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Friar Lawrence Research Paper

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Anna Claire Dowdy Heun 2nd 17 April 2024 Friar Lawrence’s Wisdom with Consequences Keri Russel once said, “Sometimes it’s the smallest decisions that can change your life forever.” In Shakesphere’s Romeo and Juliet, Friar Lawrence portrays this quote through his imprudent choices. Despite his religious authority, Friar Lawrence’s impulsive decisions and willingness to go against church laws ultimately led to a tragic downfall. Friar Lawrence’s actions and choices create uncertainty about his honesty and truthfulness. Furthermore, the friar’s acts of withholding the truth from Juliet's parents about her death causes mistrust among readers (Zbierski ). His decision to stage Juliet’s death could be seen as a deceptive and risky move (Bryant, 66). …show more content…

Overall, Friar Lawrence acts as a foil to Romeo’s haste (Zbierski ). Friar Lawrence makes many mistakes that violate the church law that he is expected to uphold (Brenner 69). For example, Friar Lawrence’s decision to marry Romeo and Juliet without their parents’ consent completely goes against the expectations of the church. According to church law, marriages are not to be done in secret. Secondly, when traveling, all friars must be accompanied by another friar (Cardullo 62). Friar Lawrence defies this law when attempting to send Friar John to Mantua alone. Subsequently, why did Friar Lawrence not deliver the letter himself? Friar Lawrence’s decision making can be seen as inconsistent due to his varying choices (Bryant 67). His will to purposely break church laws puts him at risk for a three-year suspension (65). These risky decisions ultimately cause the death of both Romeo and Juliet (Zbierski). In conclusion, Friar Lawrence’s personality and tendency to break church laws plays a significant role in the tragic events of Romeo and Juliet. While some may know him for his wisdom, his impulsive actions are against the well-established

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Ishant Ghimiray Ms. Baker English 8-Period 8 13 March 2023 Friar Lawrence’s role for the tragic death of Romeo and Juliet In the city of Verona there lived two houses that hate each other that constantly fight. Romeo and Juliet is a tragic play by William Shakespeare that tells the story of two young lovers who come from feuding families. Friar Lawrence is a character who played a role in the tragic end of the play. He made several poor choices that ultimately led to the deaths of Romeo and Juliet.

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 He hastily decides to marry Romeo and Juliet, even he knows it isn’t a good idea. He fakes Juliet’s death with a faulty plan which leads to Romeo killing himself. The friar also makes the unwise decision to flee from the tomb when he hears a noise, missing the chance to have possibly saved Juliet’s life. Thus, Friar Lawrence’s poorly planned

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Though he respects tradition, he allows Romeo and Juliet to elope. The Friar has much wisdom but decides to only give warnings, which is unrecognizable by star struck lovers. When Romeo first came to the Friar and asked him to marry them he responded with “ Wisely and slow; they stumble that run fast” (scene 3 act 2 line 96). Friar Lawrence was trying to warn Romeo of this fairytale love story; but Romeo had his head so far in the clouds he would never be able to think clearly for himself. This is where the Friar should have stuck to his more traditional roots and try to talk some sense into Romeo.

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Friar Lawrence helps Juliet fake her death so that she doesn’t have to marry County Paris. This also helps the Friar in that he doesn’t have to marry Juliet to a different man after she has married Romeo. This would help the Friar keep his credibility and priesthood intact so that he may continue preaching and teaching about the word of God, but this could also be the Friar wanting to help his apprentice Romeo therefore as the audience wonders if Friar Lawrence was helping to save his career as a viable preacher or to help his friend, Romeo, who needed assistance, as well as Romeo’s wife Juliet, be with her husband after she escapes marring Paris and leaving to Mantua with

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Joanna Ngo Period 4 April 12, 2024. Friar Lawrence’s False Innocence: The beginning of tragedies can be derived from goodwill. In the play The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, written by William Shakespeare, the children of the feuding families, Romeo and Juliet, happen to fall in love with each other at first sight. Romeo, madly in love, came to Friar Lawrence to marry them, despite just meeting Juliet a few hours before. Friar Lawrence sees the impulsiveness in this marriage decision, yet disregards it and marries them, and also keeps Romeo and Juliet’s relationship a secret, resulting in their devastating deaths.

