'Romeo and Juliet' - an Aristotelian Tragedy of Youth and Love
According to Aristotle (335BC), an essential element in the ‘good or fine’ character of every great tragic hero is ‘hamartia’, the fatal flaw. The tragic hero’s fatal flaws inevitably lead to negative consequences in his life. The character of Romeo, the tragic hero[1] of William Shakespeare’s cautionary tragedy Romeo and Juliet, contains three key fatal flaws that condemn him and others to death. Through employing the dramatic techniques of meaningful dialogue, soliloquy, narrative structure, and characterisation, Shakespeare privileges that Romeo’s flaws of irresponsibility, rashness and waywardness were stereotypical of upper-class youth[2] during the Renaissance[3].
Romeo’s fatal flaw of irresponsibility is foregrounded throughout the play as he repeatedly relies on fate. By obliviously relying on chance when he is ‘in love’ and then blaming fate when he meets conflict, Romeo shirks off responsibility for his own actions and decisions (Shakespeare, 1597, I.i.160). By gate-crashing Capulet’s banquet, where ‘’tis no wit to go’ as a Montague, he recklessly lends himself to chance (I.iv.50). Indirectly, this risk taken by Romeo is the cause of Tybalt’s and Mercutio’s death. After irrationally mourning for Mercutio and murdering Tybalt, Romeo then dubs himself ‘fortune’s fool’ (III.i.132), blaming ‘[t]his day’s black fate’ (III.i.114) for his predicament. Through this event, Shakespeare conveys a cautionary warning to the audience by inviting that Romeo’s irresponsibility in love results in the downfall of Romeo, Mercutio and Tybalt.
When in love, Romeo also possesses the character of rashness. It is a common element in tragedies for the tragic hero to hastily disregard repeated forebodings and warnings of doom, and that this would contribute to his eventual downfall in the play (Aristotle, 335BC). In Romeo and Juliet, Romeo receives countless premonitions and omens from ‘the stars’ hanging above foreshadowing the lovers’ approaching doom (I.iv.113).
Romeo’s fatal flaw of irresponsibility is foregrounded throughout the play as he repeatedly relies on fate. By obliviously relying on chance when he is ‘in love’ and then blaming fate when he meets conflict, Romeo shirks off responsibility for his own actions and decisions (Shakespeare, 1597, I.i.160). By gate-crashing Capulet’s banquet, where ‘’tis no wit to go’ as a Montague, he recklessly lends himself to chance (I.iv.50). Indirectly, this risk taken by Romeo is the cause of Tybalt’s and Mercutio’s death. After irrationally mourning for Mercutio and murdering Tybalt, Romeo then dubs himself ‘fortune’s fool’ (III.i.132), blaming ‘[t]his day’s black fate’ (III.i.114) for his predicament. Through this event, Shakespeare conveys a cautionary warning to the audience by inviting that Romeo’s irresponsibility in love results in the downfall of Romeo, Mercutio and Tybalt.
When in love, Romeo also possesses the character of rashness. It is a common element in tragedies for the tragic hero to hastily disregard repeated forebodings and warnings of doom, and that this would contribute to his eventual downfall in the play (Aristotle, 335BC). In Romeo and Juliet, Romeo receives countless premonitions and omens from ‘the stars’ hanging above foreshadowing the lovers’ approaching doom (I.iv.113).