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Friar Lawrence Responsible For The Deaths Of Romeo And Juliet

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In the play Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare tells the tragic tale of the deaths of Romeo, a Montague, and Juliet, a Capulet. Various characters interact with Romeo and Juliet throughout the play in ways that result in their suicides. One such character, Friar Laurence, consistently encourages the irrational actions of these primary characters throughout the novel. The actions he insists that Romeo and Juliet carry out often prove to result in negative consequences. His involvement in their lives influences their actions the most, ultimately resulting in Romeo and Juliet’s deaths. More specifically, by providing Juliet with an unusual potion, encouraging the marriage of Romeo and Juliet, and failing to effectively communicate his intent, …show more content…

Shortly after Romeo and Juliet first meet, they decide to have an “exchange of [their] love’s faithful vow”, meaning a vow of marriage (Shakespeare 2.2.127). The two characters turn to Friar Laurence to officiate the marriage. While Friar Laurence agrees, his hopes for the marriage were not to make Romeo and Juliet happy, but rather to mend the feud between their families. He believes the “alliance” between the two would “turn [their] households’ rancor to pure love” (Shakespeare 2.3.90-92). Friar Laurence has other priorities that he sees as more important than the newlyweds and their happiness.When marrying Romeo and Juliet, Friar Laurence decides to “make short work” of the ceremony (Shakespeare 2.6.35). By rushing into the marriage and focusing only on the feud, Friar Laurence neglects Romeo and Juliet’s feelings, which prevents him from recognizing the mistakes of the marriage. He does not understand the extent of Romeo and Juliet’s love and is unprepared for the actions they will take to be with each other and the problems their love could create. If he had taken the time to understand what all of the consequences of the marriage would be, he could have prevented Romeo and Juliet’s deaths, thus proving the great influence the Friar has over

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163 Words | 1 Pages

One person who contributed to Romeo’s death was Friar Laurence. Friar Laurence married Romeo and Juliet without their parents consent, if he had not done this, then the tragic play called The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet would not existence. Another instance in which Friar Laurence did not think his plan all the way through is when Romeo did not get the message. At the time, there was a plague going on which prevented Friar John to deliver the message to Romeo. Since Romeo did not receive the message about the poison Juliet took, it resulted in Romeo killing himself.

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876 Words | 4 Pages

The marriage couldn’t have happened without Friar Laurence. Also readers might think that Friar was selfish by just wanting to end the family conflict by marrying them. You may ask why? Because Friar wouldn’t be directly involved and he wouldn’t see the consequences that Romeo and Juliet would see. Also for his far fetched plan to get them back together.

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778 Words | 4 Pages

Friar Laurence contributes to the events that leads to the lover’s deaths when he agrees to marry them after being angry at Romeo for loving the daughter of Capulet. FRIAR LAURENCE: “In one respect I’ll thy assistant be;/ For this alliance may so happy prove/ To turn your households’ rancor to pure love.” (2.3.98-100) As a result of Friar Laurence’s decision to marry the two, Romeo and Juliet’s fate is sealed. By choosing to turn the two households to pure love by marrying the star-crossed lovers allow this tragedy to

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775 Words | 4 Pages

In William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, the “star-crossed lovers” ultimately lose their lives because of the actions of Friar Laurence. Friar Laurence should be blamed for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet because of his irresponsibility. He is the one that married Romeo and Juliet. If Friar Laurence had established a backup plan in the first place, Romeo could have gotten the news. If Friar Laurence just told Romeo and Juliet's parents in the first place, they would not have had to hide anything.

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706 Words | 3 Pages

As they arrange a marriage behind everyone’s back, everything seems to be testing them; including a fight that broke out and ended in Tybalt’s murder and Romeo being banished from his hometown, Verona. Juliet could not go without being with her love, Romeo, and quickly had to find a way to be with him before her other marriage that her father arranged for her took place. As the friar arranges a plan for the two star-crossed lovers to reunite, things don’t work out the way they’re supposed to and end in the deaths of both characters. In Shakespeare’s, “Romeo and Juliet” Friar Laurence is to blame for Romeo and Juliet’s deaths because he is devious and has a poor planning ability.

