Are Friar Lawrence's Intentions In Romeo And Juliet

“Just because someone has a following does not mean that they are a good person or a good friend.” These wise words, spoken by popular social media influencer Emma Chamberlain, explain that on social media, obtaining many followers does not indicate the existence of kindness in an individual. To corroborate her words, in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Friar Lawrence harbors harmful intentions, although his position as a church official elevates him among society. This elevated societal position brings him many followers despite his suspicious behavior. Friar Lawrence’s blunders and canon law infractions reveal his troublesome nature. Friar Lawrence’s mistakes highlight his negative traits. One of these traits is a selfish yearning for power.

In fact, Friar Lawrence’s first words in Romeo and Juliet detail the “grace” and “rude will” plants simultaneously contain. This description of the two contrasting sides plants host reveals the friar’s own hypocritical nature: he holds selfish motives, though many harbor faith in him due to his position as a church official. Also, he is impulsive (Brenner, 70). For example, Cardullo states that Friar Lawrence agrees to marry Juliet and Romeo hastily after being asked to do so by Romeo (63). In addition to this, rather than simply taking Juliet to Mantua secretly, he impulsively creates a complicated plan to fake Juliet’s death, which endangers Juliet. He also spontaneously abandons Juliet with Romeo and Paris’ corpses in order to not be accused of murdering the two men (Bryant, 67). Friar Lawrence is also deceitful. He promises Romeo to send him a letter through Romeo’s servant explaining the plan for which to take Juliet to Mantua. He breaks this promise and sends the news through a friar, rather than Romeo’s servant (Cardullo 62). He also encourages Juliet to deceive her parents by faking her

Breaking the church law in this setting resulted in a three year suspension for the violator. Thus, citizens of this time highly respected church law. One church law prohibits marrying minors without parental consent. However, Friar Lawrence blatantly disobeys this rule when he hastily marries Romeo and Juliet without the acquiescence of their parents. Another church law forbids secret marriages (Bryant 65). Friar Lawrence again breaks church law because the marriage he performs not only lacks parental approval, it also exists as a secret union (Brenner, “Shakespeare’s” 47). After all, besides Juliet’s nurse, no one knows Romeo and Juliet’s marriage. In addition to these laws, church law prohibits friars from traveling alone. However, Friar Lawrence sends Friar John to travel to Mantua alone to deliver news to Romeo (Cardullo 62). Friar Lawrence’s troublesome personality reveals itself through his many church law violations. Friar Lawrence exhibits problematic behavior through his mistakes and violations of the church law he swears to uphold. His troublesome personality blatantly contrasts with the modern expectation of priests to be holy and