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Characterization Of Friar Lawrence In Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet

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Alaina Gomez Ms. Silver English 9, Block 3 18 January 2023 Romeo and Juliet Characterization Essay It is common for people to act differently after life-changing experiences. One significant life-changing experience for Juliet is falling in love with Romeo. In the play, The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet quickly fall in love, disregarding their family feud. When Romeo gets banished from Verona, Friar Laurence comes up with a plan that will help them both escape together. However, this goes wrong when Romeo receives false news and goes back to kill himself next to Juliet who he believes is dead. After Romeo dies from poison and Juliet wakes, she willingly kills herself to be with him. In Shakespeare’s play, Juliet is introduced as cautious, …show more content…

She is very impulsive when she is makes threats to herself. Juliet goes to Friar Laurence panicked after she hears about the wedding arrangement with Paris. She is desperate for a plan, and the only person who can help her is Friar Laurence. Juliet states that if the Friar can not help her then “with this knife I’ll help it presently” (4.1.54). Juliet is willing to stab herself if Friar Laurence can not help her devise a plan to see Romeo again. She is unnecessarily quick to make a death threat to herself, just because of her passion for Romeo. This also puts Friar Laurence in an uncomfortable position. Similarly, Juliet portrays the same incredibly rash behavior later in the play, when she has to make decisions that could harm her. Juliet is about to drink the potion Friar Laurence made for her, after contemplating all the potential outcomes. Finally, she shouts, “Romeo, I come! This do I drink to thee” (4.3.58). Even though Juliet is aware of all the possibilities that could happen if she follows Friar Laurence’s plan, she drinks the potion anyway because there is a chance she could live and see Romeo. Juliet's actions are foolish and

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Finally, Friar Laurence abandoned Juliet at tomb and this action gave Juliet the ability to kill herself. For example, when Friar Laurence saw Paris’ and Romeo’s corpse, he felt scared and when he heard a noise, he negligently said to Juliet, “Come, go, good Juliet. I dare no longer stay” (5.3.165). This quotation proved how Friar Laurence was selfish and made the

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When Juliet asks Friar Lawrence for help in order to avoid marrying Paris, Friar presents a plan, in which Juliet fakes her own death. Juliet quickly decides and agrees to the plan: “Give me, give me! O, tell not me of fear” (4.1.123). This line shows how Juliet will not be content with accepting her fate and marrying Paris, and tries to find a way to avoid this from happening at any cost, even going as far as tricking people into believing she is dead in order to fulfill her desire to be with Romeo. This is because by turning to Friar Lawrence for help, Juliet has taken control of her fate instead of passively accepting the way it is, and also shows that Juliet is making choices that will change the course of her own life, rather than accepting her own circumstances, which is being forced into an arranged marriage she doesn’t want to be in.

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Juliet feels as if death is her only way to go about without disappointing her parents, or breaking her vows with Romeo. She tells the Friar: “Do thou but call my resolution wise,/ And with this knife I’ll help it presently./ God joined my heart and Romeo’s, thou our hands/ And ere this hand on thee to Romeo sealed/” (4.1.53-56). Had Juliet stopped to think for a moment, she would have realized

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Juliet is drinking this potion for Romeo’s sake so that she will not have to be married to Paris. It is very risky for Juliet as she makes the impulsive decision to drink from the vile and doesn’t think how it will affect her family if they think she is gone forever. She should have thought of another way to get out of the marriage but since her ability to control impulses is not fully developed, she made the rash decision to take the potion, not knowing exactly what would happen. One last example of impulses taken in the play is when Romeo goes to the apothecary and buys a poison that will kill himself. Romeo goes to the apothecary and says, “Let me have a dram of poison, such fast-acting gear, as will disperse itself through all the veins, that the life-weary taker may fall dead” (5.1, 62-65).

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Putting them in danger of making poor decisions and especially since the parents were not aware. Secondly, Friar Lawrence provides Juliet with a dangerous substance and he says, “ A thing like death to chide away this shame, that cop’st with Death himself to scape from it; and if thou darest, I’ll give thee remedy ” (IV. I.75-77). Friar Lawrence provides Juliet a deadly potion though not permanent death it is still very dangerous. Additionally, another way he leads them to their downfall because he incorporates a risky potion into his plan to help Juliet that he knows has the potential to hurt many.

