Hannah Pearson
Dutton
English 1 Honors P5
13 March 2023
Romeo and Juliet Foils Essay
A foil is defined as a character in a piece of literature who provides contrast to another character. Foils are used by hundreds of authors including J.K. Rowling in Harry Potter, Arthur Conan Doyle in Sherlock Holmes, and, most memorably William Shakespeare in Romeo and Juliet. Romeo and Juliet recounts the story of two star-crossed lovers and their struggles through their relationship. Romeo, the protagonist, is a tragic hero, meaning that he displays qualities, or fatal flaws, that contribute to his downfall. His behavior is juxtaposed with other characters in the play to highlight the traits that most obviously cause his tragic death at the end of the
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In Shakespeare's tragedy, "Romeo and Juliet", he illustrates Romeo's impulsivity and lack of filial piety by contrasting him with his foils, Paris, Benvolio, and Tybalt. To begin, to highlight Romeo's impulsivity, Shakespeare contrasts him with Benvolio and Paris, two characters that display thoughtfulness in their actions. Benvolio is characterized as a peacekeeper whose maturity shines through in chaotic or intense situations. During fights, he is the one who urges others to "put up [their] swords" (1.1.66), for he knows that they do not understand the consequences of their actions. Unlike Benvolio, Romeo often makes decisions without thinking about the effects of his actions. Before crashing the Capulet's party, Romeo has a dream where he is warned about a "consequence [that is] hanging in the stars" (1.4.114). However, he declares that he is going to ignore it and hope for the best, rashly deciding that he is willing to leave his safety and livelihood up to fate. The sharp, dramatic contrast between Romeo and his foil, Benvolio helps to develop the plot and both of the characters by highlighting how their differences lead to their respective endings in the play. Specifically, it emphasizes Romeo's impulsivity …show more content…
After Juliet's fake death, Paris is grieving at her tomb when he hears Romeo. Thinking that Romeo has come to do "villainous shame to the dead bodies" (5.3.52-53), Paris confronts Romeo, willing to fight on behalf of the Capulet name. His actions make his filial piety obvious and demonstrate his loyalty to Juliet and the Capulet family. Romeo's behavior is a dramatic contrast, for he is overwhelmingly desperate to be buried next to Juliet, even though being buried in the family tomb was massively important to culture back then, for it displayed a sense of dignity and respect for your family, respect that Romeo lacks. He warns Paris to "tempt not a desp'rate man" (5.3.59) for he is willing to do anything to break into the Capulet tomb, even if it means risking the reputation of not only himself but his entire family. Their opposite behaviors add to the plot and development of both of their personalities, while also making it obvious that Romeo's lack of filial piety will contribute to his downfall. Additionally, the day following the party, Tybalt seeks out Romeo to duel him for crashing the Capulet party as a Montague. Tybalt has immense pride in his family name, and will not tolerate any disrespect, so he tells Romeo that "thou art a villain" (3.1.62). In response to this, Romeo tells Tybalt
In the play Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare, there are many characters that are used as dramatic foils to one another. By creating these characters, he is able to give more information to the audience about the characters and give more meaning to the play overall by adding to the plot through their conflicts. Throughout the course of the play, there are two characters that stick out the most as dramatic foils; Tybalt and Benvolio. In the play, these two are considered foils since Tybalt is portrayed as an aggressive, hot-headed, and unreliable man, while Benvolio is shown as a trustworthy and rational man who takes on the role of peacekeeper and problem solver during disputes. All throughout the play, Tybalt is always trying to cause
There are many characters in Romeo and Juliet that are interesting in personality and actions, but Romeo and Mercutio have a special bond to each other. They are foils in the play, meaning their two personalities and actions offset each other. When Romeo is sad and heartbroken, Mercutio is there to joke and tease Romeo about his terrible love life. When Romeo is complaining about how love is, “Too rough, too rude, too boist’rous,” (Act 1, IV) Mercutio replies with a joking statement of, “If love be rough with you, be rough with love; Prick love for pricking, and you beat love down.” (Act 1, IV)This small retort shows that the characters are nearly opposites, but could not be foils if they were not alike in many ways.
His hatred towards them was strong, anytime he spotted a Montague he thought he would have to fight one of them. Tybalt sees Romeo at a dance one night, at the Capulet's house. He gets angry and about challenges Romeo to a duel in the middle of the dance, but Lord Capulet claims him down for a bit saying that he is no harm. The next day Romeo is talking to his friend, Mercutio when Romeo says, “Tybalt, old Capulet’s nephew, has sent a letter to Romeo’s father’s house (Act 2 scene page 76)” The letter was a challenge to Romeo from Tybalt for a duel, Romeo tells Mercutio how he doesn’t want to fight.
