Characteristics of the minor characters Romeo and Juliet. Images of the main characters of W. Shakespeare's tragedy “Romeo and Juliet. The Dark Side of Romeo

(See the analysis of the work in the notebook)

Romeo Montecchi - one of the main characters of the tragedy. At the beginning of the play, this is a young man who is completely absorbed by a far-fetched passion for Rosalind, an absurd and impregnable beauty. R. speaks of his love for her with the bitterness and cynicism of a youth: “What is love? Madness from intoxication, playing with fire, leading to a fire. However, R. stubbornly continues to seek reciprocity from Rosalind, although all his friends do not approve of his choice. Everything suggests that R.'s passion is artificial, that he invented an object for himself to worship. Why? Most likely, for the reason that in the surrounding reality nothing attracts him. He is indifferent to the enmity between the families of the Montagues and the Capulets, he is alien to the thirst for victory over the enemy, he is disgusted with murder.

He is a quick-tempered, amorous, passionate, and at the same time a noble and fair young man, he is almost twenty years old, and feelings constantly boil in his heart. When he passionately fell in love with Juliet, and gradually realized that everything that happened between them was very serious and difficult, how many difficulties and obstacles stand in their way, he turns from a young womanizer into a sincerely loving and always ready for absolutely any feat for the sake of his beloved young man. For Juliet, Romeo is "the height of perfection", she fell in love with him at first sight and forever.

At the beginning of the work, Romeo is very naive, in love with a certain Rosalind, from which he suffers greatly. We never meet this girl throughout the play.

Romeo is surrounded by guys like him (Mercutio, Benvolio). Romeo spends his time as it should be in these times: idly wandering around, doing nothing and sighing languidly. Juliet, from the very beginning, appears as a clean and tidy girl, beckoning with the charm of a blossoming youth. She stands out not only for this, in her one can also notice the unchildish depth of thinking and the tragic sense of being.

Romeo, deeply in love with Juliet, gradually realizes that everything that happens between them is very serious and difficult, how many difficulties and obstacles stand in their way. He, as it were, grows up to her, from a young womanizer turns into a passionately loving and ready to do anything for the sake of his love "not a boy, but a husband." Their love becomes not only a violation of family foundations, but also a challenge to the age-old tradition of hatred, that hatred, because of which numerous Montagues and Capuleti died, on which almost the state laws of Verona rested.

And hatred is painful and tenderness.

And hatred and tenderness - the same ardor

Blind, out of nothing arisen forces,

Empty burden, heavy fun,

Discordant collection of slender forms,


Cold heat, lethal health

A sleepless sleep that is deeper than sleep.

Here is what, and worse than ice and stone

My love, which is heavy on me.

Are you not laughing?

Juliet Capulet - one of the central characters of the tragedy. D. is shown at the moment of transition from the naive self-sufficiency of a child who knows no doubt that the world around her can be different, to the maturity of a woman in love, capable of sacrificing everything for her beloved. At the beginning of the play, D. is obedient and loving daughter, parents for her are the highest authority, the embodiment of wisdom, kindness and justice. In her life there is not and cannot be a place for self-affirmation, which Romeo, who is in love with Rosalind, is obsessed with at the beginning of the play, because the subordinate position of a woman in her father's house excludes any external activity.

The main character of the tragedy is Juliet Capulet, a fourteen-year-old carefree girl who, despite her young age, has a childish depth of thinking. She is rich in both inner and outer beauty, constantly attracts and enchants with her blossoming youth. The heroine is presented in the image of a pure, well-mannered and intelligent lady, who is constantly surrounded by the love of caring noble parents, a cousin, to whom she is strongly attached, and a friend, the Nurse, to whom she entrusts all her girlish secrets. Juliet lives in full prosperity, but she does not think about marriage, but deep down she dreams of meeting her prince. She always obeys the will of her parents, and never dares to contradict them.

