Friar Lawrence To Blame For The Deaths Of Romeo And Juliet

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Who is to blame or not to blame for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet? This is the question. The tragedy of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare has been studied for hundreds of years. The debate of who is at fault of the teenage lover’s deaths has been questioned by many. Friar Lawrence is a character that we meet in act 2. He seems to be trustworthy because he is a friar,but he is the one responsible for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. When the audience meets the friar, Romeo is talking to him about how he is in love with the Capulet's daughter (Juliet). Romeo has known him for a very long time, and he trusts him. He goes to him for advice and solutions to his problems. Romeo asks Friar Lawrence to marry him and Juliet within 24 hours after …show more content…

He should have advised Romeo to slow down and not rush into marriage. The families of Romeo and Juliet have a long standing hatred of each other. The feuding between the two families often ends in fighting and violence. When the guards from each family fight the prince said “the next outbreak both families will die if another outbreak happens” (1.1.80-100). Friar Lawrence is often trying to stop the fighting between the families and when Romeo told him that he was in love with a Capulet. Friar Lawrence saw their marriage as an opportunity to bring the two families together and stop the fighting. With their marriage in mind Friar comes up with a plan to help Romeo and Juliet stay together after Romeo is banished to Mantua, and his plan would also bring the Capulet's and Montague's together. Friar Lawrence brings Juliet a potion and encourages her to drink it. The potion will make her sleep for 48 hours and appear to be dead. Friar was to get a message to Romeo to inform him of the plan, but there was no guarantee that Romeo would get the message before hearing the news of Juliet’s death. This is an example that Friar Lawrence is not as trustworthy as was once