Friar Lawrence's Mistakes Essay

793 Words4 Pages

In Shakespeare’s famous tragedy “Romeo and Juliet” we see how impulsive decisions and mistakes affect the characters lives, showing the complication of love, fate, and human faults. In this story, Friar Lawrence’s important role as someone who tries to help, but makes mistakes, demonstrates how people’s actions and other factors can lead to consequences, such as Romeo and Juliet’s death. In “Romeo and Juliet,” Friar Lawrence helps the young lovers marry in secret, as well as creates a plan to prevent Juliet from marrying another man named Paris by telling her to fake her death. However, misunderstandings and unexpected events resulted in disaster when Romeo thinks Juliet really died. This led him to take his own life, resulting in Juliet doing …show more content…

Romeo and Juliet’s secret marriage goes against both of their family’s wishes. Friar Lawrence, saw their love for each other and hoped to end conflict, by agreeing to marry them secretly, believing it could bring peace. This was demonstrated when he told Romeo “For this alliance may be so happy / Prove to turn your households’ rancor to pure love.” (Shakespeare 2.3. 91-92) Friar Lawrence’s decision to marry Romeo and Juliet showed his belief in true love’s power to overcome family conflict. Regardless of his good intentions, his actions of misunderstanding led to disaster. Friar Lawrence’s actions eventually contributed to the devastating death of Romeo and Juliet, showing the realities of responsibility in Shakespeare’s famous story of love and …show more content…

After Juliet asked for Friar Lawrence’s help to avoid marrying Paris, he came up with a plan for her to fake her death using a potion. However, Friar Lawrence did not explain the plan well enough to Romeo, which led to his casualty. This was evident when Romeo reacted right away, saying, "Well, Juliet, I will lie with thee tonight." Let’s see what that means. Of mischief, thou art swift / To enter in the thoughts of desperate men." Shakespeare 5.1. -. 36-38) Friar Lawrence’s failure to explain the plan clearly to Romeo leads to tragic consequences. If he had made the plan clearer, the deaths could have been avoided. So, Friar Lawrence’s lack of communication plays a major part in the tragedy, supporting the fact that Friar Lawrence is responsible for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. Therefore, Friar Lawrence’s failure to effectively communicate the plan played an essential part in Romeo and Juliet’s