Who Is The Friar To Blame In Romeo And Juliet

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Today, people will generally blame everyone around them, except themselves, when a bad event happens to them in their lives. This is the same concept happening in Romeo and Juliet. Many people can be blamed for the varying violent events, even if it is not their fault entirely. However, in Romeo and Juliet a great amount of evidence has pointed toward the Friar. He is responsible for the deaths of the star-crossed lovers because of his secrecy and following through with the couple's plans, but there still can be reasons of why one could argue against this and back the Friar up. The Friar has many reasons to be considered as the main character who was involved in the lovers death, but one of the main reasons was his secrecy towards others. …show more content…

For one, the Friar is a man of God and had not had the intentions of hurting anyone. The Prince even says to the Friar, "We still have known thee as a holy man" (Shakespeare 1101). This suggests that the Friar is still a man of God, even if he did lie about the couples intents. Also, if the Friar had not given Juliet the vial, she would have killed herself instead. Juliet says to the Friar "Thou canst give no help, do thou but call my resolution wise and with this knife I'll help it presently" (Shakespeare 1074). This evidence implies that Juliet was serious about killing herself and that the Friar had to give her the vial to prevent her from committing suicide. Finally, the Friar couldn’t control the fate of the letter and whether it was going to get to Mantua in time. Friar John says to Friar Laurence after he returns from Mantua, "Here in this city visiting the sick... I could not send it" (Shakespeare 1090). From this evidence, one can conclude that the letter could not be sent because of a sickness going around in the city, so the Friar could not control this circumstance or if the letter could be achieved. To conclude, the Friar has reasons of why he should not be responsible for the couples death, like being a holy man, helping Juliet, and also the ability to not control the fate of the