William Shakespeare’s play “Romeo and Juliet”, is about two star crossed lovers from feuding families. Shakespeare uses the minor character as a way to reinforce the themes and move the story forward. Using characters such as Friar Lawrence and Mercutio and the introduction. Shakespeare clearly illustrates the importance of faith throughout the play. The friar’s job is to warn the audience about the consequences of acting in haste, Mercutio is used to foreshadow the faith of both families and the prologue is uses to show the main faith which will be shown throughout the play. The importance of minor characters clearly shows the themes of faith thought the play. Friar Lawrence is a minor character whose is shown to be trusted by numerous people and is one of the most important characters in the play as he aids the main plot devolvement and foreshadows many events that happens in the plays. Shakespeare uses Friar Lawrence to show the audience the effects of acting in haste as well as not following the original faith which is that they should not have been together. “these violent delights have violent ends… the fire and power... the sweetest honey Is loathsome in his own deliciousness And in the taste confounds the appetite” (Act 2, Scene 6), Before the friar grants the marriage, he warns Romeo about how he shouldn’t be so quick in his decisions. He is implying that the marriage is Romeo’s quick delight which is violent and will end violently just like a fire will make gunpowder explode. A violent delight is shown when its compared to sweet honey, its sweet and delicious but too much will make you lose your appetite. The friar warns Romeo about his faith and acting to quickly but using metaphors and similes. Friar Lawrence does not heed his own advice and is hasty in marrying the couple, Despite meddling in affairs that should be the domain of families, he cannot alter the outcome. Mercutio, is a minor character is loyal to the Montague family. His character is symbolic of acting in haste as he is violent and does not consider the consequences of his actions. Mercutio is used as the mood maker and depending one what he says is what would happen forwards “thou art as hot a Jack in thy mood… soon moved to be
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
With a flicker of hope that the marriage will work and end the feud, Friar Lawrence remarks that, "this alliance may so happy prove to turn [their] households' rancor to pure love" (II iv 91-92). The blame can be placed on Friar Lawrence because he cares too much for Romeo and Juliet and eventually takes an extreme and risky approach to facilitate their union.
Secondly, Friar Lawrence’s intentions are always for the benefit of others. He helps his fellow citizens when they are in despair, such as when Romeo arrives at the friar’s cell crying himself to death. The friar responds, “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” (3, 3, 150-152). Here, Friar Lawrence acts as a mentor to Romeo, and uplifts his spirits by guiding him through the difficult times of banishment. Friar tells Romeo what he wants to hear because he understands Romeo’s boundless love for Juliet, and what may happen as the consequence of forbidden love. Moreover, Friar Lawrence has noble intentions that give himself no personal gain. When he agrees to marry Romeo and Juliet, he says, “In one respect I’ll thy assistant be, for this alliance may so happy prove to turn your households’ rancor to pure love” (2, 3, 90-92). Friar decides to marry the young lovers not only to help his friends, but because he believes it will end the long bitter feud of Verona. He only cares about the wellbeing of the city and the safety of the opposing families. Lastly, Friar Lawrence always assists his fellow citizens in their time of desperation. When
Many believe that Friar Lawrence is innocent because he had good intentions and did what he deemed necessary when helping Romeo and Juliet, however, good intentions do not always correspond to appropriate actions. Friar assists the lovers on numerous occasions and even marries them. Friar states after agreeing to marry Romeo and Juliet, “For this alliance may so happy prove/ To turn your households’ rancor to pure love” (Shakespeare.II.iii.91-92). The phrase “alliance may so happy prove” means this marriage could have a good outcome. Friar hopes that the marriage will be a happy one and will be a beneficial union. The phrase “turn your households’ rancor to pure love” implies that Friar wants to convert the two families’ hatred of each other into a loving relationship.
There are many characters in the play of Romeo and Juliet that have important roles and unique characteristics. One of these characters is Friar Lawrence, a Franciscan monk who is an expert in plants and medicines. While the Friar does not appear in all parts of the play, he acts as an advisor to Romeo and Juliet and gets them married. Being an honest, trustworthy, and loving friend, Friar Lawrence helps keep Romeo and Juliet together while maintaining his character and not acting dual-sided or having a second nature. Throughout the later parts of the play, Friar Lawrence’s characterization remains consistent as he guides the two lovers through their troubles and eventually ends the family feud between the Capulets and the Montagues.
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
In the Shakespearean tragedy, Romeo and Juliet, Friar Lawrence was a monk, and a counselor, who came up with intricate plots and concocted a seemingly magical elixir in order to solve problems that the lovers encountered. Friar Lawrence had a profound impact on the outcome of this Shakespearean play; however, in a way that led to catastrophe. There are many factors that caused the deaths of the lovers, but two of the most important were how Friar Lawrence disregarded his own logic, and how he missed numerous opportunities to save the lovers.