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Zelda Fitzgerald, famous American writer and painter, once said that “Nobody has ever measured, even poets, how much a heart can hold.” In William Shakespeare’s tragic play, Romeo and Juliet, young love leads to earth-shattering tragedy. Although there are numerous factors that play a role in the disastrous end to Romeo and Juliet’s love story, the ultimate responsibility for their deaths falls upon Friar Lawrence. Friar Lawrence is to blame for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet because he overstepped his role as a Friar to intervene in the private lives of the Capulet and Montague families, helping their children make poor choices without consent. As a Friar in the Catholic Church, Friar Lawrence has a responsibility to his congregation and God.

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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.

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In William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Friar Lawrence’s insensibility causes him to give Romeo and Juliet rash advice, leading to the pair of star-crossed lovers’ ultimate doom. When Romeo seeks advice from Friar Lawrence in hopes that he can marry him with Juliet, the Friar agrees, in hope of “[turning the] households’ rancor to pure love” (2.3.99). However, as an adult, and as a man that others seek for help, Friar Lawrence should have put more thought into the different ways the families could react by the marriage. The Friar should have realized that there was a big possibility that the Capulets and Montagues would be angered by the wedding. Instead, he makes his decisions upon the improbable idea of reconcilement through marriage.

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In Shakespeare's play "Romeo and Juliet," the tragic ending of the star-crossed lovers is the result of a conflict between their families. While several characters contribute to the tragic outcome, Friar Lawrence is the most at fault for their deaths. As a Franciscan friar and an advisor to both Romeo and Juliet, Friar Lawrence plays a significant role in the events that lead to the tragic ending. Throughout the play, Friar Lawrence is a complex character torn between his desire to help Romeo and Juliet and his fear of the consequences of his actions.

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In Shakespeare's play Romeo and & Juliet, several supporting characters contribute to the tragic demise of the titular characters. One such character is Friar Lawrence, who presents himself as a wise and caring religious figure in the play. However, his actions and decisions throughout the play ultimately reveal him

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When Juliet’s parents find her “dead”, they will bury her, and Romeo will come and take her so that they can run away together. This, one of the many examples where Friar Lawrence gives advice to Juliet, clearly shows that Friar is involved in his citizen’s lives. In addition to Friar Lawrence giving advice, he also attempts to find solutions to people’s problems.

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(Shakespeare 3.3.157-161). This scene demonstrates Friar Lawrence forming a plan for Romeo and Juliet to secretly meet one another and consummate their marriage, where afterwards they will head to Mantua and happily live there together. This supports the claim that Friar Lawrence makes risky decisions motivated by his desperation to end the feud between their families without awareness of the potential consequences his plans might bring to the lovers. Another instance of Friar Lawrence’s dangerous resolutions to issues between Romeo and Juliet is shown when Friar Lawrence forms a plan for Juliet to meet with

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Poor decisions are present in many places in the play of Romeo and Juliet, especially in the role of Friar Lawrence. One of the major decisions that later prove to be of bad judgement was his choice to willingly marry Romeo and Juliet, in absolute discretion other than notifying a select few. This is not only seen as a foolish move by the audience, but also by Friar Lawrence himself as he states “These violent delights have violent ends/ And in their triumph die, like fire and powder” (II, vi, 9-10). Here, it is shown that “like fire and powder”, Friar Lawrence himself predicts that this marriage will end in an explosion of sorts.

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He was the one who married the two, hoping that the marriage would cause an end to the feuding. Romeo and Juliet getting married was banned and wouldn't be able to take place without Friar Lawrence. Friar Lawrence stupidly chose to marry Romeo and Juliet even though he knew that it would cause issues in the future. The Friar says in the beginning of the story "this alliance may so happy prove To turn your households' rancor to pure love." (II iv 91-92) This shows that the Friar has doubts and only has a small bit of hope that Romeo and Juliet's marriage will actually be successful.

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Surprisingly for a man at his holy position, Friar Lawrence encourages Juliet to fake her own death and deceive her entire family. Ultimately, this risky plan is the most significant event building up to Romeo and Juliet’s suicide. This tragic love story would not have taken place if it had not been for Friar Lawrence’s good hearted but ill-fated willingness to bend the rules for the sake of Romeo and

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