In the text, “Romeo and Juliet,” the character of Benvolio shares his opinion and influences the actions of Romeo. The Capulets are going to hold a party to bring Count Paris and Juliet together. Romeo finds out about this party through a servant who cannot read the guest list. He knows that Rosaline will be there so he doesn’t want to go. However, Benvolio changes Romeos actions, by sharing his
In William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Benvolio often chooses to make bad decisions knowing the consequences, as well as kill 4 people just because he failed to help make the right choices for his friends. Benvolio is accountable for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet because he often encourages Romeo to make rash decisions, knowing Romeo could get hurt. First of all, Benvolio was the one who introduced the idea of finding a new girl to love to Romeo, at the Capulet's feast. In act 1 scene 2, line 85, Benvolio is talking to Romeo about going to the Capulet's feast, Benvolio then says ¨at this same ancient feast of the Capulet's Sups fair Rosaline whom thou
When Tybalt approaches Romeo for a duel, he declines. However, after Tybalt kills Mercutio, Romeo seeks revenge and makes it clear that “Either thou or I, or both, must go with him”(3.1.134). His loyalty to Mercutio causes him to act impulsively and kill a member of the Capulet family, who is now connected through marriage with Juliet. He fails to consider that Tybalt is Juliet’s cousin and if he kills him, Juliet will have to endure mental pain. Romeo acts recklessly because his loyalty has a stronger impact on his behavior than his reasoning abilities.
Izack Lopez Miss Escarcega ENG I 22 May 2023 Argumentative Essay: Choices & Destinies Shakespeare once stated “Benvolio to romeo be ruled by me forget about her gaze at other beauties”. Likewise, this shows and explains that Benvolio controlled Romeo's actions and choices made because he will stop chasing Rosaline and find true love with someone else. Two teenagers named Romeo and Juliet are in love with each other. The families of the two teenagers are enemies and will not let them be with each other in the Italian city of Verona. Even though people's opinions matter, the opinions of others should not affect our choices and destinies because everyone has different opinions and choices, at the end of the day people's opinions may be ingenuine, and no one is forced to choose their behavior.
In conclusion that I believe that the foils that can be detected in the story are Romeo and Mercutio and also Tybalt and Benvolio. Romeo's a lovesick Mopper who cherishes love and is always searching for his one true love. Mercutio on the other hand is a witty jokester and is not interested of finding love. Tybalt is a
William Shakespeare’s, Romeo and Juliet, provides great foils for the main character, Romeo. Shakespeare includes many foils throughout his stories to make his character’s emotions, attitude, and characteristics more apparent. Romeo’s character traits, lovestruck, cowardness, and emotional are highlighted through his foils, best friend Mercutio, and enemy, Tybalt. Romeo’s foils help to make his character’s personality stronger and clear. One character trait that’s highlighted through Tybalt is Romeo’s complete awe and love for Juliet.
R&J Final Essay Almost everyone is different in some way, but what about people who are different in almost every way? Mercutio and Romeo are best friends but are very different in almost every way. Mercutio is a good friend, he is optimistic, and he likes to have a laugh. Romeo on the other hand, is not invested in violence, is Impulsive, immature, and sensitive.
This striking character foil in this timeless tragedy emphasizes by contrast the two juvenile men’s individual personalities. Throughout the play it becomes apparent that Romeo’s cousin, Benvolio, takes on the role as the peacemaker. For instance, Benvolio goes betwixt the Montagues and
Benvolio was talking about going to the Capulet’s party because he wanted Romeo to get over Rosaline and to not mourn over her. If Benvolio never convinced Romeo into going to the party, Romeo and Juliet would have never
A foil is a character who contradicts and contrasts another character. A foil is used in literature to emphasize or accentuate certain qualities of a character. Shakespeare uses foils in most of his famous works such as Romeo and Juliet where Mercutio, kinsman to the prince, is a foil to Romeo, Lord Montague’s son. Mercutio is the direct opposite of Romeo. Romeo is a romantic, serious teen who falls recklessly and easily in love.
"Opposites attract. " People use this popular phrase to describe a variety of relationships, and it's true: opposites do attract. The concept is well represented through the use of foil characters in many literary works, including Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. In this play, Shakespeare pairs Romeo and Mercutio as foils to develop the theme that interacting with people different from yourself can help achieve balance in your relationships. Romeo is a romantic idealist, and he easily loses himself in his emotions.
Benvolio doesn’t do anything wrong and all he does is good. Romeo and Juliet are two young people who are dumb because they think they fell in love after less than a day of knowing each other. The characters in this story are dumb because they try and get married after one