Friar Lawrence Responsible For The Tragedy In Romeo And Juliet

When someone does not take responsibility for the faults of their actions, it often has a ripple effect that causes more issues. This is an occurrence commonly found in literature, especially in the tragedy genre. An example of this situation is the play Romeo and Juliet, written by William Shakespeare. In this tragedy, the idea of a ripple effect is shown after a secret marriage leads to a plan involving a fake death that causes two real deaths. The play ends in tragedy with the suicide of two teenagers, Romeo and Juliet, due to the irresponsibility and carelessness of another character, Friar Lawrence. Friar Lawrence was at fault for the tragedy in Romeo and Juliet because he married Romeo and Juliet and did not tell anyone, failed to execute

The first reason Friar Lawrence is at fault is because he married Romeo and Juliet when they were still remarkably young and neglected to tell anybody. When Romeo first asks Friar Lawrence to marry him and Juliet, the Friar warns him against it. He says, “These violent delights have violent ends/ And in their triumph die… Therefore love moderately." (II. vi. l. 9-14) Friar Lawrence is directly telling Romeo exactly what will happen, saying that the “violent delight,” or marriage, will “have violent ends.” He also said “in their triumph die” about the two involved in this violent delight. The Friar knew that the marriage would end in disaster but went through with it anyway. Although he heavily warned them saying things like “love moderately,” he still married the couple and it ended in the

After both Paris and Juliet delivered the news of their proposed marriage to the Friar, Juliet was desperate for the Friar to do something to stop the marriage. The Friar was quick to respond with an idea, saying, “If rather than to marry County Paris/ Thou hast the strength of will to slay thyself/ Then is it likely thou wilt undertake/ A thing like death to chide away this shame/ That cop'st with death himself to scape from it/ And if thou darest, I'll give thee remedy.” (IV. i. l. 71-76) The Friar is telling Juliet that he has a plan which involves her drinking a poison that “slays”, or kills, her. Although this was a completely radical idea, the Friar left the choice of whether to attempt it to a desperate child who is clearly not thinking remotely straight. The Friar was basically trying to persuade her into going through with the plan, saying that she needs to “cop’st with death himself to scape from it.” Instead of trying to get Juliet to relax and think logically he uses her trust to essentially force her into the haphazard plan that he carelessly devised. Being the adult in the situation, he should use his responsibility and power to calm Juliet down and help her think of an intelligent plan with