Why Is The Friar Lawrence Important In Romeo And Juliet

Friar Lawrence is a religious figure that many turn to for guidance in Verona, much akin to a priest Friar Lawrence is whom people turn to confess their sins and seek guidance. Given this major responsibility, one would think that the friar should have wisdom and a voice of reason, however, this is shown numerous times as being false. One major example of this is when Romeo and Juliet want to get married. Instead of thinking about the implications of the young couple’s actions, The friar says to Romeo, “Lo, here upon thy cheek the stain doth sit of an old tear that is not washed off yet. If e’er thou wast thyself, and these woes thine, Thou and these woes were all for Rosaline. And art thou changed? Pronounce this sentence then: Women may fall

The friar recounts “The roses in thy lips and cheeks shall fade to paly ashes, thy eyes’ windows fall like death when he shuts up the day of life. Each part, deprived of supple government, Shall, stiff and stark and cold, appear like death, And in this borrowed likeness of shrunk death.” (Shakespeare Vi.i.101-106). In the aforementioned excerpt Friar Lawrence divulges the effects of the contents of the vile, which contains the potion that will allow Juliet to appear dead to those around her, not only does this action show his irrational nature in the fact that instead of talking to her to solve problems, he helps her fake her death, but it also showcases that he understands the consequences of what may occur once the family finds her in this death-like state. This directly leads to the tragic fate of the lovers because if Juliet had never pretended to die Romeo would not have received fake news and in turn taken his own life. Conclusively once Romeo has been banished from Verona in response to the killing of Tybalt, Friar Lawrence consoles Romeo by saying “Thy Juliet is alive, For whose dear sake thou wast but lately dead: There art thou