The relationship of these two young hearts becomes not only a violation of family rules and norms, but also a challenge to the entire age-old tradition of hatred, the hatred that killed numerous people from the Montecchi and Capulet families, on which almost all state laws of Verona rested.

The story of this tragic love story is as old as the world, and at the same time, it will never cease to be relevant. The relevance of the story "Romeo and Juliet" in our days, especially given all the events taking place, is unusually great. There are eternal themes of life - betrayal, love, happiness, respect, devotion, hatred, the struggle between good and evil, death, grief, sadness and joy, as well as discord, revenge and war. And the fact that the main characters chose to leave this unfair world, in which everyone was against their love, will forever remain in the hearts of billions of people. Shakespeare's heroes are quite young, but the depth of the feelings that struck them makes them adults not by their years, but by their actions. Romeo and Juliet have always been and will forever remain an example of devotion and eternal love for everyone, because they are two beautiful souls who are capable of sincere and strong feelings that cannot be realized, they are honest in showing their feelings to nature and, most importantly, to each other. Yes, in the end, the love of Romeo and Juliet survived their death and did what seemed impossible - reconciled two warring families, but at what cost! With their death, lovers seem to acquire the victory of life principles - the principles of peace, goodness, harmony, justice, friendship and love. The loss of their children forces the Montagues and the Capulets to realize that they have destroyed the lives of their children and themselves through a senseless feud. Despite this, even having died, two hearts in love remained inseparable, and this is the whole triumph of life and sincere human feelings.

Juliet's lover. Committed suicide when he mistakenly thought Juliet was dead.

First literary work, in which the images of Juliet and Romeo appeared - "The Newly Found Story of Two Noble Lovers", written by the Italian author Luigi da Porto and published in 1530. Most likely, for Shakespeare, the poem "The Tragic History of Romeus and Juliet" (1562), written by Arthur Brooke, served as the main source of inspiration.

For the first time, Romeo appears before readers as a man who is madly in love with Rosaline, Juliet's cousin. The girl is not available to him, as she took a vow of celibacy. The suffering Romeo often walks alone before dawn. When day comes, he locks himself in his chambers and curtains the windows. In fact, this love cannot be called true. Both Romeo's feelings and his actions seem feigned, insincere, invented. The young man seems to revel in his suffering.

To see Rosaline, Romeo, wearing a mask, comes to the celebration at the Capulet's house. Before entering, he predicts his own future. The young man says that the festival will be "the beginning of untold disasters" and will bring him "terrible, untimely death" as a result. Despite such a gloomy prediction, Romeo decides to take a step towards his destiny. Seeing Juliet at the party, he instantly falls in love with her. Romeo realizes that until now he has not seen true beauty and has not truly loved. A short conversation is started between the young people, followed by a kiss.

Risking his life, at night Romeo comes to the Capulet garden, where Juliet confesses her love to him and proposes to get married. He happily agrees. Romeo's feelings are so strong that immediately after the meeting he hurries to his brother Lorenzo and persuades the monk to secretly marry them to Juliet on the same day. The priest agrees. Notice how determined Romeo becomes when he falls in love with Juliet. He behaved quite differently, being allegedly in love with Rosaline. Then Romeo only sighed and suffered. Now the young man is active.

Combining with Juliet by legal marriage, Romeo begins to treat the girl's relatives differently. Faced with Tybalt, cousin Juliet, he does not want to conflict with him:

But I, Tybalt, have a reason
To love you; she forgives you
All the fury of angry words...

Then Romeo tries to separate Tybalt, who is grappling with Mercutio, but he fails. Tragedy strikes: Tybalt mortally wounds Mercutio. Romeo is torn between love for Juliet and love for a friend. For the sake of Juliet, Romeo did not have to take revenge on her relative. However, the young man makes a different choice - he follows the dictates of friendship and duty of honor. Acting under the impression of Mercutio's death, Romeo kills Tybalt. The move turns out to be fatal. The enmity between the houses of the Montagues and the Capulets flares up with renewed vigor, but after the wedding with Juliet, Romeo sincerely wanted to end this war forever. In addition, the count punishes Romeo, albeit not too severely. Young man not executed, but expelled from the city. True, parting with Juliet for Romeo is like death.

