In the classic romantic tragedy, Romeo and Juliet, playwright Shakespeare introduces Friar Lawrence, a religious figure and advisor to Romeo via a monologue about the natural world. This speech uses several paradoxical phrases and oxymoronic statements to depict the coexistence of good and evil in nature. Shakespeare builds up this philosophy using references to herbal medicine and nature. It is then later used to foreshadow coming events in the text. The Friar describes the herbs and flowers he gathers in his cell, he notes their potential for both healing and harm saying “The earth that’s nature’s mother is her tomb; What is her burying grave, that is her womb;” Juliet's marriage to Paris was prevented by the Friar's later use of a potion