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493 Words | 2 Pages

But come, young waverer, come go with me. In one respect I’ll thy assistant be; For this alliance may so happily prove To turn your households’ rancor to pure love. ”Friar Lawrence is talking to Romeo about him and Juliet getting married. This quote shows that friar Lawrence wanted Romeo and Juliet to get married. He also wanted them to get married because he thought it would cause a feud.

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511 Words | 3 Pages

He gave Juliet, a suicidal and unstable fourteen year old girl, a potion to make her appear dead simply because she did not want to marry Paris. Had he simply taken her to Mantua instead of giving her the potion she would have never been put in the situation to kill herself. Friar Laurence displays his irresponsibility when he gives Juliet the vial saying, “if...thou hast the strength of will to slay thyself...take thou this vial... no warmth, no breath shall testify thou livest.” (IV,I,72,93,98).

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589 Words | 3 Pages

When Romeo got exiled to Mantua, Friar was ready to convince the Prince to shorten his punishment and try to resolve the issue in Verona, so they could live in peace. At the same time, Juliet is engaged to Paris and she demands a solution for her matter. She threatened to take her own life if there isn’t an answer. Essentiality, he was forced to create a sleeping potion that would settle the marriage.

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776 Words | 4 Pages

When Romeo and Juliet fall in love they go to him. Friar Laurence says, “In one respect I'll thy assistant be, For this alliance may so happy prove, To turn your households' rancor to pure love.” (Shakespeare 2.3. 90-92). Friar Laurence married them for his own benefit, to make peace between the Montagues and the Capulets. He did not thoroughly think it through or consider what this may lead to.

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567 Words | 3 Pages

In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Friar Lawrence should be punished. Friar Lawrence gave Juliet the potion to fake her death. “Take thou this vial, being then in bed…” (Romeo and Juliet 4.1.96) Friar gave Juliet this potion so everyone had thought that she was dead. This caused Romeo to kill himself and leading up to Juliet then killing herself.

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627 Words | 3 Pages

The average everyday person fails to plan out many things throughout their life, but not many of them cost someone's life. But in Friar Lawrence’s case that is exactly what happened. Friar Laurence is one of the main characters in the play, Romeo and Juliet. After all, he is the one who marries them, but that does mean he was helpful. He created many problems for Romeo and Juliet.

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1373 Words | 6 Pages

Friar Laurence’s rash action in marrying Juliet, his hasty plan to avert Juliet from an unwanted marriage with Paris, and his failure to get his message delivered to Romeo in time all contribute to the death of Romeo and Juliet. When Romeo goes to see Friar Laurence after his new found love, they immediately begin to talk about marriage. Friar Laurence sees the opportunity to unite the two disputing families by marrying them. When Friar Laurence and Romeo are discussing a possible marriage, he tells Romeo “ wisely and slow; they stumble that run fast” (Shakespeare.2.3.95-96). Friar Laurence agrees to marry them knowing the danger in making such an immense commitment in just 24 hours.

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1226 Words | 5 Pages

Instead, he offered her this carelessly created plan. His failure to realize its instability and how his actions could affect Romeo and Juliet was ignorant and caused Romeo’s death. Though Romeo was supposed to receive a letter, the passage to his abode was blocked. He had only found out about Juliet’s “death” through a friend. Unfortunately, because he was not informed of the plan, he mistakenly thought she had truly passed away.

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652 Words | 3 Pages

Romeo and Juliet is a story of hasty decisions. The young couple must quickly decide to get married, how to act after Romeo is exiled, and whether or not to take their own lives. Many of these decisions are made under the guidance of the children’s mentors, Friar Laurence and the Nurse. Throughout this tragedy, Friar Laurence and the Nurse are the only adults that Romeo and Juliet seem to feel that they can trust and are in turn some of the main people that influence the outcome of the play. The Nurse and Friar Laurence play very similar roles, both in the play and the lives of the children, but the ways in which they advise and influence the children include more differences.

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717 Words | 3 Pages

Even after Mercutio 's death and Romeo 's banishment, Friar Laurence did not see the destructiveness of Romeo and Juliet 's marriage. Instead, he continued to attempt to keep Romeo and Juliet together. The plan he concocted for this, however, was shortsighted, poorly thought out, and risky. Friar Laurence devised the plan in haste and in desperation because Juliet was there in the friar’s presence threatening suicide rather than marry Paris. “Unless thou tell me how I may prevent it.

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