In Romeo and Juliet, a tragedy by William Shakespeare, Friar Lawrence plays a dominate role in the eventual death of Romeo and Juliet even though he is not on stage for most of the play. There are basically three major parts that lead to the tragedy; the marriage, the plan, and the inevitable deaths in all which Friar Lawrence plays a vital role.Friar Lawrence plays an essential role in the marriage of young Romeo and Juliet. At Romeo’s request Friar Lawrence states, "In one respect I’ll thy assistant be; for this alliance may so happy prove, to turn your households to pure love" (Act 2 Scene 3.) Friar Lawrence believes that this holy marriage would bring the Capulet family and Montuague family closer together, for he anticipates that the families will stop hating each other and be peaceful. His attempts to make the marriage of Romeo and Juliet are admirable but poorly planned. Friar Lawrence performs the marriage rites to unite them in holy marriage. Romeo and Juliet are now husband and wife. They have known each other a sum of two days. Friar Lawrence plays a vital role in the marriage of Romeo and Juliet.Friar Lawrence plays a significant role in the plan for Juliet to "sleep." Friar Lawrence calms a frantic Juliet by giving her and telling her to "Take thou this vial, being then in bed, and this distilled liquor drink though off" (Act 4, Scene 1). Later, Juliet is uneasy and unsure of the effects of the potion. She hopes that this is only a temporary sleep and not a permanent one. He also tells Juliet that "Shall Romeo by my letters know our drift, and hither shall hem come; and he and I shall watch thy waking, and that very night shall Romeo bear thee to Mantua" (Act 4, Scene 1.) Unforeseen to neither the Friar nor Juliet that an error such as the one of Friar John’s would prove to be deadly. Poor Romeo was not able to receive the letter. Friar Lawrence plays a significant role in the plan for Juliet to "sleep."Friar Lawrence plays an important rule in the actual deaths of Romeo, Juliet, And Paris. Friar Lawrence is unable to reach Romeo with the news of Juliet’s "death." Romeo, thinking Juliet is dead rushes to Verona, but not before buying some fast poison.
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Show MoreFriar Lawrence wants to marry Romeo and Juliet in hopes their love for one another will end the feud between the Montagues and the Capulets. He schemes and has the characters believe it is out of his love for Romeo and Juliet; as in their eyes, he is a fatherly figure. He is an older man who should be out to help the citizenry of Verona, but being egotistical, he uses Romeo and Juliet for his personal desires to end the feud between the families. Him being egocentric has the Friar make rash decisions in situations that he had not planned for. When the Capulets and the Montagues come together after the death of their children, Friar Lawrence says, “Her nurse is privy; and if aught in this/ Miscarried by my fault, let my old life/ Be sacrificed some hour before his time/ Unto the rigor of severest law.” (V.iii.266-269). The Friar explains Romeo and Juliet’s love story and the reasoning behind their secret marriage and why he went through with marrying the star-crossed lovers. He does not say that his rashness is to be blamed for their children’s death, but turns to the Nurse’s knowledge of the secret marriage. Friar Lawrence is showcasing his rashness by outing the Nurse’s role in the marriage and not taking blame for the deaths, but has the Prince decide his punishment. He wants to blame another character with the knowledge of the marriage to make it seem as though he is not to be blamed. His
While weeping over what Juliet would think of him after finding out he killed Tybalt, he was relieved to know that Juliet still loved him, “Go before, Nurse commend me to thy lady,/ And bid her hasten all the house to bed,/ Which heavy sorrows make the apt unto./Romeo is coming” (Shakespeare 3.3.155). Friar knew about Romeo and Juliet’s secret romance from the beginning, but he did not do anything to stop it, in fact, it was Friar who married the two. Friar Lawrence knew what could happen, but his only advice was to take slow. In addition, Friar Lawrence also gave Juliet the potion to put her into a fake death so she could avoid marrying Paris. After putting in serious consideration about drinking the potion Juliet decided to take the chance. “Take this vial, being then in bed,/ And this distilling liquor thou off,/ When presently through all thy veins shall run/ A cold drowsy humour” (4.1.90-91). Friar gave Juliet the potion because she said she would rather kill herself than marry Paris and after saying that Friar came up with the
Most movies portray friars as wise mentors, or strict religion-followers, that lead lawful, moral, and virtuous lives. But this tragic play of Romeo and Juliet begs to differ, as the friar does nothing but help achieve the forbidden plans of two star-crossed lovers. As Friar Lawrence gets involved more deeply into the schemes of Romeo and Juliet, he too begins to warp sly plans out of his head, such as the potion plan.
In this act the audience is introduced to a new character filled with many complex qualities and motivations. When Romeo proposes marriage to Juliet and she says yes, he goes to a man named Friar Lawrence to ask him to marry them. Friar Lawrence agrees to marry them immediately. Here, Friar Lawrence is shown as an imperfect religious figure because of his willingness to compromise the sanctity of marriage for a political goal. He believes that if Romeo and Juliet are married then the feud between the two houses, Montagues and Capulets would cease.