While in exile in Mantua, Romeo learns of Juliet's death, buys poison to poison himself and travels to Verona to commit suicide on his beloved's grave. In the crypt of the Capulets, he meets Paris, Juliet's official fiance, who came to mourn her. Paris provokes Romeo. Young people fight with swords. Romeo kills Paris, then drinks the poison and dies.

The tragedy takes place over the course of a few days. As the literary critic A. A. Anikst noted, Romeo and Juliet are quick in feelings. The measure of their experiences is not duration, but strength, while the passion of lovers is great.

William Shakespeare inspired the famous Italian legend of the two lovers new life. Romeo and Juliet, who came from the pen of a talented English playwright, have become symbols of true love.

The main character named Romeo comes from a noble clan. Their entire family is at enmity with the equally famous Capulet family. Not only family members are involved in the conflict, but even their servants. However, Romeo tries to stay away from this enmity. It seems to him far-fetched and not worthy of attention. In addition, the hero is a humanist and despises physical violence even against the enemy.

Romeo is well educated and brought up. He is a real aristocrat, as indicated by his majestic posture. The hero is still very young, he is about 16 years old at the beginning of the play. But, despite his youth, he is quite prudent and courteous. Such character traits inspire respect even among some members of the family.

Romeo is not interested in enmity, because he is looking for the meaning of existence in something more sublime. Love seems like a suitable hobby to him. He finds an object for sighing - impregnable Rosalind. This girl is known for her intransigence and coldness. Romeo tries to woo the cold beauty. Not immediately getting what he wants, he creates for himself the image of a romantic martyr, angrily says that love is very evil. But are the hero's feelings for Rosalind real? After all, he does not think about how to make her happy, but only about his suffering. Perhaps he wanted to achieve the love of an impregnable girl in order to test how good he was at this.

Romeo's conversations at the beginning of the play are full of sad pathos. They betray in him a still presumptuous youth who does not know love. But the meeting at the ball with Juliet completely transforms Romeo. He forgets about Rosalind, realizing that those feelings were only his fiction. Juliet is a real, sincere girl who does not know how to flirt. Romeo doesn't need to be tricky to get her. Therefore, at the first meeting, they kiss.

Romeo worries about being Capulet's daughter. For the first time he regrets that he is a Montague. Romeo tells the heroine that he would like to renounce the name she hates so much. However, Juliet answers very wisely. What does the name mean? It is not part of the human being. And whatever the name of her beloved, he will remain the same for her.

The protagonist is a very sensitive nature, and even to some extent foresees his sad future. Before sneaking into the masquerade at the Capulet's house, Romeo has a premonition of something bad. “An unknown something that is still hidden in the darkness, but will be born from this ball, will untimely shorten my life,” this is how trouble feels the protagonist.

Romeo is shown as a humanist, but not an ideal hero. He, like the rest of the characters, is subject to his passions. Tybalt and Paris are killed by his hand. Romeo is arrogant and always defends his honor. Therefore, he accepts the challenge of the same arrogant Paris.

Romeo is an image of a desperate romantic, a brave man who knows how to love.

>Characteristics of the heroes Romeo and Juliet

Characteristics of the hero Romeo

Romeo Montecchi is the protagonist of William Shakespeare's tragedy "Romeo and Juliet", a romantic, loving young man, a representative of a noble family in Verona. The Montecchi family has been at odds with another respected family in the city, the Capuleti, for a long time. Romeo and Juliet become victims of this long-standing feud.

