Characteristics of the main characters of the work of Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare. Their images and description

Romeo Montecchi is 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 environment

Reality does not attract 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

Youth. 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 seems to grow 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.

Juliet Capulet is 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 has no doubts 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 an obedient and loving daughter, her parents are the highest authority for her, 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 as 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! By 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.

The tragedy in verse "Romeo and Juliet", written by W. Shakespeare, was created at the end of the sixteenth century. The love story of a young girl and a young man could well have been taken from life. The historical background and life situations described in the plot are so believable.

Two ancient and powerful Italian families, the Montagues and the Capulets, have been at enmity with each other for several centuries. But fate would have it that the children of these famous families in Verona fell in love with each other. The love story of Romeo and Juliet forms the basis of the plot.

Among the secondary characters of the tragedy is the nephew of the head of the Montecchi family. Benvolio, that is the name of the young man, is Romeo's cousin and closest friend.

The enmity between eminent families did not capture the young man. He opposes it with all his being. During skirmishes with the “enemy”, natural peacefulness and prudence take precedence over him. His appeals to the warring parties are always aimed at stopping hostility and senseless bloodshed.

Benvolie, along with Romeo and friend Mercutio, takes part in brawls. But all this happens in order to protect against the attacking opposing side. Benvolio was never among the instigators of fights and quarrels. On the contrary, he made every effort to reconcile the representatives of the warring families.

In a fight in the marketplace, where servants from the houses of Montague and Capulet fought, Benvolio made his first attempt to stop the bloodshed. He called for reason, trying to neutralize the cruelty and hatred that settled in the souls of these people. Tybalt, the vicious and aggressive nephew of the head of the Capulet clan, prevented his intention. During another skirmish, when Mercutio and Tybalt provoked a clash, the hero also failed to achieve reconciliation. Tybalt and Mercutio were killed in that fight.

Benvolio loved and protected him as best he could. Romeo also valued his friendship with Benvolio. Only to him did he reveal his heart's secret. But friend Benvolio reacted to Romeo's mental anguish like a hardened womanizer. He did not take them seriously and gave advice to forget about Juliet, because there are so many beautiful girls. The ease with which he gave advice to Romeo shows that Benvolio himself was never truly in love.

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Romeo and Juliet is one of the most interesting works of William Shakespeare. The tragic love of the main characters Romeo and Juliet, described by the English playwright, still causes unprecedented popularity among readers. The enmity between two wealthy families that have been at war for several centuries finally stops. It ended thanks to the great and pure love of two young hearts who, by an absurd accident, left this world. The real feelings that the heroes carried through many hardships and deprivations eventually brought the long-awaited peace to the families.

Characteristics of the heroes of "Romeo and Juliet"

Main characters

Minor characters

Romeo and Juliet are heroes who showed the world what true love is. All Shakespeare's stories are saturated with human experiences and tragedy. The play "Romeo and Juliet" is also included in this list. The characteristics of these characters make it clear that, despite their age, people have different views and thinking. The description of the plot and images of the characters is summarized briefly.

We all know this classic hero of the famous work of William Shakespeare as an unhappy fifteen-year-old boy in love. "There is no sadder story in the world than the story of Romeo and Juliet ...". The names of these two lovers were first used by Luigi da Porto in 1524 in his play The Story of Two Noble Lovers. The events took place in Verona. This plot became so popular during the Renaissance that in 1554 Matteo Bandello wrote a short story, in 1562 Arthur Brooke - the poem "Romeo and Juliet", and Shakespeare will take this story as a basis and create his world-famous tragedy.

The plot of the story

The protagonist appears on the scene immediately after a short fight between two servants of the warring noble families of the Montagues and the Capulets in the city of Verona. Romeo Montague is sad and dreary, he has feelings of unrequited love for Rosaline. In order to somehow have some fun, Benvolio and Mercutio's friends persuade him to go secretly under masks to go with them to the Capulet's masquerade ball. As a result, Romeo is recognized, and he leaves the ball, but during this time he manages to see the owner's daughter, Juliet. They fall in love with each other at first sight, and only later find out that both belong to families that are mortal enemies.

