Romeo And Juliet's Flaws

Romeo Montague loved recklessly and passionately rather than logically or responsibly. This ultimately led to both his and Juliet’s death. He constantly neglected to analyze a situation and the consequences before jumping right into them. Romeo and Juliet represented the archetype of the star-crossed lovers and in the end this was their tragic flaw. He decided that he would rather be dead than live without his true love for the rest of his life in banishment. The themes of love, life, and death were tightly linked throughout the entire play; each theme relied on the others for meaning. Romeo valued love over both life and death and made decisions using his heart instead of his common sense and reasoning. Love was something so important …show more content…
However, his love was flawed because he moved too quickly and recklessly. It clouded his judgment and blurred his values. He was introduced as a melancholic character who was depressed over the fact that Rosaline did not reciprocate his feelings for her. “Out of her favor, where I am in love” (1.1.164). He closed himself in his bedroom away from light and happiness all because he was in love with Rosaline but could not be with her. Yet, everything changed for him when he attended a party at the Capulet’s household. There he met Juliet, instantly fell in love with her, and forgot all about Rosaline. “Did my heart love til now? Forswear it, sight! / For I ne’er saw true beauty till this night” (1.5.51-52). Romeo never even took the time to ask her name before he kissed her and eventually realized she was a Capulet. He also made another …show more content…
He concluded that his life was only meaningful when he was with her. After he could no longer be with Juliet, he stopped caring about whether he lived or died. Romeo acted out emotionally and murdered Tybalt; an act that he should have been killed for, but instead Romeo was banished from Verona forever. Everyone that cared about Romeo viewed that as an alternative that they could work with, but Romeo would have rather been dead. “Ha, banishment? Be merciful, say death; / for exile hath more terror in this look”(3.3.12-13). He refused to acknowledge that he was lucky to have only been banished, which allowed him to both keep his life and his hope of seeing Juliet. Friar Lawrence tried to explain to Romeo that his situation was not the end of the world or something to lose his mind over. He had eluded death, but as long as he was without Juliet, he did not care to live any longer. Romeo’s life became more important to the people around him than it was to himself. He cherished the times he had with Juliet, but as soon as he was forced to leave her behind, he found no reason to survive. Juliet is what helped give Romeo’s life a purpose, she gave him something to fight for. Since his emotions controlled him, his motivation was plucked away along with his