The hero appears before the reader at the very beginning of the work as a naive young man who walks all the time with friends and is in love with some absurd beauty named Rosalind. Friends notice that this is far-fetched love and often tell him about it. He invented an image for himself, elevated it in his own eyes, and having acquired his object of worship, he wants to grow in the eyes of his friends and in his own. This is Romeo before meeting with the fourteen-year-old Juliet Capulet, the daughter of the sworn enemy of his family. His love for Juliet is completely different. This is not an empty hobby, but a real feeling that turned him from a windy youth into an adult, serious person.

This love completely transforms his attitude and elevates him above reality. By nature, Romeo is endowed with a sensitive heart. Trying to get into the holiday to the Capulets, he anticipates in advance some kind of hidden misfortune. As he did not try to fight fate, but feelings prevailed. Killing Tybalt in a deadly fight, he realizes that he is destroying not only him, but also himself. Also, in this fight dies best friend Romeo - Mercutio. When they begin to look for him in Verona, in order to take revenge, he leaves for Mantua, but after hearing that Juliet drank poison, he suddenly returns. He also decides to take poison in order to rest next to his beloved. Distraught with grief, before his death, he kills the innocent Paris, who was promised as a suitor to Juliet.

The author colorfully draws the tragic path of the life of this hero. Despite everything, the sympathy of readers is on his side. However, from the work it becomes clear how destructive passions are and how they can take over, even over such a bright soul as Romeo.

Romeo Montecchi one of the main characters in the tragedy. At the beginning of the play, this is a young man who is completely absorbed by a far-fetched passion for Rosalind, an absurd and impregnable beauty. R. speaks of his love for her with the bitterness and cynicism of a youth: “What is love? Madness from intoxication, playing with fire, leading to a fire. However, R. stubbornly continues to seek reciprocity from Rosalind, although all his friends do not approve of his choice. Everything suggests that R.'s passion is artificial, that he invented an object for himself to worship. Why? Most likely, for the reason that in the surrounding reality nothing attracts him. He is indifferent to the enmity between the families of the Montagues and the Capulets, he is alien to the thirst for victory over the enemy, he is disgusted with murder. In this world, he is looking for something that is higher than the world, but his soul is still inexperienced and is ready to accept ordinary passion for love. Being an ardent and dreamy nature, R., with all the naivety of youth, tries to warm up a feeling of superficial sympathy in himself, to turn it into a flame of all-devouring passion. Shakespeare does not say anything about the reasons that prompt R. to seek the favor of Rosalind, but one can guess that, in essence, he is not looking for love, but for self-affirmation, unconsciously hoping that the victory over the cold and arrogant girl will help him grow in the eyes of his friends and in their own. With the arrogance of a youth, he passes judgment on love: “Is love tender? She is rude and evil. / And it pricks and burns like a thorn. But his angry and pompous speeches are ridiculous, for as soon as he discovers in his soul a genuine feeling for Juliet, he instantly forgets about Rosalind. This time, his love is genuine, not imaginary, because it completely transforms the attitude of R. From now on, he sees the world and himself in it with different eyes. Love, raising him above reality, does not tear him away from life, on the contrary, brings him closer to it and allows him to see everything in a clear light. R. is naturally endowed with a subtle and sensitive heart, he is able to foresee his future. When he, in company with friends and relatives, is about to enter the Capulet house dressed for the holiday, he is possessed by a vague feeling of misfortune: “An unknown something, / What is still hidden in the darkness, / But it will arise from this ball, / Will untimely shorten my life / Due to some terrible circumstances. R. tries to fight fate, but passions prevail over him. Even knowing that he is ruining himself, R. fights in a duel with Tybalt, Juliet's brother, and kills him, obeying a blind thirst for revenge, which he himself deeply despises. Shakespeare is not a moralist, and his characters are never either positive or negative. R., although against his will, causes the death of Mercutio, whom Tybalt mortally wounds from under his hand. Before drinking poison on Juliet's grave, R., distraught with grief, accepts the challenge of Paris and kills an innocent young man. The reader's sympathies are certainly on the side of R., but the author, drawing the tragic path of his life, shows how destructive passions are and how powerful they are even over such a bright and exalted soul.

Read also: