Crime And Punishment In Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet

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Towards the end of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet”, the two secretive lovers parish in the Capulet’s tomb. Most of the town shows up asking the same question, “Who is responsible?” Friar Laurence should take the fall and punishment for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet because he was the one who gave Juliet the potion in the first place. He married the two of them and his weak plan got them killed. Friar’s first mistake came when he agreed to marry them without first publicizing the marriage. He wasn’t considering the outcome that could come from them being secretly married. Friar put himself in an even worse position when he decided to give Juliet a potion without revealing the entire plan to Romeo first. Finally, his potential plan had When he married Romeo and Juliet he allowed himself to be let into a more tight-knit emotional relationship with the couple. Then again, when Friar Laurence decided to marry them, most of the trouble in the future could’ve been avoided had he told or alerted the parents of the marriage that had taken place chapel. When Romeo first came to ask Friar Laurence to marry them, he didn’t agree to it for love but out of uniting the families. Friar confronted Romeo saying in line 66-67, Act 2 Scene 3, “Young men’s love then lies not truly in their hearts, but in their eyes.” When the Friar confronts Romeo in this line, he is trying to get the point across to Romeo that it isn’t true love because Romeo doesn’t know Juliet well. After Romeo rejected Friar Laurence’s statement, the Friar should’ve said no to Romeo knowing the consequences of this secret marriage that, if discovered, could cause the hatred between each other’s family to get worse. Once Friar Laurence decided to and did marry them, Friar Laurence starts to feel emotionally responsible not only Romeo and Juliet’s marriage, but also to keep it a secret. This emotional instability causes the rest of the mistakes that contribute to the suicide of Romeo and Juliet in the When they come to him about marrying them, he concedes and agrees to keep it a secret. Then he is repeatedly drawn into the marriage by trying to help them stay together to avoid both sets of parents finding out. Lastly, he concocts a plan where they will be together by creating a sleeping potion for Juliet but neglects to inform Romeo in a timely manner. Romeo thinks Juliet has killed herself for him so he does the same. Since it is a sleeping potion, she wakes up to find him dead and ends up killing herself. These actions support the fact that love never dies despite what happens. This would never have occurred if communication and honesty were key; mainly by Friar

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