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Even Juliet has multiple fears before she drinks the potion- she fears that the potion "which the friar Subtly hath ministered to have [her] dead" (4:3:25). Not only does Friar give a young girl such a powerful potion, but he makes very careless actions to make sure Romeo gets the letter that has a proper explanation of the plan he has come up with. Romeo being out of the loop, without a doubt, started the chain of events that led to the deaths of them

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After Juliet Threatens to kill herself, instead of telling the parents, the Friar resorts to giving terrible advice to Juliet, contributing to her death and failed plan. “Take thou this vial, being then in bed,And this distillèd liquor drink thou off,/When presently through all thy veins shall run/A cold and drowsy humor, for no pulse/Shall keep his native progress, but surcease./No warmth, no breath shall testify thou livest./The roses in thy lips and cheeks shall fade” (4.1.96-102) When the Friar offers one of his last pieces of advice, he once again dishes out terrible advice, instructing Juliet to literally fake her death, all for Romeo. After admitting that it was his fault for Romeo and Juliet’s deaths, the Friar decides to also accept any punishments for killing them, actually doing something wise for once. “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.

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As Friar and Juliet are talking about a plan to be with Romeo he says, “I do spy a kind of hope, / Which craves as desperate an execution” (Shakespeare 4.1.68-69). Friar does have a plan for Juliet but only someone extremely desperate would do it. If he knows that it would take a desperate person to do it, he knows it is not a very good, well thought-out plan. Juliet is desperate and is willing to take risks to be with the love of her life. Before going through with the plan and taking the poison, Juliet says to herself, “What if this mixture do not work at all” (Shakespeare 4.3.21).

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When Friar Laurence tells Juliet the plan she agrees. She sacrifices her life because after drinking the potion she may not wake up. In the end Romeo comes to Juliet and drinks the poison because he had no desire to live. After Romeo dies Juliet wakes up and kills herself to be with Romeo in peace. Their passion for each other took their lives.

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70-71). Considering Juliet’s loss, Friar Laurence’s priority should have been to ensure her safety. It is thoughtless to not supervise her when she is in a state of confusion and distress that is likely to prohibit her from acting rational. Friar Laurence's negligence provokes the lovers to act impetuously amid

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When Juliet wants to take her own life, he says he has a solution “That cop’st with death himself to scrape from it; and, if thou darest, I’ll give thee remedy” (4.1.75-76). He does not stop to console Juliet or help her calm down; instead, he hastily thinks of an elaborate plan. The friar gives Juliet a potion to make her seem dead. While death is a very somber and serious event, Friar Lawrence does not consider any other option than Juliet faking the end of her life. He decides to convey the dark message to Romeo with a letter and when Romeo does not receive it, the friar is very distressed and says, “The letter was not nice but full of charge of dear import, and the neglecting it may do much danger” (5.2.18-20).

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(4,1,93-97) Friar Lawrence tells her to drink the potion, not thinking twice about all the things that could go wrong with his plan. That is why Friar Lawrence is responsible for their death, he helped Romeo and Juliet to be together, he let them do what they wanted without thinking about the

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Juliet’s threatening to kill herself and the horrendous alternatives she

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Worried, the friar devises a plan- “Take thou this vial, being then in bed, And this distilled liquor drink thou off; A cold and drowsy humor, for no pulse, shall hero his native progress but surcease, no warmth no breath, shall testify thou liveth;” (Shakespeare Ⅳ.i.93-98). Proposing she takes a vial of an organic substance he created, that will make her appear dead, thus faking her death. The friar claims he will write Romeo a letter explaining the plan, and settle elsewhere. From an audience perspective, the plan is heavily flawed. However, in Juliet’s perspective, she will be reunited with her love and will not marry Paris-revealing Juliet’s impulsive nature.

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While in Friar Lawrence's cell, Juliet admits that she would rather end her own life before betraying Romeo: “Please be kind enough to call my solution wise. And I’ll solve the problem with this knife” (Shakespeare 213). It typically is not normal for a first-thought solution to be suicide. This indicates that Juliet already had mental illness before she even had to be forcibly married to Count Paris.

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