The Unnecessary and Self-destructive Martyrs In Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, the children of two enemy households fall hopelessly in love with one another, eventually leading them down the drastic path of gaining a martyr complex, becoming tragic heroes, and their fateful death. At the beginning of the play, Romeo, the son of the Montagues, quickly snaps out of his love for Rosaline in favor of Juliet, the daughter of the Capulets. The two eventually meet at the Capulet’s party where they first become infatuated with one another. At first, Romeo and Juliet are cautious of their forbidden love due to their households, but then eventually begin to put their love and relationship with one another over their families’ honor, leading …show more content…
Shakespeare’s choice to include this dramatic irony proves that regardless of the amount of dedication and loyalty a relationship has, it must be deliberately evaluated otherwise else it will lead to a solemn end. This is because both Romeo and Juliet refuse to acknowledge their hamartia, which derives from the Greek verb meaning their major flaw as a character that eventually brings tragic death to themselves. The audience knows that the story of the star-crossed lovers is a tragedy that ends in both main characters biting the dust. Romeo and Juliet’s amount of commitment towards one another without any awareness of the flaws in their prohibited relationship is ironic because they believe that their family will be the cause of their death when in reality, it is them and their own ignorance of their own relationship that results in their own doom. It's ironic that they care and put in so much effort in their relationship only for them to miss the gleaming red flags as it causes them to kill themselves in the end. All in all, Shakespeare uses imagery, personification, and dramatic irony to portray the theme of how being overly ambitious in your love life by falling head over heels in love …show more content…
Shakespeare uses dramatic irony when writing about Romeo boldly claiming that he would defend his relationship to the grave when in reality he’s dragging himself and Juliet down to their Nguyen 4 own death as the audience is already conscious that the story ends in tragedy. Romeo and Juliet can be considered both tragic heroes and unneeded martyrs as it took *FOR!DELE* both of them to die for the two households to cease their ongoing feud. At the same time however, the newlyweds were selfish, willing to hurt others and themselves for the sake of the other because they prioritized their desire of wanting to be in a committed relationship that they weren’t ready for, which is why they are considered unnecessary martyrs specifically. Too blinded by their own goal to consider the consequences of their actions instead of being fully aware by weighing the consequences and then willing instead of fully committing head first. Heroes are remembered for what they did, and Martyrs are remembered for what they represent. They were remembered