Romeo and Juliet: a Tragic Love Story

Romeo and Juliet, a tragic love story written by William Shakespeare. A pair of star-crossed lovers that fall in love. Unfortunately, fate is against them and the misfortune is what leads to a tragic and sorrowful ending.

Romeo is a main character in the play ‘Romeo & Juliet’, he’s someone who is sensitive and impulsive. He is also a young, blind and inexperienced lover. Shakespeare has used sonnets to express Romeo’s emotions about his situation. Shakespeare has characterised Romeo as an inexperienced lover because he is more in love with the concept of being in love rather than with the woman herself. We know this because Romeo falls in love at first sight with Juliet at Capulet’s party. When Romeo sees Juliet, he realizes he never truly loved Rosaline:

‘Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight! / For I ne’er saw true beauty till this night’ (Act 1 Scene 5).

This quote is a form of rhyme and it shows us that Romeo is a foolish lover.

Shakespeare teaches us through Romeo’s characterisation that idealism is about seeing the positives in everything. He doesn’t see the problem with Juliet being a Capulet, he just wants to be with her. Juliet says that Romeo might die if people found out about their relationship, but Romeo doesn’t think twice. He is a person with a sensitive nature and cares about his own feelings.

Many things lead to the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, yet they all involve love and fate. The characterisation of Romeo is depicted in the tragedy because of his impulsiveness. His impulsiveness is his fatal flaw and what causes tragic events to happen. Romeo also contributes to the tragedy of the play because if he didn’t have the unrequited love for Rosaline, he wouldn’t have gone to the Capulet party. Therefore, Romeo wouldn’t have fallen in love with Juliet. Romeo’s fatal flaw is his impetuosity, which causes him to marry Juliet the very next day, a move that wasn’t very wise and ideal. Romeo then kills Tybalt to avenge Mercutio’s death, and must suffer the consequences of banishment. Romeo’s love for Juliet made him unstable and once he thought she was dead, he bought poison to deal with the news.

“To Juliet’s grave, for there must I use thee.” (Act 5 Scene 1)

From this quote we can clearly see Romeo’s hamartia, which is his impetuosity. Romeo’s impulsiveness causes him to make a thoughtless decision that will end his life. His fatal flaw causes future tragic events to occur.

I have used many visual techniques to present aspects of Romeo’s character on my poster. A technique that I’ve used includes bold text, this represents the boldness of my character. My movie poster is monochrome and uses low-key lighting which produces shadows. The vector of my poster is the portrait photo of the male. I have added a gradient of red to symbolise the blood lost from when he committed suicide. On the poster, there is also the quote of Romeo saying, “I defy you stars”, and the title ‘Romeo and Juliet’. In my poster, details such as the director and release date are given. All of the mentioned aspects come together to create a movie poster that represents Romeo’s character.

The play Romeo and Juliet unfortunately had a sad ending mainly due to the fact that fate was against the pair of star-crossed lovers and no one couldn’t stop that. As the prologue explains, their love is death-marked.