One is different

Romeo seems to be painted as kind of a sissy. There’s a lot of violence throughout the play. It’s seems like violent acts are part of being a man for many of the characters. For example, in the beginning of the play, the servers are arguing about who is a better fighter. Then there is a fight scene. All the male characters around Romeo’s age are in this fight, but Romeo isn’t there because he’s crying by a tree or something. Then, in the third act, Romeo tries to break up a fight. So not only does he miss a fight because he’s dealing with his emotions, but he tries to prevent another fight. Later, the Friar even says, “Art thou a man? Thy form cries out thou art; / Thy tears are womanish” (III.iii.109-110). He’s really set apart from the other male characters.
Romeo seems to be in a better mood at the beginning of the third act than he was at the beginning of the play. Tybalt calls him a villain at the beginning of act three, but Romeo just brushes it off. He says, “Villain I am none. / Therefore farewell. I see thou knowest me not,” (III.i.63-64). I got the impression that Romeo was kind of on cloud nine at this point. He was so happy Juliet liked him that nothing could ruin his day. Someone called him a villain, he told them he’s not and said goodbye. He seemed much happier than when he was weeping and making an artificial night.
I didn’t really get into this play until about the end of the third act. For most of the story I had a difficult time staying focused on what I was reading because of the language. I had to slow down and re-read several lines to understand what was going on. The footnotes helped clarify some things, but they really broke my rhythm and slowed me down even more. It was hard to get into the play when I’m stopping to read footnotes on the bottom of each page.
That being said, the end of the third act and the fourth act was my favorite part so far. I remembered that Romeo killed himself because he thought Juliet was dead, but I couldn’t recall why he thought she was dead. I had a real “aha” moment when the Friar talked to Juliet about the vial of potion that would make her appear to be dead. I’m looking forward to re-discovering the end of the play.