Romeo's Irresponsibility

Webster’s New World Dictionary describes the word, irresponsible on page 344 as, “Not responsible for actions, lacking responsibility.” In literature, there are both responsible and irresponsible characters. Romeo, the protagonist of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, is an irresponsible character. For example, Romeo lacks responsibility because he rushes into things. He rushes into both his love and eventually his marriage with Juliet. Another reason he is irresponsible is how he acts before he thinks of the consequences.   Romeo does this when he kills Tybalt and Paris. He also doesn’t think of the effects this will have on his marriage in the long run. Romeo overreacts to things which is his biggest downfall. He overreacts about loving Rosaline and Mercutio’s death. *All in all, Romeo is irresponsible because he marries Juliet so quickly, doesn’t think which leads to his banishment, and overreacts when he finds out Juliet has died.*
The first reason Romeo is irresponsible, is how he marries Juliet so quickly. As an illustration, in Act II scene iv Romeo tells the nurse, “And there, she shall at Friar Lawrence cell be shrived and married.” In this quote, Romeo is asking the nurse to have Juliet meet him at Friar Lawrence’s so they can be married. This shows his irresponsibility because it shows how much he is rushing into this relationship with Juliet after meeting her only once. Secondly, not too long before, Romeo had been madly in love with a girl named Rosaline. Romeo was love sick because Rosaline didn’t love him. When Romeo begins to think he is in love with Juliet, it shows he was infatuated with Rosaline. It shows that he could just be infatuated with Juliet too. Romeo has only met Juliet once and Romeo felt he was in love with her. This is more likely to be infatuation then true love, and he should have halted his marriage with her. Finally, in Act II scene iii, the Friar says, “What a change here! Is Rosaline that thoust didst love so dear, so soon...