The American actress Keri Russell said, “Sometimes it is the smallest decision that can change your life forever.” Russell means that a person should be thorough when making seemingly unimportant decisions because they can have serious consequences. In William Shakespeare’s tragedy Romeo and Juliet, many characters make unwise decisions. However, Friar Laurence creates many complex plans in order to help Romeo and Juliet. These unwise decisions lead to the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. Friar Laurence, the village priest in the town of Verona, creates two risky plans that ultimately lead to the suicides of the star-crossed lovers. Early in Act Three, Romeo kills Juliet’s cousin, Tybalt, over anger from the death of Mercutio, Romeo’s best friend. …show more content…
Friar Laurence does not plan this out well enough because, rather than leaving Romeo to live out his sentence of banishment, the friar tries to keep Romeo connected to Verona, which allows important information to be disturbed and Romeo to be misinformed. This results in Romeo hearing that Juliet is dead, rather than alive yet unconscious. Romeo quickly returns to Verona and, upon seeing the love of his life “dead”, kills himself. Once Juliet awakens, she finds Romeo dead and takes her own life. In the beginning of Act Four, Juliet discovers that her parents are forcing her to marry County Paris, the prince’s kinsman. Juliet goes to Friar Laurence for help, and he comes up with a plan to get out of the marriage; to fake her death. Friar Laurence tells Juliet, “...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” (4.1.73-76). This is a poor decision because this plan has room for many possible errors such as the potion used to fake Juliet’s death does not work on her, Romeo not hearing the news that she is not actually dead, or Romeo being misinformed causing him to believe she is actually