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Romeo and Juliet's character and their role in the play
The contribution of friar Laurence in Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet's character and their role in the play
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The Catastrophe of Romeo & Juliet Not thinking through a situation can lead to many consequences. In the play The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare, an ongoing quarrel between the Capulet and Montague, lead to the pitiful outcomes of Romeo and Juliet. Throughout the play it is visible that many characters, including Lord Capulet, Friar Laurence, and Tybalt, played a vital role in the development of the terrible deaths of Romeo and Juliet, because they had the biggest influences on the star-crossed lovers. Lord Capulet, Juliet’s father, had one of the biggest impacts on the choices she made. In the quote, Lord Capulet is yelling at Juliet and is telling her how she never listens to Lady Capulet and him. Also, that Juliet …show more content…
In the quote, Friar Laurence tells Juliet of a plan that has her drinking out of a vial, that will make her seem dead for 42 hours. The Friar will then send letters to Romeo, letting him know of the plan. Then when she awakens, she will run away with Romeo to Mantua, and that everything will be fine. “Go home, be merry, give consent/ To marry Paris. Wednesday is tomorrow./ Tomorrow night look that thou lie alone; / Let not the nurse lie with thee in thy chamber./ Take thou vial, being thin in bed” (4.1.89-120). Had the Friar not presented the idea to Juliet, Juliet and Romeo could have found a different alternative to their problem, and not have ended up killing themselves because of the plan. As you can see, Friar Laurence did have good intentions for the star crossed lovers, but as his plan began to fall apart, so did their fates.
Tybalt, Juliet’s cousin, plays a minor part in the suicides of Romeo and Juliet. In the quote, Tybalt is trying to egg on Romeo to fight him. “ Boy, this shall not excuse the injuries that thou hast done me; therefore turn and draw” (3.1.63-65). Had Tybalt not tried to fight Romeo, Mercutio wouldn’t have died and Romeo wouldn’t have gotten in trouble, and a lot of deaths would have been prevented. Clearly, it has shown that, Tybalt’s decision to try and fight Romeo caused even more
Friar Laurence's immature actions make him part of the tragedy. For one, he married Romeo and Juliet. When told that Romeo loves Juliet, Friar replies, "Holy Saint Francis, what a change is here! /Is Rosaline, that thou didst love so dear, /so soon forsaken? Young men's love then lies/ not truly in the hearts, but in their eyes," (II, III, lines 66-69). In these lines, Friar admits that Romeo is only lusting for Juliet. Being the adult, Friar shouldn't have married Romeo until he found true love. However, the Friar was immature and married them anyways. Then, Friar came up with the idea for Juliet to fake death. Juliet is distressed about Romeo being banished so Friar comes up with the plan saying, "Hold, then. Go home, be merry, give consent/ to marry Paris. Wednesday is tomorrow,” Juliet is then suppose to "Take thou this vial, being then in bed/ And this distilling liquor drink thou off." After being buried and awakened, "Shall Romeo bear thee hence to Mantua." (IV, I, Lines 90-119). This bad advise, to give a girl a drink like death and tells her to run away, is only one of many immature actions Friar takes. Finally, Friar did not stay with Juliet after she frantically woke up, in a tomb, next other diseased husband who was supposed to run away with her to Mantua. Inste...