In contrast to common characteristics of a cleric, conformist and conservative, Friar Lawrence advocates freedom over following rules in society and always try to solve issues using the most risky methods. This is illustrated when he plans out Juliet’s death, “then as the manner of manner of our country is, in thy best robes, uncover’d on the bier, thou shalt be borne to that same ancient vault where all the Capulet lie.” (IV.ii.109-113). He indirectly plays an influence to the tragic ending even though his primal motive intends to unite the lovers and offer citizens a peaceful town. As opposed to playing their ordinary roles in society, Friar Lawrence devises plans and encourages Romeo and Juliet to pursue forbidden love under a risky circumstance in order to turn his notions into reality. Friar Lawrence’s dialogue informs Juliet of the plan illustrates his part in causing the tragedy, “Thou hast the strength of will to slay thyself, then it is likely thou wilt under a thing like death to chide away this shame,” (IV.i.72-74). From secretly marrying the them to sending Romeo to take Juliet’s virginity, he is informed about Romeo’s approaching banishment and the notorious reputation which will follow Juliet permanently. However,he continues to cover the mistake by creating the facade of Juliet’s death. This is illustrated in “All this is I know, and to the marriage he nurse is privy,” (V.iii.265-266). Friar Lawrence challenges conformism to pursue liberty, serves to liberate the forbidden love of two youngsters from opposing families but only earns a tragic fruition for his
Friar Lawrence, a small, yet important character, is pivotal to the play's development. For example, shortly after Romeo and Juliet meet, Friar Lawrence decides to do as Romeo and Juliet wish and marry them in order to make peace between their families; "Come, come with me, and we will make short work, /for by your leaves, you shall not stay alone / Till Holy Church incorporate two in one". (II, 6, 35-37) Though the Friar has good intentions in deciding to do as Romeo pleads, the marriage only leads to complications and deceit. Another instance when Friar Lawrence is a key character is when he gives Juliet a poison that will put her into a deathlike sleep in a plan to reunite her with Romeo; "Thou hast the strength of will to slay thyself, /And if thou darest, I'll give thee remedy". (IV, 1, 73, 77) Friar Lawrence's plan is clearly not well thought-out because it is much too risky and many safer plans would have had better results.
Firstly, he joined the two in marriage. “You shall not stay alone Till Holy Church incorporate two in one” (Shakespeare 1042). This evidence shows that Friar Lawrence married Romeo and Juliet. Juliet would rather take her life than be apart from her husband, Romeo. Juliet would rather take her life than be apart from her husband, Romeo. "Vile earth, to earth resign; end motion here; And thou and Romeo press one heavy bier!" (Shakespeare 105). Juliet, hearing of her husband's banishment, wants do die than live without him. Lastly, the Friar is responsible for the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet because he
This quote from Document C, taken from Act II, Scene iii is Friar Lawrence saying he will marry Romeo and Juliet just to end the Feud. In document C block two Friar Lawrence says “these violent delight have violent ends”(DBQ:Project,2013) .Friar Lawrence already knows that this will end badly, but all he wants is peace so he goes against his judgement and marries the two anyway. As we know this leads to their demise as it causes a lot of confusion between all of the characters when they try to escape from their parents strife.Friar Lawrence then has to save Juliet from her own family problems in document C and makes her a remedy that is supposed to solve all of her problems. While informing everyone of what is going on it is revealed in document E that Friar Lawrence's letter was not able to get through to Romeo, causing his plan to blow up in his face and have two people die at the hands of his
Though it is not apparent that this happens until the end of the play. Friar Lawrence is also responsible for giving Juliet the sleeping potion that will make her sleep for forty-two hours. The evidence for this is found in Document C, “ And, if thou darest, I’ll give thee remedy.” He gave Juliet the potion which lead her family and Balthasar to believe she was dead. A letter was supposed to be sent to Romeo by Friar John to assure him that Juliet was indeed not dead, this letter never reached Romeo. The evidence can be found in Document E from a conversation between Friar Lawrence and Friar John. Friar Lawrence says, “ Who bare my letter, then, to Romeo?” Friar John replies, “ I could not send it, here it is again,...” Friar Lawrence, “ Unhappy fortune! by my brotherhood, The letter was not nice but full of charge of dear import, and the neglecting it may do much danger….” This conversation shows another failed attempt at a potentially successful plan made by Friar
