“Art thou a man? Thy tears are womanish; thy acts wild acts denote/ The unreasonable fury of a beast” (III. iii.). Friar Lawrence says this to Romeo after he is exiled in the play, Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. Romeo and Juliet is a play about a feud between the Capulet and Montague families. This feud causes the characters of Romeo and Juliet to end their lives tragically. Friar Laurence affects Romeo, Juliet, and the overall outcome of the tragedy because of his unhelpful advice, rash decision-making, and lack of knowledge in young love.
With his useless advice, Friar Lawrence is the main cause of the outcome of the play. When Romeo asks Friar Lawrence for advice, he says: “For then thou canst not pass to Mantua;/ Where thou shalt live till we can find a time/ To blaze your marriage, reconcile your friends,/ Beg pardon of the Prince, and call thee back” (III. iii.). The plan that Friar Lawrence begins to create is more complicated than it needs to be. He could have easily advised them to run away together to Mantua, or tell the Prince that Romeo and Juliet are married and therefore should not seperate. His ill-advised decisions in terms of telling Juliet what to do also contributes the couple’s downfall.
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When Juliet comes to him for advice about her marriage to Paris, he tells her to “Hold, then; go home, be merry, give consent/ To marry Paris: Wednesday is to-morrow” (IV. I). He did not think about any of his advice before giving it. Friar Lawrence not only gave a poison to a thirteen-year-old girl, but he also left her in the tomb instead of helping her. He acts as if he would help them, but in the end, he ended up doing more harm than good with his lack of knowledge in young
Friar Lawrence is a local priest in Verona. Romeo and Juliet look up to him. His string of bad decisions starts with the decision to marry
Friar Lawrence plays a big part in causing the death of Romeo and Juliet because he secretly marries them knowing something either negative or positive will happen. Friar even tells Romeo the cautions for he says 'Wisely and slow. They stumble that run fast.' (Act II Scene III 97) Friar marries them because he thinks that the marriage is going to end the feud between the families of Romeo and Juliet. He knows that even though Romeo and Juliet are in love they will never be able to see each other. Not in a grave to lay one in, another out to have” (Act II scene III 85) Also, if Friar Lawrence did not give Juliet the potion that she was going to use to deceive her family into thinking she was dead to get out of her marriage to Paris and make Romeo aware of what was going to happen, their deaths would not have occurred. Romeo goes to the tomb thinking Juliet is really dead after Balthasar accidently informed him of Juliet’s apparent death not knowing of her plan. If he had stayed there longer without taking the poison he had obtained from Apothecary they both would not have killed themselves. He brought the poison to the tomb to end his own life next to Juliet after seeing for himself if she was really dead. Romeo did not want to live without Juliet.
Friar Laurence proposes a plan but does not see what is directly in front of him to realize that the plans could end in major consequences. The Friar tells Juliet, “A cold and drowsy humour, for no pulse/ Shall keep his native progress, but surcease/ No warmth, no breath, shall testify thou livest” (4.1.126-129). Friar Laurence explained the plan, in detail, to Juliet, however he did not realize the danger that would come of it. Because Friar had a thoughtlessness and did not have much time to think, he made a dangerous plan that had no chance of being successful. Irresponsible decisions lead to worse punishment or karma because of the ignorance in the person making the life threatening choices. Friar Laurence tells Juliet, “I hear some noise … Come. I’ll dispose of thee/ Among a sisterhood of holy nuns” (5.1.188, 193-194). The Friar made unheeding decisions that eventually came back to punish him. Once the Friar’s choices came back to punish him, he then realized how rash he had been. Now, he didn’t want to be at fault for those previous choices, so he attempts to cover them up, but instead, he runs away portraying him as extremely irresponsible and does not grasp the seriousness of the
Without even thinking about it Friar Lawrence's plan was a terrible plan just out of common sense as there were too many things out of the Friar’s control that could have happened. First, he has to worry if the potion even will work when Juliet takes it or even if she takes it at all. Then he has to worry about getting the word to Romeo about the plan which of course never happened. “But look thou stay not till the watch be set, For then thou canst not pass to Mantua; Where thou shalt live, till we can find a time To blaze your marriage, reconcile your friends, Beg pardon of the prince, and call thee back With twenty hundred thousand times more joy Than thou went'st forth in lamentation.” (4.2.100-105). Here Friar Lawrence explains his badly thought-out plan. His impulsive acts and plans end up getting him in trouble and costing Verona to Young people's lives. His plans failed because he did not take his time and did not think of being more reasonable because his Solutions were completely unrealistic. In a way, Friar Lawrence could be seen as a little bit selfish. Friar Laurence's religion does not permit already married people to get married. This would mean that the Friar would be going against his oaths. Marrying Romeo and Juliet when Juliet already has an arranged marriage with Paris would have
These three reasons, along with others, prove that Friar Lawrence is to blame for the events that occur in Romeo and Juliet. He married young Romeo and Juliet together, which emotionally tied them to each other. He gave Juliet the escape idea and the sleeping potion. He also failed to inform Romeo of the rescue plan. He could’ve been a very desperate man in search of peace in Verona, but it led to the deaths of many; including those of the star-crossed