And here, arguing on the topic: "Romeo: characterization of the hero", it should be noted that the young man turned out to be very brave and persistent. One night he comes under Juliet's balcony and confesses his love for her. Young lovers take an oath of love and fidelity and want to get married in secret. They entrust this business to the familiar monk Lorenzo. But then an unexpected event occurs: Romeo kills Tybalt, Juliet's brother. Romeo is expelled from Verona.

Death of lovers

At this time, Juliet's parents are preparing her for the wedding with Paris. She is forced to ask for help from the monk Lorenzo, who offers her to drink a potion that will put her to sleep for two days so that everyone thinks that she is dead. It all happened, but the news with explanations that Juliet's death was imaginary did not reach Romeo.

Beside himself with grief, having learned about the death of his beloved, he returned to Verona and went to the Capulet crypt, where he met Paris and killed him. And after that he drank poison and died near Juliet. When she woke up, then, seeing the dead Romeo, she immediately killed herself with a dagger. After this, the Montecchi and Capulet families stopped their senseless war, which led to the death of their beloved children.

Romeo: characteristic

At the very beginning of the work, the author draws his hero as a completely inexperienced young man who is completely absorbed by love, or rather, a far-fetched passion for Rosalind, an impregnable and very absurd beauty. Romeo understands his crazy behavior, but still, like a moth, flies to a fire. Friends do not approve of his choice, because they understand that his passion is artificial, he is bored with the reality around him, and he purposely invented all this for himself. His soul is still too pure and naive, and she can take her usual passion for true love. I must say that Romeo was an ardent dreamer, the characteristic of his nature suggests that he longs for love, but only in order to establish himself in it. He wants to become a winner over the indifferent and arrogant Rosalind. It seems to him that this will help him raise his authority with friends and grow in his own eyes.

Romeo and Juliet

When he sees sweet Juliet at the ball, all his false feelings are dispelled, he immediately forgets about Rosalind. Now his love is genuine, which regenerates and elevates him. Indeed, by nature, he is endowed with a tender and sensitive heart, which feels the approaching disaster, even before they decide to go on a holiday to the enemy house of Capulet. He tried to resist this, but it turned out to be useless for him to fight fate, since a strong passion nevertheless prevailed on Romeo. His characterization claims that he is quick-tempered and not ready to accept the circumstances. First, he kills Juliet's brother Tybalt out of revenge for the murder of Mercutio's friend, and then he also kills the innocent Paris.

Conclusion

Shakespeare does not show himself as a moralist here, he does not make his characters positive or negative. Romeo's appearance does not particularly interest him. He shows the tragic path of everyone who cannot curb his destructive passions, which took power over such a bright, vulnerable and sublime soul as Romeo.

Um, well, you still won’t believe me if I say that they are magical? ..

For some reason, Dent was forced to follow a near-scientific path and engage in pseudo-linguistics, namely, to understand where the names of the heroes of the tragedy "Romeo and Juliet" (hereinafter, the abbreviation RiJ will be used) come from, what they mean, why and what he wanted, perhaps, to say all this Shakespeare, if, of course, he was and was in good health on this sinful earth.
I warn you right away - my reasoning and my “dances” around words follow. These thoughts reflect only my humble opinion, and they are not the ultimate truth.

