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Examples Of Tragic Hero In Romeo And Juliet

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A tragic hero is a character in a story, often times the protagonist, destined for failure no matter how hard they try. The tragic hero has something that will always manage to get in their way. This weakness is called a tragic flaw. In the play, Romeo and Juliet, Romeo is a tragic hero. His tragic flaw is being impetuous. This means that Romeo acts before he thinks. Because of this tragic flaw that influences his decisions throughout the entire play, Romeo’s tragic hero attribute is shown.
In particular, Romeo was portrayed as a tragic hero was when he snuck into the Capulet’s party. At this party, he immediately fell for Juliet, his family’s greatest enemy’s daughter. He had not known Juliet for an hour when he decided that he wanted to marry her. Just a few hours before, he was in tears because Rosaline, Juliet’s …show more content…

Once Tybalt had found out that Romeo and his friends had crashed the Capulet party, he wrote Romeo a letter containing a duel. Since Romeo had been out all night at the party, then to Juliet’s balcony, and lastly to Friar Lawrence’s cell he had not been home to receive the duel. Later that same day, Romeo and Mercutio meet Tybalt in the street. Romeo decides not to fight Tybalt because they are cousins now. However, Tybalt does not know this because Romeo and Juliet are keeping their marriage a secret. Mercutio is also unaware of their marriage and is so upset that Romeo will not fight Tybalt that he decides to do it himself. Mercutio steps in to fight and is killed by Tybalt. Romeo says, “He gone in triumph, and Mercutio slain?/ Away to heaven, respective lenity, / And the fire-ey’d fury be my conduct now!” (3.1.120-123). The anger Romeo feels from Tybalt killing his best friend takes over and controls his actions. This spontaneous decision ends up in his banishment from Verona where his whole life has taken place in, including his new secret lover,

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