The purpose of this research is to examine the representation of the tragic hero or heroine in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar, and Macbeth. The plan of the research will be to set forth the context in which the Shakespearean conception of heroism can be most efficiently understood, and then to discuss how tragic heroism is represented in each of the plays.
In his discussion of dramatic structure, H.D.F. Kitto distinguishes between Greek and Shakespearean tragedy, noting that "Greek tragedy presents sudden and complete disaster, or one disaster linked to another in linear fashion, while Shakespearean tragedy presents the complexive, menacing spread of ruin" (Kitto 337). Kitto applies this analysis to such Shakespearean plays as Hamlet and Macbeth, but it seems applicable as well to Romeo and Juliet and Julius Caesar, inasmuch as the "contagion" in these plays "gradually spreads over [the] whole spirit [of the principal characters] and all [their] conduct" (Kitto 337). In each play, the characters' response to unfolding action defines their psychological reality and sights the scope and limit of their stature as heroic beings. This is the case even though heroism in the tragic context has less to do with moral nobility than with a self-aware ability to encounter, arrive at, or embrace the crisis that is the consequence of the contagion, with an attitude that transcends experience of consequences.
Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy of young love, less philosophical than lyrical, as the abundance of poetic imagery and the focus on how love is understood and acted on indicate. The emotional content of the play undoubtedly lies partly in the contrast of the hatred between Montagues and Capulets and the love between the principal heirs of both houses. At one level the tension that Romeo and Juliet feel between their loyalty to their families and their attraction for each other constitutes a major source of dramatic conflict in...