Romeo and Juliet Shakespeare Introduction of Characters

Joey Wright

The first time that Shakespeare introduces Romeo he is talking to Benvolio about love. Romeo is going on and on about how perfect Juliet is. Romeo cannot think about anything else than Juliet. He says how much he loves her in so many drawn out ways. He tells Benvolio how much grief this is giving him. Romeo says that he has lost himself and that he is not Romeo anymore because he is somewhere else. Shakespeare makes Romeo feel so overwhelmed and almost crazy that he could love one woman so much. We learn a lot about his character. We learn that when he has his mind set on something like Juliet, it consumes him and he is not the same anymore ever again. My first impression is that he is well liked by everyone in the Montague side of the story. All of his friends tell him that he needs to forget about Juliet and look for other women in Verona. But Romeo responds by saying that all the other women in Verona only make Juliet more beautiful. He seems to be the best looking as well. I don't like him but I do not hate him either. He comes off as a dramatic type of person. 

The first time Juliet is introduced, she is being called by her mother to talk about marriage. Before Juliet meets Romeo, she is content on not getting married. We learn that her character is defiant. She does not want to follow her parents direction and get married. Juliet says that marriage is an honor that she does not dream of. At the end of the conversation, Juliet does agree to try to find someone that she would like to marry at the party that will occur.  My first impression is that she is still a little bit immature to get married. When she talks to her mother and the nurse, the way I read it is that she is very childish and is still in the rebellious stage of growing up. She is way less dramatic than Romeo. She is straight forward and doesn't explain everything in many different ways the way that Romeo does. I would say that I like her more than Romeo because before she meets him, she is way less dramatic. 

I like Juliet better than Romeo. This is because when Shakespeare introduces them, it seems that Juliet is way less dramatic than Romeo. Romeo is so set on one thing and he explains his desire about Juliet in ten different ways.