Romeo And Juliet's Mistakes

Growing up as a child, all one knows is fairy tales that end joyfully, but once a person enters the real world, they find out that life is not all that blissful, and that sometimes, due to the mistakes of others, a person’s life could just parish. The tragic tale of Romeo and Juliet speaks about exactly that. Many have had arguments about who was primarily responsible for their deaths and to answer this, one must look for the ‘game-maker’ of the whole tale,the one who essentially sets the whole plot, and that was none other than Friar Laurence. He was the one both Romeo and Juliet confided in and trusted. If had not been for Friar Laurence’s three crucial mistakes- giving Juliet the potion to fake her death, leaving her at the tomb and trusting

Juliet would not have been able to fabricate her death ’ if not for the potion given to her by the friar as he mentioned “Take thou this vial, being then in bed,/and this distilling liquor drink thou off/no warmth, no breath shall testify thou livest.” (Shakespeare 4.1.95,95,100) This potion, as mentioned, would render her seemingly dead for 48 hours. It was so effective that even Juliet’s family believed she had died and therefore cancelled her wedding to Paris. It also gave her the possibility to rebel, as told by the friar, “In the meantime, against thou shalt awake,/Shall Romeo by my letters know our drift,.” (4.1.114-115) Juliet was a young girl with limited options and if not for the plan, she would have been forced to obey her parents since she did not have a way out. The fact that there was now an alternative, she was willing to take any chance she had in order to be reunited with her beloved husband. Lastly, Friar Lawrence had full trust in a fourteen-year old unstable girl who had just had her husband taken away and was desperate, thinking that “if thou hast the strength of will to slay thyself,/ take thou this vial” (4.1.94-95). When he gave her the potion, the repercussions never occurred to him and he completely looked past the fact that her state of mind was an unstable and impulsive one. Had he not given it to her, she would not have woken up to a dead Romeo and killed

When Friar Paul returned, Friar Laurence inquired, “What says Romeo? Or, if his mind be writ, give me his letter.” (5.2.3-4) the flaw of the plan was not addressing the importance of the letter, if Friar Laurence had stressed its significance, the letter would have gotten to Romeo, instead, problems in which no man could predict occurred, as Friar Paul tells the story of why his delivery was unsuccessful, “ could not send it—here it is again—/Nor get a messenger to bring it thee,/ So fearful were they of infection.” (5.2.14-15). Predicting the plague infestation was impossible, however if Friar Laurence had emphasized the fact that the letter he held in his hand had to do with a grave matter of life and death, he would have reacted with more expedience and delivered the letter accordingly. Romeo’s reaction to Juliet’s ‘death was a massive shock to him and he reacted in a dreadful way. “Here’s to my love. (drinking) O true apothecary./ Thy drugs are quick. Thus with a kiss I die” (5.3.119-120) he cried out as he falls to the ground