Perhaps I will start with a small reservation - as everyone knows, Shakespeare borrowed the plot of the tragedy from a poem by a certain Arthur Brooke (which I could not find), who took it from the Italian novelist Matteo Bandello, and also, at about the same time, “about lovers of Verona" was written by a certain Luigi da Porto (which of them was the first to write, alas, I do not know). Therefore, it is worth distinguishing between which characters and which names Shakespeare introduced himself, and which ones he borrowed from Italian short stories.
The heroes who, without changes in the name, "roam" in each return to the motive, in fact, are Romeo and Juliet themselves. As originally they were and remain so. The name of the Franciscan brother Lorenzo has not changed. Count Paris di Lodrone appears in Bandello, de Porto does not mention the name of the groom (only the family), Shakespeare does not mention the name of the family. The names of the duke, Mercutio (who comes to the fore only in tragedy), Tybalt, Romeo's servant have undergone significant transformations with the Englishman. And, in the end, Shakespeare introduces new characters - Benvolio, servants of both houses, gives the name of the novice brother Lorenzo, who was instructed to deliver Romeo's letter (at the same time, Shakespeare made him a monk ...). The surnames of the two warring clans suffered minimal changes, but more on that later. I do not take into account the numerous off-screen and off-stage characters, relatives of both houses, who are not really mentioned anywhere.
The list of actors opens with the Duke of Verona, whose name is Escalus. Actually, nowhere else in the tragedy is the name, “signor”, ​​“duke”, but not Escalus mentioned.
What do de Porto and Bandello write?
"... that happened in Verona during the time of Signor Bartolomeo Della Scala ..."(de Porto)
"In those days, the ruler of Verona was Bartolomeo della Scala..."(Bandello)
Who are the della Scala? Quoting the good old Wikipedia: "The Scaligers (Italian della Scala) - a noble Ghibelline family in Verona, who ruled Verona from 1262 to 1387". (by the way, while the author was quoting, he accidentally found out that "scala" from Italian means "ladder". I'm not going to look for deep motives here yet) Bartolomeo himself did not rule so much - three years (from 1301 to 1304), though and went down in history in a way already known to us.
So, now we have an idea how the duke was called. Shakespeare changed the name della Scala for some reason of his own. Perhaps he wanted to make the tragedy more or less timeless, not wanting to tie events to a cruelly defined period, did not want specifics, did not consider it important (in which, by the way, he was not so wrong - with the same success he could simply write “The Duke is the ruler of Verona”).
Let's move on to the next one on the list. "Paris, young nobleman, relative of the duke." In the short stories, this character is deeply passing - in de Porto he is generally mentioned as some kind of fiance from the Counts of Lodrone. Bandello is a little better - it is said that his name is Parisa, he even appears for a few lines, however, he also soon disappeared in an unknown direction. Shakespeare's image is revealed more, but this essay is not about that. The surname of the Englishman is not mentioned, except that he is a relative of the duke (maybe di Lodrone and relatives of the duke, but there is not a word about this in the short stories).
What does the name Paris mean? Actually, the only known hero who bore this name is the infamous Paris, the son of Priam, because of which the ten-year Trojan War broke out. Why they chose that particular name, I cannot explain. Maybe they just liked Bandello.
But with his last name came out interesting story. According to the note to Bandello's short story, the Count's generic name "Lodrone" is consonant with "ladrone", which in Italian means "robber", "bandit". I doubt this is a special reference, because there really is a place called Lodrone, although where - Dent is unclear on this damn map. Maybe it’s a joke, maybe for them he was actually a bandit - such and such, wants to marry a married woman, and lovers suffer ... Shakespeare, as already mentioned, did not mention his last name - and he did not know Italian to the fullest.
The surnames of families have another source, even earlier than the short stories:
“Come, careless, just cast a glance:
Monaldi, Filippeschi, Cappelletti,
Montagues - those in tears, and those trembling!(A. Dante, "The Divine Comedy", Purgatory, Canto Six, stanza 106). This proclamation to Italy is said to refer to the two parties that existed at that time in Italy: the Guelphs, who supported the papal power, and the Ghibellines, the power of the Holy Roman Emperor. According to folk tradition, Montagues and Cappelletti are bred on opposite sides of the barricades, but “and although I, while reading some old chronicles, met with these two families, allegedly standing together for the same party, I will nevertheless tell you this story as I heard it, without changing anything in it”(De Porto). The name Montecchi did not change from source to source, the evolution of the second - Cappeletti (Dante), also at de Porto, then Bandello dropped the second "p", and finally - the good old Capulet. The etymology of the surnames is not known to me.
About the names of the parents of the main characters. What are the names of Romeo's father and mother none the short story is not said, nor is it added by Shakespeare. According to de Porto and Bandello, Juliet's father and mother were named Antonio and Giovanna. There is no mention of this in Shakespeare.
