Friar Laurence In William Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet

One of the first multidimensional characters shown through both positive and negative character traits is Juliet. While Juliet is very thoughtful, and thinks through her decisions often times she can also be rebellious. In the first act of Romeo and Juliet, Juliet is having a conversation with her mother about settling down and getting married. Her mother asks her if she can accept Paris, a young bachelor in Verona, as her love. Juliet then replies by saying, “I’ll look to like if looking liking move” (1. 3. 106). The above is evidence as to how much Juliet considers her ideas before making a decision on either what she is going to do or what she is going to say. In this case, it is the latter. By telling her mother, Lady Capulet, this, she

gives Lady Capulet just the answer that she is looking for, giving Paris a chance. On top of this, she has given herself some wiggle room. By saying “I’ll look to like if liking move” she is guaranteeing to her mother that she will give Paris a chance, but not guaranteeing that she will end up marrying him. But with only positive traits, a character surely cannot be multidimensional. So, for Shakespeare to achieve his creation of multidimensional characters, he assigns Juliet the negative characteristic of rebellious behaviors. Early on in the play, the Capulets hold a party at their house. At this very party Juliet meets a young man only a few years older than herself, and they immediately fall in love. This young man happens to be Romeo Montague, a member of the family that are the Capulets’ worst enemy. When Juliet finds out Romeo’s identity, she is absolutely beside herself. “My only love sprung from my only hate! / Too early seen unknown, and known too late! / Prodigious birth of love it is to me, / That I must love a loathed enemy” (1. 5. 154-157). Juliet is now well aware that Romeo is her worst enemy, and yet, she rebels against the rest of her family’s beliefs. Juliet goes behind her family’s back, just as Romeo does with his own family, and Romeo and Juliet get married.

Because it was crucial for Romeo and Juliet’s marriage to be kept a secret, there was only one person Romeo felt he could trust, Friar Laurence.

Friar Laurence is yet another multidimensional character created by Shakespeare. In this case, while be very wise, Friar is a character who also tends to be hypocritical. Throughout Romeo’s life Friar has always been a fatherly figure towards Romeo presenting him with advice on how to act and live his life. Right before the marriage of Romeo and Juliet, Friar gives a cautionary speech to Romeo in which he says, “Therefore love moderately. Long love doth so. / Too swift arrives as tardy as too slow” (2. 6. 15-16). Friar Laurence advises Romeo that the only way his marriage with Juliet will last is by balancing his love, because loving too fast or too much will cause their marriage to collapse. As sound as Friar Laurence’s judgment is, he often contradicts what he says through his actions and becomes rather hypocritical. When Romeo first approaches Friar telling him of his love for Juliet and requests that Friar marry the couple, Friar is hesitant. Finally Friar agrees to marry them. “But come young waverer, come, go with me, / In one respect I’ll thy assistant be” (2. 3. 97-98). In this section of the play, Friar calls Romeo a young waverer, meaning that Romeo is inconsistent and often changes his mind. Then Friar decides that although Romeo is an inconsistent man, he will marry Romeo and Juliet. After this Friar tells Romeo that he needs to love “Wisely and slow. They stumble that run fast” (2. 3. 102-103). Friar had previously told Romeo that he was a young waverer, and now is hypocritically telling him that he needs to make wise decisions with his relationship with Juliet. While Friar Laurence is wise, throughout the entirety of the play Shakespeare characterizes Friar to be hypocritical of

himself.

Similar to the fatherly figure that Friar Laurence serves for Romeo, the Nurse in Romeo and Juliet serves as a motherly figure for Juliet. Nurse provides a third multidimensional character to make Shakespeare’s play more engaging. Nurse shows herself to be very devoted to her job and her relationship with Juliet. On the other hand however, Nurse is often irritating in the way she is characterized to ramble on and on, giving unnecessary information to both Juliet, the rest of the characters, and the audience. When Shakespeare first introduces Nurse to the audience, she, Lady Capulet, and Juliet are discussing a possible marriage arrangement for Juliet with Paris. When Lady Capulet finds herself somewhat uncertain of what Juliet’s age is, she turns to Nurse for help. “Peace, I have done. God mark thee to his grace! / Thou wast the prettiest babe that e’er I nursed. / An I might live to see thee married once, / I have my wish” (1. 3. 65-68). In the above passage, Nurse describes Juliet as being the prettiest baby that she has ever nursed, and tells Juliet how much she looks forward to the day of her marriage. This shows how devoted Nurse has been throughout Juliet’s entire life, as well as just how much she cares for Juliet. As much as Nurse cares about Juliet, and Juliet Nurse, Nurse can be irritating to everyone, including Juliet. Nurse goes at length to describe different experiences she had had when Juliet was a child. As she does this, she rambles on about her entire life. “She could have run and waddled all about, / For even the day before, she broke her brow. / And then my husband - God be with his soul!” (1. 3. 42-44). Nurse then continues to blab on about information that Lady Capulet nor Juliet care to hear about when Lady Capulet finally interjects, “Enough of this. I pray thee, hold thy peace” (1. 3. 55). When Lady Capulet says this the viewers sees that not only did Shakespeare intend the rambling of Nurse to be irritating to the audience but to all other characters in the play as well.