The Killer Friar A Friar is a man of God. A man of whom is supposed to help God’s loving children and followers and a man whom is supposed to know what is best when it comes to being asked for advice. Friar Laurence in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is anything but what a Friar is supposed to be and ends up causing the deaths of four of six characters within the play. Friar Laurence did not physically go up and murder these characters but indirectly caused these deaths through leaving a suicidal alone and relying solely on the Church and himself rather than outside forces. The Friar is man of who is supposed to be of the lord, to protect and advise the people who follow god. The Friar is not supposed to be the reasoning for the deaths upon …show more content…
Romeo, an overly dramatic character, is one who does not think things through. Romeo’s death was caused due to Friar Laurence, who failed to send a letter informing Romeo that Juliet was simply in a death like sleep. Romeo, being one to jump to solutions stated, ‘Noting this penury, to myself I said, “An if a man did need a poison now”… (Shakespeare 5:1 Lines 51-52)’. This quick solution, made by Romeo, caused the deaths of Paris, who was killed by Romeo while on the way to Juliet’s tomb, Juliet, who awoke to Romeo’s dead body and chose to take her life to be with him, Lady Montague, who died the instant she heard of Romeo’s death, and Romeo himself, through drinking poison. The reasoning for the letter being unable to reach Romeo, according the Friar John was ‘So fearful were they of infection (Shakespeare 5:2 Line 17)’. This proves the point that Friar Laurence only relied on people within the church system rather than an outside force. The death of the four characters could have been avoided if Friar Laurence had relied on the Montague’s messenger boy, Balthasar, who easily was able to inform Romeo about Juliet’s supposed death could have also easily given Friar’s letter to Romeo which would have, in the end, caused the deaths of these four characters to be avoided in the long