Romeo and Juliet Character Analysis

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In the play Romeo and Juliet one the first major characters you meet is Benvolio and you learn very quickly that he is compassionate and pacifistic. A trait that Benvolio shows frequently is compassion. After he is finished talking with Montague, Benvolio tries to find out why Romeo is depressed. When Romeo mentions that Rosaline doesn’t love him and that he won’t be able to forget her Benvolio says “I’ll pay that doctrine or else die in debt.” (I, i, 235) This proves that Benvolio is compassionate because he wants Romeo to be happy again and will ‘die in debt’ if he can’t teach Romeo how to forget Rosaline. Benvolio also shows that he is pacifistic. In the beginning of the play Sampson and Gregory, servants of Capulet, start a fight with Abram, a servant of Montague. Benvolio enters and tries to break up the fight, then Tybalt enters and says to Benvolio “What, art thou drawn among these heartless hinds? Turn thee, Benvolio, look upon thy death.” (I, i, 64-65) Benvolio then says “I do but keep the peace. Put up thy sword, or manage it to part these men with me.” (I, i, 66-67) This proves that Benvolio is pacifistic because he does not want to cause any violence and wants to prevent it from happening. Benvolio’s talk with Romeo and his attempted prevention of a fight demonstrate that he is compassionate and pacifistic during the opening act of the play. Nurse, a character that is introduced at the beginning of scene three of the first act, is a very witty and nurturing character. Nurse is very witty, she frequently makes inappropriate remarks. When Nurse and Lady Capulet are discussing Juliet’s age, Nurse begins to talk about Juliet when she was a child and says “And yet, I warrant, it had upon its brow a bump as big as a young cockerel’s stone; a perilous knock; and it cried bitterly; ‘Yea,’ quoth my husband, ‘fall’st upon thy face? Thou wilt fall backward, when

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