Friar Lawrence Is To Blame In Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet

Romeo and Juliet Essay

Readers of William Shakespeare’s “The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet,” likely have one question: who is to blame for the story’s tragic ending? There are many characters that could be held accountable, however, two of them stand out the most. Some may say that it’s Friar Laurence’s fault for helping Romeo and Juliet get married, and also for coming up with the potion plan. Lord and Lady Capulet could also be to blame because they pressured Juliet to get married to Paris, which forced her to go along with the questionable and dangerous plan that the Friar came up with. They also never supported Juliet and forced her to go along with whatever they wanted, and her input never mattered to them. For these reasons, it seems that

First of all, many people think that the tragedy can be mostly blamed on Friar Laurence because he came up with the plan to fake Juliet’s death, and also helped Romeo and Juliet get married. "This alliance may so happily prove / To turn your households' rancour to pure love" (2.3.91-92). Friar Laurence went along with the plan to get Romeo and Juliet married because he thought it might end the feud between the Montagues and the Capulets. Unfortunately, the marriage didn’t solve anything, and the two ended up keeping their marriage a secret. It had to be their untimely deaths that brought the families together. This puts the blame on him for the tragedy because if he hadn’t allowed Romeo and Juliet to get married in the first place, they might have given up and not tried to run away with each other later. Additionally, Friar Laurence later acknowledges his role in the deaths of Romeo and Juliet when explaining to the Montagues and Capulets what happened to their children after they’re found dead in the churchyard. "Let my old life / Be sacrificed, some hour before his time," (5.3.267-268). Friar Laurence knows that he played a big role in the tragedy, and he’s willing to admit how his actions affected

"I tell thee what: get thee to church a'Thursday, / Or never after look me in the face" (3.5.161-162). Capulet is essentially telling Juliet that she must get married to Paris that Thursday, or she will be disowned. This unfortunately led Juliet to act impulsively and take the potion like Friar Laurence said to fake her own death so she won’t have to go through with the wedding. This puts the blame on the Capulets because had they not pressured Juliet to get married so quickly, she would have more time before carrying out the plan, and there would have been one extra day for the letter to get to Romeo informing him of the plan. Additionally, Lady Capulet, Juliet’s mother, was also pressuring her to get married, saying that there are happy mothers younger than her, even though she is only 13. “Here in Verona, ladies of esteem, are already mothers” (1.3.70-71). Like what Lord Capulet was doing, Lady Capulet was pressuring Juliet into marrying Paris and becoming a mother, all at 13. This ultimately caused Juliet to take the drastic measures that she took in order to avoid marrying Paris, which again blames the Capulets for the tragic ending of the story. Some may argue that Juliet herself is to blame for the tragedy because she went along with Friar