“But come, young waverer, come, go with me. In one respect I’ll thy assistant be, for this alliance may be so happy, prove to turn your households’ rancor to pure love” (2.3.96-99). In Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet he constructed Friar Lawrence's character to come off as a helpful yet a deceiving man. He serves as a mentor and friend to Romeo and Juliet. Friar guides them through their marriage hoping to end the feud. Romeo and Juliet trust the Friar and hope he will keep their marriage a secret and possibly end the conflict. He also comes off as a very helpful individual, given that he has the power invested in him to marry the lovers and create a plan. Friar Lawrence’s motivation to end the feud enforced the demise of their ill-fated love
The story of Romeo and Juliet is the best tragedy ever to be written. The tale of two adolescents taking their lives because of their love for one another has inspired a lot of controversy as to whether the adults surrounding these adolescents could have done something to prevent this tragedy. The truth is the adults in the situation are ultimately to blame for the deaths of their love struck teens. This essay will explain why Friar Laurence, Nurse and to a lesser extent Mercutio, caused the deaths of Romeo and Juliet.
In Romeo and Juliet we learn how Shakespeare uses vivid language to build character and depth in their roles. Shakespeare was a poet, playwright and an actor with a great love for language. Shakespeare was of great importance when it came down to the moulding and developing of the English language. Shakespeare had such an immense love for language that he created neologisms that we use in everyday life. Some of these neologisms he created include words such as puke, lonely, bedroom, democracy etc. in the play he developed numerous characters that played incredibly believable roles. An example of how Shakespeare made his characters believable was Tybalt, who spoke only forty lines in the entire play. Though he
Friar Lawrence imprudently agrees to marry Romeo and Juliet, even though he knows that it will cause later consequences. At first, Friar thinks that “For this alliance may so happy prove/To turn your households rancor to pure love” (2.3.98-99), meaning that he thinks the marriage will bring about peace to the two opposed families, the Montagues and the Capulets. Immediately, however, he tells Romeo,” Wisely and slowly, they stumble that run fast” (2.3.101). Friar Lawrence warns Romeo that if he is too hasty, then it leads to bad consequences. Friar Lawrence is clearly aware that if he and he alone marries the two, then their marriage will collapse, yet he decides to marry Romeo and Juliet. This causes both of them to sink into depression after Romeo gets banished from the city of Verona, his home town. Without Friar Lawrence, the two would not have married, which would not lead to their depression and further
Six deaths; one illiterate servant. In every situation, whether literally or metaphorically, some things can hold the power to keep it all together, or conversely, make it all fall to bits. Some things, be they scheming pastors or gawky cousins, can have as much power in a story as anything else; be the X factor. Moreover, a detail so seemingly minor as a servant not being able to read an invitation is also a detail contributing to “Romeo and Juliet”’s status as one of the greatest tragedies ever written. The said detail proving the secondary characters in William Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” are just as important to the overall story and tragic ending. Characters in the play whose actions are normally kept subdued or used as devices to increase tension or add relief have some of the biggest roles in the story, progress the plot through sustaining the Romeo-Capulet feud, and add substance and structure to the play by exemplifying the main themes of the story at times more so than Romeo and Juliet themselves. Tragic endings may not have tragic beginnings, or even clear beginnings for that matter, and the power of secondary characters is often undermined when it comes to putting the pieces of the story together.
Throughout the play, Romeo and Juliet go through countless amounts of pain, and this pain is caused by many minor characters. In The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, minor characters have caused quantities of pain and interruptions. The wedding and the exile of Romeo, for example, were both interrupted or caused by minor characters. This goes to show that most of the conflict that occurs in this play are sparked by these characters. In Williams Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet, minor characters negatively impact the play because Rosaline and Benvolio are responsible for Romeo and Juliet meeting.
Mercutio is a relative of the prince and friend to Romeo. He is an eloquent man and becomes the center of attention whenever he appears in the play. It seems like he dominates Romeo with his teasing and irony. He mocks Romeo as he thinks he is too sentimental and tells him how foolish he is; he turns all of Romeo’s thought about love into sexual metaphors.
While secondary characters are less important than the main characters of the book, they often have a noteworthy impact on the story. In William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, a secondary character, Friar Lawrence, plays a vital role throughout the play. The play takes place in Verona and focuses on Romeo and Juliet, two star-crossed lovers from two feuding families; the Montagues and the Capulets. The extremely violent feud between these families has been ongoing for generations, extending out to even the serving men of both houses. Romeo and Juliet must profess their love in secret because of the quarrel between their parents. This is a catalyst in triggering tragic events, consisting of the deaths of many other characters, including