The Causes Of Friar Lawrence To Blame For The Death Of Romeo And Juliet

While the Friar makes several notable decisions that lead to the death of Romeo and Juliet, he continually blames others, and does not claim responsibility.When the Capulets initially find Juliet’s body unresponsive in her bedroom, rather than comforting her parents, Friar Lawrence puts the blame on them exclaiming, “The heavens do lour upon you for some ill” (4.5 100). The accusatory phrase spoken by Friar Lawrence directed at the Capulets stating, “the heavens do lour upon you for some ill,” moves toward the idea that he does not When Juliet’s family initially finds her “dead” body, Friar Lawrence does not express his condolences, but instead goes directly into blaming them for the death of their daughter. Even though he knows that this is not necessarily true, he essentially guilts the Capulets into thinking that in forcing Juliet to marry Paris, they had upset the heavens, and in

Nonetheless, he knows that they are in fact, not entirely to blame for Juliet’s suicidal feelings. However, he is the reason that Juliet is in this condition, but he does not take responsibility. After the letter discussing Juliet’s faked death fails to reach Romeo in Mantua, Friar Lawrence exclaims, “Unhappy fortune!” (5.3 17). When Friar Lawrence uses this phrase to express his concern, he is implying that fate and time are at fault in the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. In doing so, he is almost completely removing himself from the blame, solidifying the idea that he does not take responsibility for his actions. Throughout the play, Friar Lawrence is found in the middle of various difficult situations. However, even though he is the root of many of these problems, he continually neglects to take responsibility. When the letter fails to get to Romeo in Mantua, he puts the blame on fate and even Friar John, when in fact, the whole plan was his idea in the first