Failing to uphold his end of the plan, causing the plan to fail and resulting with both Romeo and Juliet dying. Friar Laurence admits to being responsible for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. Friar Lawrence made a huge mistake that he could have avoided himself, if only he had thought out his plan better. He trusted Juliet an unstable fourteen-year-old with a potion to make her appear dead just so she would not have to marry Paris. Resulting in the death of herself, Friar Lawrence had even said, "If…thou hast the strength of will to slay thyself…take thou this vial…no warmth, no breath shall testify the livest." He should have been more careful, Friar Laurence's idea for Juliet was very risky and because of his own ignorance has ended up in tragedy. He also admits that he left the tomb and left Juliet there. The Friar knew that Juliet had previously threatened to kill herself, yet he still abandoned her with Romeo's knife. If the Friar truly cared about her safety, he would have forced her to come with him or stayed to prevent her from making any irresponsible
While trying to help Juliet, the Friar gives Juliet a sleeping potion and says, “Let not the nurse lie with thee in thy chamber./ Take thou this vial, being in bed,/ And this distilling liquor drink thou off;” (IV.i.92-94). Friar Lawrence gives Juliet the sleeping potion in hopes it looks as though she is dead to get out of the upcoming marriage with County Paris. He tells Juliet to take the potion while in her room with no one watching and it will slow down her heart rate for forty-two hours. Days following, Juliet will awaken and Romeo will be there to come take her to run away. The Friar hopes for the best in the situation, but does not consider the drawbacks that could and will suddenly occur in his plan. He continuously tells Juliet what she wants to hear in this situation because she sees him as a fatherly figure and he sees her as his daughter. Before Juliet leaves the Friar, he tells her, “ ‘Thou hast the strength of will to sly thyself,/ Then is it likely thou wilt undertake/ A thing like death to chide away this shame,’ ” (Mackenzie 1). The Friar says that Juliet’s only option to get out of marrying the County Paris is to kill herself. His encouragement invokes the idea to Juliet to drink the potion. Trusting Juliet with a sleeping potion and the idea of killing herself showcases his rashness
It is Friar Laurence’s good intentions, his willingness to take risks and his shortsightedness that lead to the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. Friar Lawrence does not have very much time on stage, but the time he does have is crucial to the plot line. Through his words, Friar Lawrence demonstrates that he is well intentioned, yet sometimes shortsighted, and is not afraid to take risks to help others. He may do something out of the ordinary, if he thinks the outcome will help someone for whom he cares. For example, when he says "In one respect I'll thy assistant be;/ for this alliance may so happy prove, / to turn your households rancor to pure love" (II.iii.97-99), he is saying that the only reason he will marry Romeo and Juliet is that he hopes that the marriage will end the hostilities between the two houses.
Romeo was very loyal to his friends and family, and it is possible that Mercutio thought that Romeo would help him fight off Tybalt (since he was unaware of Romeo and Juliet’s secret marriage that somewhat united Romeo and Tybalt). However, this argument is easily deemed invalid. Romeo was not in the town square when the fight had first began, so Mercutio expecting his help in the fight would be a far-fetched idea. A person who is not present cannot help or hinder the situation at hand. In addition, Romeo tried to break up the fight when he said, “Gentlemen, for shame forbear this outrage! Tybalt! Mercutio! The Prince expressly hath forbid this bandying in Verona streets. Hold, Tybalt! Good Mercutio!” (Shakespeare 121). Romeo tried to stop the fight and therefore gave Mercutio more time before death, albeit minimal. The blame cannot be placed on Romeo since he did all that he could to stop the fight from
While weeping over what Juliet would think of him after finding out he killed Tybalt, he was relieved to know that Juliet still loved him, “Go before, Nurse commend me to thy lady,/ And bid her hasten all the house to bed,/ Which heavy sorrows make the apt unto./Romeo is coming” (Shakespeare 3.3.155). Friar knew about Romeo and Juliet’s secret romance from the beginning, but he did not do anything to stop it, in fact, it was Friar who married the two. Friar Lawrence knew what could happen, but his only advice was to take slow. In addition, Friar Lawrence also gave Juliet the potion to put her into a fake death so she could avoid marrying Paris. After putting in serious consideration about drinking the potion Juliet decided to take the chance. “Take this vial, being then in bed,/ And this distilling liquor thou off,/ When presently through all thy veins shall run/ A cold drowsy humour” (4.1.90-91). Friar gave Juliet the potion because she said she would rather kill herself than marry Paris and after saying that Friar came up with the
Also in the beginning of the play a fight breaks out between the Montague and Capulet families and the Prince intervenes and after telling them to drop their weapons he says “If ever you disturb our streets again, your lives shall pay the forfeit of the peace.” Although this rule was given Tybalt challenged Romeo to a duel. Romeo kept refusing to fight Tybalt which caused Mercutio to be outraged and draw his own sword. During the duel between Tybalt and Mercutio, Romeo intervenes and tries to stop them both but Tybalt puts his sword under Romeo’s arm and kills Mercutio. Romeo then fights with Tybalt and murders him and is banished from Verona. If Tybalt hadn’t been so aggressive with the whole situation Romeo wouldn’t have been banished, and Juliet wouldn’t have needed to come up with a plan that resulted in both of their deaths.