Go ahead. Romeo. Wikipedia, although it says that "Romeo - from the Latin" pilgrim "", causes me deep doubts - at least, my Latin dictionary does not imply such a meaning. Most likely, the banal "Roma". Rome, Roman - maybe a claim to some antiquity. Yes, and just a name is what to do.
Mercutio is next in line. I'll drop a few words about the role of this jester in the short stories. To tell the truth - there is no role. None of the short stories mentions his friendship with Romeo, and none of the short stories mentions him being killed. For de Porto, he is the same passing character as Paris. Bandello only gives a small characteristic, very similar to the image of Shakespeare:
“Juliet found herself between Romeo and Marcuccio, nicknamed “cross-eyed”. He was a courtier and famous for his courtesy; everyone loved him for his sharp tongue and all sorts of jokes, because he always had some kind of funny fiction ready to make the company laugh, and he knew how to have fun without offending anyone.
In de Porto, the same person is called Mercuccio Guercio, no prerequisites for Mercutio, except for some similarity of names, were found. Therefore, I will go straight to Mercutio, to this jester.
One of the versions is offered by Wikipedia Mercutio - from English. Mercury". Mercury - mercury, metal, mobile, fluid, usually remaining in a liquid state. (I use Wikia, and she uses some "MPGU lectures on Shakespeare", I just quote). Interesting theory, albeit not well supported. Let's dance further from this - mercury got its English name from Mercury, and in alchemy the sign of the metal is the same as the symbol of the rod of Mercury with snakes. Who is Mercury? The patron god of merchants, the patron of the arts, but is a rogue, cunning, dodgy, prone to tricks and jokes. This, not completely, but correlates with the image of Mercutio - an ironic, cheerful, somewhat vulgar and cynical person, Romeo's friend. Also (here the author will have to dig into the zodiac meanings, so he asks not to judge strictly if he made a mistake) people born under the rule of Mercury are eloquent, prone to the arts, smart and cheerful (*bow to the great Internet*). I say right away - it is not supported by anything, the author of the essay in astrology is not strong at all.
After Romeo and Mercutio, it would be a sin not to mention Benvolio, cousin of the first and friend of both. Unlike others, he was lucky - he was invented entirely by an Englishman. The name Benvolio also suits the character quite well. From Latin, "benvolus" means "benevolent, supportive, devoted." Actually, we see the first meaning at the very beginning (the desire to settle the conflict by peace, an attempt to reason with Tybalt), the second and third - in relation to friends.
After Cousin Montague, it was time to turn to Signora Capulet's nephew, Tybalt. In the novels, his name is Tebaldo, which is a perfectly normal Italian name: "Teobaldo (Theobaldo), Tibaldo (Tybaldo), Tebaldo (Tebaldo) from the ancient Germanic name Theudebald: þeud (people) + bald (bold)". (taken from the site kurufin.ru, link required - link provided). Name as a name. Now let's move on to Shakespeare.
The warped Tybalt, according to the notes, goes back to the medieval "Romance of the Fox", where there is such a character, the cat Tibert, "the king of cats", who is "clever and wise" (but was still easily fooled by Reynard), who subsequently appears in stories the liar-fox is sometimes a conspirator, sometimes just a scoundrel, but most importantly - one of the main opponents of the Fox. And here Tybalt, I do not know - the character of Tybalt is outlined, in my opinion, even worse than the character of Benvolio. But this, if I may say so, allusion runs through the play like a red thread - Mercutio constantly calls his enemy "rat-catcher" (translated as "rat-catcher") and "King of Cats" ("King of Cats").
So, in a roundabout way, we got to the second main character of the story - to Juliet. Everything is quite simple here - Julia, Julia, in Italian her name is "Giulietta". In the tradition of the French and English "Juliette" and "Juliet" respectively. The similarity with the name of the month "July" is visible. (Shakespeare) Juliet was born on St. Peter's Day, celebrated on June 29 (according to the old style - July 12). She was born to novelists on the day of St. Euphemia, the memory of this saint is celebrated in Orthodoxy on July 11 and September 16 (according to the Julian calendar), among Catholics on September 16. So either Shakespeare personally changed the date of birth of his heroine, or the Italians were secretly Orthodox ... Although at the same time there was no Gregory XIII with his calendar transformations, so everything is fine, sorry, I got confused myself. Or were?!
(Something strange is happening with the birth of Juliet - in my edition of the tragedy, the notes generally say that “Juliet was born on the harvest festival, i.e. August 1.” Meanwhile, Wikia says that the Catholics celebrate the harvest festival on the day of the Archangel Mikhail, it's actually September 29... What am I smoking, what?! )
Perhaps that's all I can say about this topic. Having sorted out the names of the main (and not so) characters, I did not get too close to understanding the meaning of life, but I figured out somewhat what the gentlemen writers could have in mind when they named the characters.