Tragedies show events that make the audience feel pity and fear for the tragic heroes because of the things the characters had to face. Many people think that a tragedy is something sad and nothing more. But this is not the case with Aristotle. According to Aristotle, a tragedy has several key components that must be satisfied before it can be considered a true tragedy. Romeo and Juliet, a classic play by William Shakespeare, has been called many things. An Aristotelian tragedy is one of these. This play is an Aristotelian tragedy because Romeo has a single tragic flaw, Juliet has a single flaw, and it has many key characteristics of Aristotelian tragedy. First of all, Romeo has a single flaw of being very reckless in his actions. Romeo is reckless in his actions regarding love. The best example of this is when Romeo wants to marry Juliet the day after he meets her. Furthermore, he has just moved on from his love for Rosaline and falls into another supposedly true love. The friar warns him that he is hasty in his decision, but Romeo is blinded by love and utters “I am in sudden haste” (II, iii, 93). This clearly shows that he is reckless and that this is his tragic flaw as he himself states it. He is also impetuous in the sense that he immediately starts arguing with Tybalt because Tybalt killed Mercutio. Romeo doesn't even bother to reflect on what happened or to hypothesize the consequences. He is blinded by his heart and does not think with his head. Romeo's “problem is not the intensity of emotion, but the inability to control and direct that emotion in a positive way” (Kerschen 261). To explain, Romeo goes with the flow and doesn't think about the effects of his actions which lead to... middle of paper... Romeo is reckless in his actions and Juliet has issues with loyalty. Undoubtedly, Shakespeare has incorporated all the basic parts of a tragedy because he has the individual tragic flaws in every tragic character and has the elements of a tragedy. Tragedies are an imitation of real life, but it has to be something possible and with very strict rules. This means that it is not something that happened, but rather it is something that can happen. Works Cited Kerschen, Lois. "Criticism." Dramaturgy for students. vol. 21. Ed. Anne Marie Hacht. Detroit: Gale, 2005. 258-261.Shakespeare, William. The tragedy of Romeo and Juliet. Prentice Hall Literature: Timeless Voices, Timeless Themes. Ed. Kate Kinsella, et al. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2002. 770-784.Thrasher, Thomas. Understanding Romeo and Juliet. San Diego: Lucent Books, 2001. 78-79.