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Lauren Garcia Quintana

Ms. Price

English I Honors

May 30, 2018

Romeo’s Borderline Personality Disorder

Envision being a sixteen year old boy whose disorder caused him to kill someone and

later on falling so deeply in love he killed himself. Romeo Montague from shakespeare's ​Romeo

and Juliet​ is a sixteen year old boy, who exhibits immature and sensitive character traits

throughout the play. Romeo’s family, the Montague’s are in the middle of conflict with the

Capulet’s, but in between of all the chaos there is a riveting love story. Border Personality

Disorder is a mental illness characterized around feeling different emotions at once. Some of

these symptoms are depression, anxiety, thoughts of suicide etc. It is clear to see that Romeo

Montague does indeed suffer from BPD.

One of the many symptoms of BPD is reckless and impulsive behavior. This symptom

can result out of frustration, anger or stress. It is very common for a young boy at the age of

sixteen to be confused and lost but you can clearly see that Romeo takes that to another

extent.​“​Alive in triumph—and Mercutio slain! / Away to heaven, respective lenity, / And

fire-eyed fury be my conduct now. / Now, Tybalt, take the “villain” back again / That late thou

gavest me, for Mercutio’s soul / Is but a little way above our heads, / Staying for thine to keep

him company./ Either thou or I, or both, must go with him.”​ ​(Shakespeare Pg. 123). In Act 3

Scene 1 of ​Romeo and Juliet ​is when Tybalt and Mercutio get into a fight and Tybalt kills

Mercutio. Romeo’s impulsiveness caused him to be angered with Tybalt and start a fight that
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results in Romeo killing Tybalt a Capulet. Romeo killed him instantly, in the moment without

clearly thinking and later on realizes what he had just done. Romeo’s action of recklessness and

impulsivity unfortunately resulted in him ending someones elses life, that later resulted in him

feeling even worse with guilt and regret. To conclude at the age of sixteen it is not normal to kill

someone which really highlights what how bad his disorder is.

In ​Romeo and Juliet ​when Romeo is falling in love with Juliet there are times where he

runs into some obstacles that emphasize his problems. Those issues caused him to make terrible

decisions that prove and emphasize on of the symptoms of BPD, suicidal behavior. “ (ROMEO

kisses JULIET and takes out the poison) Come, bitter poison, come, unsavory guide! You

desperate pilot, let’s crash this sea-weary ship into the rocks! Here’s to my love! / ROMEO

drinks the poison. / Oh, that pharmacist was honest! His drugs work quickly. So I die with a

kiss.”​ ​(Shakespeare Pg.22). In Act 5 Scene 3, is when Romeo tries to poison to kill himself.

What led Romeo to do this was when he quickly fell in love with Juliet, they soon committed to

themselves. Romeo clearly hadn’t known what he was getting himself into with with a Capulet,

which are his families enemies. At the time Juliets parent set her up to marry Paris and she could

not tell them about Romeo which meant that there relationship had to be kept a secret. That

caused Romeo to feel anxious and sad. After Romeo murders Tybalt he was forced to banish his

family and soon realizes that Juliet was all he had left. All his different emotions were piling up

and causing him to be overwhelmed which left him with one option and that was to kill himself.

Therefore, looking at what was going on in Romeo’s life he went through a lot of situations that

resulted in him being very sad, anxious and confused all the time.

While it might seem that labeling Romeo with BPD at such a young age is invalid, the
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accuracy of them having it as a teenager is just as much as an adult. Despite the evidence against

diagnosing teens with BPD will in fact worsen the problems because of their stigma, but they fail

to see how accurate the symptoms of BPD fall into Romeo’s characteristics. Those who believe

Romeo’s BPD is not accurate think that the fact Romeo is a teenager it is a reason as to why he

makes ignorant decisions. Although aspects of this argument are enticing, it ultimately fail to be

a stronger argument because a symptom of BPD is suicidal behavior. And in ​Romeo and Juliet

Romeo’s feeling of emptiness and depression leads him to killing himself. Therefore, not

diagnosing Romeo with BPD is inaccurate because of his symptoms being shown throughout the

story.

Sixteen year old Romeo Montague is a victim of Borderline Personality disorder.

Romeo’s life was hard he had to go through a breakup, killed someone, forced to leave his

family and then fell so in love it cost him his life. Evidently Romeo’s disorder was very serious,

as a sixteen year old boy it was clear his actions were coming from his BPD.
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Works Cited

"NAMI." ​Home​. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 May 2018.

Shakespeare, William. ​The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet​. Elements of Literature, Houghton

Mufflin

Harcourt, 2005, 788-910.