After Tybalt killed Mercutio and Romeo challenges him to a duel, Romeo demands, “That late thou gavest me, for Mercutio’s soul/ Is but a little way above our heads/ Staying for thine to keep him company/ Either thou or I, or both, must go with him” (Shakespeare Act III scene i, lines 119-123). This quote shows how Romeo’s downfall is partly his fault because he is defying the prince’s command to no longer fight with the Capulets by challenging Tybalt. Since Romeo is aware that he is defying the prince and fighting anyway it is proven he is contributing to his own demise or downfall. When Mercutio is wounded after fighting Tybalt , he cries, “I am hurt/ A plague o’ both your houses!” (Shakespeare Act III scene i, lines 84-85). The excerpt shows how even Mercutio recognizes the feud between the Montagues and Capulets being destructive, and how it is now gotten so out of hand he has been dragged in it. Mercutio tries to open Romeo’s eyes on how if this feud continues there will be a demise for both families; but by Romeo choosing to ignore this advice and killing Tybalt he is setting himself up for his failure/downfall. Thus, Romeo is shown a tragic hero because his demise is partly his fault and not an
After catching Romeo at a party he was not supposed to be at, Tybalt had it out for Romeo. Just after Romeo and Juliet’s wedding, Tybalt comes looking for him wanting to fight. Romeo does not want to fight because he now loves Tybalt since he is family to him, but neither Tybalt or anyone else knows this reason. Quickly, Mercutio steps in and tells Tybalt that he will fight him in honour of Romeo. Sadly, this led to the death of Mercutio.
Romeo, as a young adolescence, your brain is not fully developed, which may lead to regretful decisions. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, teens have a “tendency to act on impulse -without regard for risk.” Therefore, you may not see how irrational this idea is; although, you will when it is too late. Also, Friar Lawrence has devised a plan that reunites you and your Juliet. His plan is to fake Juliet’s death, steal her away in the night, and hide the two of you from your families so that you may live happily ever after. When you die in a matter of hours, Friar explains to both houses how the plan went wrong starting with how he gave Juliet a sleeping potion and he claims he, “intended for it wrought on her the form of death.” He continues to say, “Meantime I writ to Romeo that he should hither come as this dire night to help to take her from her borrowed grave.” Finally he pleas that, “Friar John was stayed by accident, and yesternight returned my letter back.” In my ghostly form, I witnessed him explain the unfolding of these events. Take it from me that making this impulsive decision is unwise and will only ruin Friar’s plan. In addition, poor Juliet is unfortunate enough to awaken to your
Although the Capulets did arrange orchestrate Juliet’s marriage to Paris, they believed that Juliet was aware of what it entailed, and openly accepted it. They did not intend to upset or harm Juliet and felt it was best for her, in addition to not knowing of her secret romance. In Friar Laurence’s case, he was aware of how much the two loved each other, and chose to provide Juliet with a potion that would lead to her death. Romeo did not know of this, and when he did hear of what she had done, it was too late. If Friar Laurence had chosen to ask Friar John to deliver the letter to Romeo promptly, Romeo would have known the urgency of the situation, preventing the unfortunate deaths of the couple in the end. Friar Laurence’s actions had a directly negative impact on the deaths of Romeo and Juliet, based on his failure to consider the effect of his own actions on their lives and
When Romeo killed Tybalt, he wasn’t in the right mindset to be able to control his emotions and actions. Romeo decided quickly and impulsively that, he had to get revenge for his friend Mercutio. He didn’t think about the outcomes that might come from killing Tybalt, like getting banned from Verona or even death. “…have thrice disturbed the quiet of our streets and made Verona’s ancient
Tybalt was hoping that Romeo would be present. Mercutio, however, started to joke around which slightly aggravated Tybalt. When Romeo turned up, Tybalt directly challenged him to a fight:
This statement is important as it shows the Friar does not truly believe in the affection between the two lovers and that he believes Romeo cares only about the looks of Juliet. The Friar claims, "…this alliance may so happy prove/To turn [their] households' rancour to pure love"(2.4.90-93) yet he denies his responsibilities by failing to notify anyone of the large secret he holds. It is obvious that Friar Laurence is not simply ignorant of the potential disaster being created but plainly disregarding it when he states, "These violent delights have violent ends/And in their triumphs die, like fire and powder"(2.6.9-10). The Friar's willingness to ignore such strong predictions of death for the mere possibility of a good outcome, for which he will be recognized, shows his appalling judgement as well as his distorted morals.
Tybalt was a adversary of Romeo and had the drift to kill him. His spleen of the situation is Romeo trying to love his coz Juliet. He approached Romeo and Mercutio looking for a fight. Tybalt and Mercutio ended up fighting and Tybalt killed Mercutio, because Tybalt did this, he deserved the death penalty for his transgression. Romeo then took revenge and killed him (3.1.70). This is a legal issue because Tybalt was going to be treated to the death penalty anyway so Romeo killing him was just like giving him the death penalty. This death is a lot different than the others because his was a legal issue and he deserved to die, the other deaths in the play like Romeo, Juliet and Mercutio decided to die for a family member that they love.