Friar Lawrence is responsible for the marriage of Romeo and Juliet. Friar Lawrence is completely aware of the feud between the Montague and Capulet families, which does not deter him from organising the marriage of this young couple. With the hope of restoring peace between Montagues and Capulets by turning the “households' rancour to pure love” Friar Lawrence agrees to organise the marriage (II, iii, 92). Friar Lawrence expresses his doubts about this marriage only a few scenes later by saying, “so smile the heavens upon this holy act, that after-hours with sorrow chide us not (II, vi, 1-2).” Friar Lawrence hopes the heavens will approve of his decision to organise this marriage, as he does not want to regret it later. He says this as he recognises that Romeo is far too young to understand what love is and that he should not be in such a serious relationship. Even though Friar Lawrence knows that this marriage could have Romeo and Juliet punished by their families and that this decision
First of all, Friar Lawrence explicitly knew better than to do many of the things he did. First, he should not have agreed to marry Romeo and Juliet so quickly. Romeo wanted to marry Juliet after
Friar Lawrence was the most responsible for the death of Romeo and Juliet in several ways. He was just out of his mind. He made not only one mistakes, but many mistakes that all caused Romeo and Juliet's death. First of all, he made one major mistake that he could have prevent. He trusted a teenage girl, Juliet. Teenagers aren’t stabilize, and the most scaring thing is that most of them don’t think of the consequences of love. Friar gave her fake-death poison. This is crazy! This decision was a very poor choice on the Friar's behalf. Here, he shows his irresponsibility by saying, "If... thou hast the strength of will
The wedding of Rome and Juliet could not have occurred without Friar Lawrence. Friar Lawrence who, was very, unwisely agreed to take part in tying the knot for Romeo and Juliet, even though he knew it would cause problems later. The Friar thinks that “For this alliance may so happy prove To turn your households’ rancor to pure love.”(2.3,99-100)This quote shows that Friar Lawrence has hope in their marriage. He thinks that there mariage could be the key to end their family's feud. Therefore, he ends up marrying the two lovers. However, as the play goes on, The Friar feels that “ These...slow” (2.5,9-16) Friar lawrence compares Romeo’s passion to gunpowder and the fire that ignites:both are destroyed. If Friar
One of his mistakes was marrying Romeo and Juliet in secret. He starts off optimistic about the marriage between Romeo and Juliet, assuming it might solve the feud. However later it is showed that Friar Lawrence doubts the rightness of his decision. We first see his doubts when he and Romeo are waiting for Juliet's arrival. His first line is, “So smile the heavens upon this holy act / That after-hours with sorrow chide us not!” Friar Lawrence wants the heavens to approve of his action and not cause sorrows if he chose wrong. Also, like the Nurse and Capulet, Friar Lawrence doubts that the marriage is the right thing to do. He recognizes that Juliet and Romeo are far too young to feel what love is. Friar Lawrence expect their love to be intense passion and that it will soon come to an end. He tells Romeo and Juliet, “These violent delights have violent ends / And in their triumph die, like fire and powder” Both passages show Friar Lawrence's doubt for marrying Juliet. Furthermore we know that these actions cause the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. If Lord Capulet asked Juliet to marry Paris before she was married to Romeo she won't be so definate. The deaths of Romeo and Juliet would have been pushed off. Not only does Friar Lawrence marry Romeo and Juliet, he faked Juliet’s death. Deception isn’t the best way to approach things. They are more likely to fall through. Acts of forthrightness however, can lead to
Friar Lawrence is a perfect example of the wise advisor in this play. After Romeo kills Tybalt, he seeks solace in the company of Friar Lawrence. Friar Lawrence is aware of the marriage of Romeo and Juliet, since he is the one who married them, so he keeps Juliet in mind when he is telling Romeo what to do following the events that just occurred. After telling Romeo to “Go, get thee to thy love…” then goes on to tell him to, “Sojourn in Mantua” where his servant will keep in touch with him (3.3.146 & 169). The plan that Friar Lawrence devises is perfect for Romeo in that moment as it allows him to deal with all the emotions that he’s experiencing at the moment. Romeo had just seen a close friend murdered and murdered someone himself and is
Friar Lawrence appeared to have good intentions behind his actions. At first, he was surprised to hear Romeo falling for Juliet so quickly after he was just pining after Rosaline, and warned him of
Friar Lawrence runs away and says "Stay not to question, for the Watch is coming; come, go, good Juliet, I dare no longer stay" and he is being selfish and cares more about himself then Juliet. This quote shows hes selfish and cares more about himself then Juliet.
Friar Lawrence exhibits wisdom on a day-to-day basis. He tells Romeo that he continues jumping into love. “Young men’s love, then, lies Not truly in their hearts, but in their eyes” (II.III.69-70). He expressed to Romeo his love does not yet resemble maturity and he’s rushing into things too quickly, because his feelings are based off looks. Friar Lawrence appears wise when he explains the importance of Romeo and Juliet to love moderately. “Therefore love moderately: long love doth so; Too swift arrives as tardy as too slow” (II.VI.14-15). He doesn’t reckon Romeo and Juliet should rush into things or it may end in a disaster. The Friar displays wisdom when he suggests to Romeo that he overreacted about his banishment. “...hath rushed aside the law And turned that black word ‘death’ to banishment. This is dear mercy and thou seest it not” (III.III.27-29). Friar Lawrence told Romeo that banishment gives him mercy and he should be grateful. Friar Lawrence takes part in
Sometimes stars are the deciders, and once they have made a decision, it is inevitable. In the play, Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, as a priest and friend of Romeo and Juliet, Friar Lawrence occupied a really unique position. He represented the two protagonists’ interests, and saw their union as a way to reconcile the two families that hold intense hatred towards each other. He valued moderation and was always ready with a plan. Unfortunately, although all his plans seemed well conceived and well intentioned they served as a catalyst to the star-crossed relationship and tragedy that dominate the play. Misfortune and fate were significant themes that contributed to the ruin of his plan and that led to the unavoidable outcome of catastrophe and death, as untimeliness and troubles kept getting on his way. In