William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet features Romeo who is a realistic, dynamic character with several personality traits. Among these personality traits are fickleness, immaturity and impulsiveness. .
One of Romeo's personality traits is fickleness and he displays this when he falls in and out of love so quickly. For example at the beginning of the play he is madly in love with a girl named Rosaline, but cannot have her for "she hasth sworn that she will live chaste" (Act l; sc. iii; l. 215). The love at first sight Romeo experiences when he first sees Juliet at Capulet's party compels him to ask himself if his "heart loved till now?" (Act l; sc. v; l. 52) One might argue that Romeo's love then lies not truly in [his] heart but in [his] eyes" (Act ll; sc. iii; l. 67-68). .
Apart from being fickle Romeo is also immature. His immaturity is shown when he looses his temper and kills Tybalt in a duel on the streets of Verona. Romeo is so upset over his best friends death that he does not think of the consequences he will face after killing Tybalt. Not only does he kill his wife's cousin but he also disturbed the streets of Verona, the very action Prince Escalus threatens not to do and with that "[his] life shall pay the forfeit of the peace." (Act l; sc. i; l. 95).
Added to these personality traits is Romeo's impulsiveness. Throughout the whole play Romeo's character is prone to acting before thinking. After first meeting Juliet, he risks his life by sneaking "with love's light wings" (Act ll; sc. ii; l. 66) into his enemy's garden simply to catch a glimpse of her. Also, Romeo feels such a deep love for Juliet that, when he hears she is dead, he kills himself instead of waiting only a few minutes longer to find she would in fact awake. To Romeo, Life without Juliet is useless and he would rather "set up [his] everlasting rest" (Act V; sc. iii; l.10) than life without her. .
Fickleness, immaturity and impulsiveness are just three personality traits Romeo's character displays in this play.
