Do we like them?

Do we like Romeo Montague?

A character from Romeo and Juliet (c. 1595)

Our score: 5 out of 10. Sweet, sincere and loyal, but so rash that his good heart keeps causing disasters. We'd back his love and not his decisions.

Romeo is the son of the Montagues in Verona, where his family is locked in an old feud with the Capulets. When we meet him he is moping over an unrequited crush, a lovesick poet who would rather write sighing verse than fight.

Then he sneaks into a Capulet party and meets Juliet. He falls for her at once, and the two are soon secretly planning a life together. His idealism and the way he talks about love are what make him so likable.

The trouble is that Romeo acts first and thinks later. He swings between devotion and desperation and makes huge decisions in minutes, and the people around him pay for it. That is why he lands in the middle: a good-hearted young man who is far too impulsive to follow without worry.

His rashness turns a street brawl into a deadly clash, and his grief later pushes him into a final choice made without waiting for the facts. The love is real, but his haste helps bring about the tragedy.