Friar Lawrence To Blame In Romeo And Juliet

1120 Words5 Pages

Whenever something bad happens, people are always looking for someone to blame. Whether it’s something small or big, people must find someone who caused it. Romeo and Juliet is a play written by William Shakespeare that takes place in Verona during the 1300s. It is about two lovers, Romeo and Juliet, who are a part of feuding families. The play ends with six people dead: Mercutio, Tybalt, Lady Montague, Paris, Romeo, and Juliet. Friar Laurence is to blame for the tragedy in Romeo and Juliet because of his poor decisions and lack of thought for other things that could happen. First, Friar Laurence allowed Romeo and Juliet to be married. Romeo and Juliet have only just met and known each other for a few hours. After Romeo spoke to Juliet on …show more content…

The friar accepted thinking that the marriage between the two will “turn [their] households’ rancor to pure love” (2.3.100). This thinking is reckless because the friar assumed this outcome and didn’t think about anything else. Marrying Romeo and Juliet, who are from feuding families, could lead to dire consequences. Also, Romeo and Juliet have only known each other for only hours. The friar married two people who had just met just for plausible outcome, which is irresponsible. The friar was also aware of Romeo’s impulsive behavior. The conversation with Friar Laurence was quick and spontaneous. The friar could not even understand him at first and had to ask Romeo to talk clearly. At the end of the conversation, the friar asks Romeo to not go too fast and think about his choices. The friar also mentions …show more content…

This plan, however, went wrong and led to the deaths of Paris, Romeo, and Juliet. Juliet was to consent her marriage to Paris and then take a poison that mimics death for forty-two hours the night before. Juliet will then be in the family tomb and the friar will send a message to Romeo of this plan. Once Juliet awakens, Romeo will be there and the both of them will go in Mantua. Once the anger and emotions have died down, the friar will announce the marriage of Romeo and Juliet, ending the feud and receiving a pardon. In reality, it fell apart very quickly. The plan had many flaws as it required a lot communication and had no precaution if any of the variables were to change. One of the first things that changed was the wedding date. When Juliet apologized to Lord Capulet and said that she’ll marry Paris, Capulet was so overjoyed he said, “I’ll have this knot knit up tomorrow morning” (4.2.26). This change could of caused Romeo to not be get the letter in time to pick up Juliet. The friar had not made any safeguards in case a change like this would happen. Another thing that failed with the plan was that Romeo did not get the letter at all. He instead got a message from a servant that said Juliet had passed. Romeo was distraught over this and vowed to kill himself. He didn’t get the letter because Friar John, the messenger that Friar Laurence assigned to send the