Friar Lawrence Responsible For Romeo And Juliet's Death

Argumentative essay

There are many people that may have played a role in the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. I

believe that Friar Lawrence is the person most responsible for their deaths. I have three main

reasons for this belief. First, Friar Lawrence married Romeo and Juliet, second, it was his idea to

fake Juliet’s death, and last, he left Juliet alone. In this paper, I am going to further explain my

three reasons.

To begin with, I think Friar Lawrence is responsible for Romeo and Juliet’s death

because he married Romeo and Juliet together thinking it would end their families’ feud. “To

turn your households’ rancor to pure love” (Romeo and Juliet 2.3.93) If they hadn’t been

married, that may have changed a lot of the decisions that

I

feel like it was a very young age for them to get married, and this I believe it may have caused

some stress in their lives that might have led to the rash decision to end their lives.

In addition, I think Friar is at fault is because it was his idea to fake Juliet’s death.

Because Romeo was banished Friar Lawrence thought it would be a good idea for Juliet to fake

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her death so she didn’t have to marry Paris. He says “Take thou this vial, being then in bed, and

this distilling liquor drink thou off.”(Romeo and Juliet 4.1. 93-94) If they hadn’t faked her death,

then Romeo’s messenger wouldn’t have told him that Juliet was dead. Romeo then wouldn’t

have taken his own life and they might have been able to be together. Because Friar’s plan didn’t

work out, Romeo and Juliet both ended up taking their lives.

Finally, I believe that the Friar should be held accountable is because he left Juliet alone

when she needed him most. After Juliet found out that Romeo was dead, she was very sad and

was having a hard time. She needed someone to be there for her and Friar Lawrence was

“Stay not to question, for the watch is coming. Come go,

good Juliet. I dare no longer stay.” (Romeo and Juliet 5.3.158-159) After he left, Juliet felt like

she was alone and she was so sad because Romeo had died that she decided to take her life. So in

the end, because he left, no one was there to talk her out of taking her own life.

However, some people might argue that Old Man Capulet is at fault for the deaths of

Romeo and Juliet. They might say that he was too hard on Juliet and pushed her away, that he

didn’t think about what she wanted to do and who she wanted to marry. I don’t think it is Old

Man Capulet’s fault because he didn’t even know that Romeo and Juliet liked each other. Old

man Capulet tried to set Juliet up with Paris and he didn’t even know that Friar married Romeo

and Juliet. He always had Juliet’s best interest at heart and wanted to do what was best for her.

In conclusion, there are so many other reasons that I think that Friar Lawrence is at fault

for the deaths, he married Romeo and Juliet, He told Juliet to fake her death, and he left Juliet

alone. I do not think that he is the only person responsible, but I definitely do believe that he

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