowhere to be seen, leading Lady Montague to remark ‘Right glad I am that he
was not at this fray’. We soon learn that Romeo is apparently quite different to his fighting
kinsmen, having been seen many mornings walking alone ‘with tears augmenting the fresh morning
dew’ - in other words, crying. The stark contrast in this opening scene, between the presentation of
the bawdy and violent Sampson and Gregory, and the very different Romeo, does seem to suggest
that Romeo is a virtuous person, set apart from what we have so far learned of the Montague men.
So if the renowned element of Romeo’s tragic hero status is established, what can we say about the
hamartia, the personal ‘error or frailty’ which ultimately brings about his downfall? Now there
are a number of ways to look at this, and you can add your own ideas in the comments section,
but for me the most obvious hamartia is what we might call Romeo’s fickleness. To be fickle
means ‘frequently changing - in particular with reference to affections and loyalty’.
Now on the one hand Romeo and Juliet is a moving love story about how two sworn
enemies find true love. However, it is important to consider Shakespeare’s
initial presentation of Romeo before he even meets Juliet.
Just why is Romeo sad in the opening scene? Benvolio is able to get Romeo to admit
that he is ‘out of her favour, where I am in love.’ What might surprise the audience in a
play called ‘Romeo and Juliet’ is how the subject of Romeo’s love-struck grief is a woman called
Rosaline! And when Romeo opens up about the cause of his sadness, it is that Rosaline has taken a
vow of celibacy and refuses to sleep with him. Again, Shakespeare’s use of structure is key in
helping us to understand Romeo as a tragic hero. What follows with Juliet may well be romantic and
heart-warming, but the structural decision to open with Romeo’s sadness over another woman perhaps
suggests that Juliet is not the only person Romeo has even fallen in love with in this way.
The Friar, Romeo’s closest confidante, says as much when he hears about Juliet:
‘Is Rosaline, whom thou dids’t love so dear, so soon forsaken?’ he asks in Act 2 Scene 3.
When Romeo complains to the Friar ‘Thou chid’st me oft for loving Rosaline.’,
the Friar responds ‘For doting, not for loving’. In other words – ‘for obsessing over her,
not loving her.’ The Friar knows that Romeo was not truly in love with Rosaline.
Whether this is the case with Juliet or not is open to debate, but the speed in which
he instantaneously falls in love with her does seem to reinforce the idea of Romeo as fickle.
The final part of the tragic hero convention is that this hamartia must bring about the
character’s downfall – in a work of tragedy their death. And, spoiler alert, this does happen with
Romeo. At this point it might be interesting to look at another of Aristotle’s theories, this time
related to structure. Aristotle came up with some of the earliest ideas about dramatic structure.
He felt that drama fell into three pieces. In the 19th Century, building on the work of Aristotle,
the German novelist Gustav Freytag proposed that all five act plays follow the same format:
Exposition: the first part of a plot, in which the audience learns about the characters and setting.
The Montague and Capulet families are
enemies. Romeo is deeply unhappy over his unrequited love for Rosaline.
Inciting incident (sometimes called complication):
something happens to begin the action or conflict. Romeo and Juliet meet and instantly fall in love.
Rising action: the story becomes more exciting as conflicts build.
Romeo and Juliet’s secret marriage. Climax: The point of greatest tension in a text.
The main character comes face-to-face with the conflict and often needs to make a choice.
Tybalt kills Mercutio; Romeo kills Tybalt; Romeo is banished.
Falling action: as a result of the climax, there are more events, but we know that
the story will soon end. Juliet fakes her death.
Dénouement: the fallout: any leftover questions, mysteries or secrets are solved.
Romeo kills Paris; Romeo kills himself;
Juliet kills herself and The Montague and Capulet families are united.
Shakespeare’s choice to have the meeting of Romeo and Juliet function as the inciting incident is
significant because the inciting incident is always the moment that triggers everything else
ie Romeo meeting Juliet leads to both of their deaths. So we can certainly say that Romeo’s
hamartia of being fickle leads to his death, because the moment he set eyes on Juliet he became
besotted with her (actually before even speaking to her, based only on looking at her across the
room, he questions himself ‘Did my heart love till now?...I ne’er saw true beauty till this night.’)
The final point to make here regards the climax of the play. If meeting Juliet is the catalyst
for Romeo’s own tragic end, the murder of Tybalt is the point of no return. And even in the murder
of Tybalt, Romeo is presented by Shakespeare as being fickle. One moment Romeo tells Tybalt that
he does ‘love thee better than thou canst devise’, and only seconds later he murders him. Some might
argue that it’s understandable Romeo’s attitude should change once Tybalt kills his friend
Mercutio, but it still reinforces the presentation of Romeo as fickle, that he can so quickly change.
To conclude, it is clear that Shakespeare presents Romeo as a tragic hero – a well
respected person who has one single negative character trait that leads to his downfall.
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