Friar Lawrence Responsible For The Deaths Of Romeo And Juliet

Romeo and Juliet is probably the most famous love story ever written of all time. A tragic tale showing the forbidden love of two young star-crossed lovers that come from two feuding families. With the term “star-crossed lovers”(Shakespeare.prologue 6) used by Shakespeare with the chorus in the prologue, we know the tragic fate of our two main characters, but by who? The untimely death of Romeo and Juliet was ultimately caused by Friar Lawrence and the long-standing family feud.

To start off the long-standing family feud between the Capulet family and the Montague family is undeniably the one most to blame for the tragic deaths of Romeo and Juliet. In the opening line of the play “Two households, both alike in dignity/(In fair Verona, where

Friar Lawrence has made many reckless decisions that lead to their tragic demises like when he decided to marry Romeo and Juliet knowing they came from opposing bitter families(Shakespeare.2.6). The Friar's decision to marry them was an act of recklessness and carelessness as he soon found out and came to regret. But perhaps the worst decision Friar Lawrence made was when he went to Juliet to propose a plan after hearing she will be forced to marry Count Paris. Friar Lawrence talks with Juliet and gives her the plan to fake her death before the marriage with Count Paris and he will get Romeo to pick her up from the family tomb and they will both go to live in Mantua together(Shakespeare.4.1). But with no surprise, the incredibly dangerous and risky plan went horribly wrong and took a turn for the worst. Friar Lawrence failed to inform Romeo about the plan which led him to go to Juliet’s body and kill himself. Even after seeing Romeo’s dead body after arriving and Juliet in the tomb alive, he decided to run away and leave Juliet kills herself(Shakespeare.5.3). Frair Lawrence has done a lot of irresponsible and dumb things that has lead to the tragic untimely deaths of Romeo and

One example we see of this is when Juliet kills herself by stabbing herself. In the heart. “Yea, noise? Then I’ll be brief. O, happy dagger,/This is thy sheath. There rust, and let me die./She takes Romeo’s dagger, stabs herself, and dies”(Shakespeare.5.3.174-175). As we can see Juliet clearly killed herself with the dagger in her own hands. That clearly shows that she was responsible for her death. Not only that but a bit earlier Romeo, like Juliet, killed himself. “Here’s to my love. Drinking. O true apothecary,/Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die./He dies.”(Shakespeare.5.3.119-120). As we read in the play we can see that Romeo purposely drank the poison he got knowing he would die. That shows that Romeo was responsible for his death like Juliet. Although those are some evidence leading to the fact that Romeo and Juliet are to be blamed for their deaths it is simply just false. Even though they did kill themselves it doesn't mean that they are to blame for their deaths. The long-standing family feud and Friar Lawrence are the ones who are truly responsible for their deaths. The family feud caused them to be scared and secretive about their relationship. And Friar Lawrence, whole tried to fix their problems, but only made everything worse with his risky plans and agreeing to marry Romeo and Juliet. The