First and foremost, Friar Lawrence married Romeo and Juliet in secret despite the fact that he is well aware of the existing conflicts between two families, Capulets and Montagues. Since he is a clergyman thus an educated member of the community, he should understand the consequences of Romeo and Juliet 's relationship, especially when he had seen how emotionally- driven and reckless these young lovers are, instead of helping them. He is also the one who illogically planned Juliet 's fake death and unsuccessfully send the message to Romeo about Juliet 's faked death through Friar John. If Friar Lawrence himself take an effort to go Mantua to have face-to-face communication with Romeo about the plan instead of assuming that the letter would get to Romeo by Friar John, Romeo would not misunderstand that Juliet is dead. In turn, he would not kill himself out of grieve from the death of Juliet. Finally, Friar Lawrence cowardly leaves Juliet by herself in the monument with Romeo 's corpse. This obviously is not a good idea due to Juliet 's emotionally unstable state of mind. If Friar Lawrence stayed back with Juliet at the monument, he might be able to stop Juliet from killing herself. On the other hand, if he takes Juliet with him,
Every time the Friar attempts to assist the couple, his decision only adds to the problem. For example, though he sees Romeo’s as he is deciding to marry Juliet overnight, he still agrees to marry them in the hope that this will bring to an end the hatred between the two families. Anyway, his plan goes awfully wrong no one cannot miss the sincerity of his actions. Friar Lawrence was trying to make a convenient way to make the families come together and not be blamed at all if the two families start a feud. In the story, At Romeo’s desire Friar Lawrence states in the play, "In one respect I’ll thy assistant be; for this alliance may so happy prove, to turn your households to pure love". Friar Lawrence believes that this holy marriage would bring the Capulet family and Montague family closer together, for he anticipates that the families will stop hating each
Friar Lawrence takes the cake when talking about who is to blame for the death of Romeo and Juliet. The Friar's action of marrying Romeo and Juliet played a vital role in the outcome. Had this not occurred, Juliet would not be as free and loving towards Romeo. From the previous night, she adamantly stated they must marry in order for her to fully trust Romeo. If they never married, they would not be insanely in love because she would not be able to fully trust Romeo. Another mistake of Friar Lawrence was trusting Friar John to send a letter to debrief Romeo on the current situation. He never received the letter. Since Romeo did not read the letter, he believed his only love was dead and decided to embark on a suicide mission. Lawrence knew the immense importance of the letter and still decided against personally delivering the message. Giving the sleeping potion to Juliet was another mistake that lead to their death. Although it allowed her to avoid marrying Paris, Romeo thought his wife to be dead causing the suicide of himself and eventually of his partner. Actions of Friar Lawrence were for the benefit of the people, but ultimately they paved the road for their deaths.
Had Friar Lawrence not been involed with Romeos and Juliets decisions the story may not have had a tragic ending. In William Shakespeare’s play, The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, Friar Lawrence should be blamed for the death of the two main characters. The first mistake Friar Lawrence does, is secretly marrying the two lovers with out the parents consent right after romeo had just loved his "perfect" Rosaline. Then, he agrees, to the Capulet’s, to marry Paris and Juliet. Lastly, the worst mistake was he giving Juliet the sleeping potion. All of his actions combined lead to the main character’s suicidal action.
Friar Lawrence is the primary instigator for the death of Romeo and Juliet’s death. He is regarded as the guiding light for salvation in the town of Verona as he supposed to act as the moral compass for the Veronese; however, he does not carry out his moral responsibility to help the disillusioned Romeo. When Romeo approached him with the intent to marry Juliet, Friar Lawrence replies, “I’ll thy assistant be” (2.3.90) in attempt to “turn [Romeo’s] households’ rancor to pure love” (2.3.93). Regardless of the fact that Friar Lawrence is fully aware of Romeo’s superficial love for Juliet as Romeo clings to any beautiful woman he sees, he still sees this as an opportunity to reconcile the burning hatred between the Capulets and Montague, disregarding the fact that their dangerous infatuation might bring misfortune and misery for the two misguided youth. He continually acts on idea of the greater good, neglecting the safety of the two star-crossed lovers. When Juliet is forced to marry the county, Juliet “long[s] to die” (4.1.68), and as a result, Friar Lawrence gives Juliet a sleeping potion where “[her] pulse… surcease” (4.1.99) to make her seemingly dead to reunite her with Romeo. To avoid bigamy, Friar Lawrence acts impulsively rather than rationally as he concocts a dangerous plan, giving a deadly potion in the hands of an innocent girl without consid...
Friar Lawrence plays an integral part in the action and plot of Romeo and Juliet by secretly marrying them, and giving Juliet the idea to fake her own death. Romeo and Juliet meet in the Friar’s cell for their marriage and the Friar says, “Come, come with me…For, by your leaves you shall not stay alone, Till Holy Church incorporate two in one.”(II.vi.35-37). The Friar marries the two in hopes “to turn [their] households rancor to pure love”(II.iii.99). The Friar is the binding power between Romeo and Juliet, by helping them be together. Without the Friar, Romeo and Juliet would have a difficult time trying to meet in secret with each other, but because of him, they are able to get married. Ultimately, the Friar’s wishes of ending the feud between the Montagues and Capulets are fulfilled, but the reason of their reconciliation being the death of their children. The deaths of Romeo ...