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Corniya Clay

Mr. Johnson

English 1

15 March 2021

Romeo the Tragic Hero

2 families who are enemies, unfortunately lose their children to an appalling love

story. This Story reveals how Romeo becomes a tragic hero. In the play , The tragic of Romeo

and Juliet, Romeo is a tragic Hero because he makes an error of judgment, has a realization of

his reversal of fortune, and suffers his fate worse than he earned. These characteristics are what

make Romeo a tragic hero.

Romeo Mantague fits the characteristics of a tragic hero in The Tragedy of Romeo and

Juliet by making an error in judgement. Romeo Mantague's error in judgement was drinking

poison to kill himself, when Juliet was still alive. In the play, Romeo says “ Thou art not

conquer’d. Beauty's ensign yet is crimson in thy lips and in thy cheeks, and death’s pale flag is

not advanced there.” This quote shows that Romeo should have noticed that Juliet could have

possibly been breathing. This was an error in judgement because he still swilled the poison even

when he saw she could've been alive. Meaning, Romeo is a dreadful hero because he made an

error of judgement which caused him to take his own life.

In addition to Romeo’s error in judgment, Romeo Mantague fits the feature of a tragic

hero in The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet when he had a reversal of fortune. Romeo Mantague's

reversal of fortune was after he assisted Tybalt, he thought everything was good until he got

kicked out of verona. In the play, Romeo says “ Banishment! Be merciful and say “death”

instead. Exile is more horrible for me than death. Don’t say banishment. ” This quote shows how
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Romeo's mood changed from being cool to being upset about being banished.This was an error

in judgement because his mood changed. Meaning, Romeo is a tragic hero because he made a

reversal of fortune which caused his mood to change.

Lastly, Romeo Mantague fits the characteristics of a tragic hero in The Tragedy of Romeo

and Juliet when the characters fate was greater than deserved . Romeo Mantague's fate was when

he killed Tybalt from self defense and because Tybalt killed Mercutio. In the play, Romeo says

“Tybalt murdered Mercutio, I had no choice. ” This quote shows how Romeo killed Tybalt in self

defense and if he didnt kill Tybalt, then he wouldn't've died . This was a great fate because he

died because of killing Tybalt. Meaning, Romeo is a tragic hero because the character's fate was

considerably more than deserved.

To summarize it, Romeo fits the charactics of a tragic hero by making an error of

judgment when he swilled poison to kill himself when Juliet was alive. Has a realization of his

reversal of fortune when after he killed Tybalt, he thought everything was good until he got

kicked out of verona. He suffers his fate worse than he deserved when he killed Tybalt from self

defense and because Tybalt killed Mercutio.

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Works Cited

Applebee, Arthur N. Language of Literature. Evanston IL. McDougal Littel, 2000.

No Fear Shakespeare Romeo and Juliet. New York, NY. Spark Publishing, 2003.