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Friar John And Balthasar's Role In Romeo And Juliet

692 Words3 Pages

Often, there is a miscellaneous character that comes back at the end of the story that plays a significant role in the ending of the narrative. This concept occurs in Romeo and Juliet when the characters Friar John and Balthasar changed the plan that Fryer Lawrence had for Romeo and Juliet to spend the rest of their lives together without any interference from their families. Although these two side characters are not mentioned in most of the story, their reckless actions ultimately led to Romeo and Juliet’s demise. Balthasar’s character did not play much of a role in the story, besides that he was Romeo’s servant. He was briefly mentioned at the beginning of the story because he was involved in the confirmation of Rome and Juliet’s relationship. …show more content…

Friar John was not mentioned in the story until the last act, but he was tasked by Friar Lawrence to deliver an especially important letter to Romeo that housed the secret plan, “I writ to Romeo that he should hither come as this dire night to help take her from her borrowed grave, being time in potion’s force should cease” (5.3.257-262). This piece of evidence explains how the letter contained all the information that Romeo needed to know about his plan including the fact that Juliet is not actually dead. This plan would have worked seamlessly if it were not for the fact that Fryer John failed to deliver the letter to Romeo before he was told by his servant that Juliet had “died.” “I could not send it-Here it is again, nor get a messenger to bring it to thee, so fearful were they of infection” (5.2.14-16). In this quote, the reader is informed that the letter did not make it to Romeo and that he gave the letter back to Fryer Lawrence after his lazy attempt at delivering it. After this incident, there was nothing that anyone could have done because Romeo already had his mind set on taking his life. With everything previously stated, it is confirmed that the side character Fryer John had an important role in how the story played

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