Friar Lawrence In Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet

Mark Twain famously said, “Action speaks louder than words.” In the case of Friar Lawrence, this statement is true. In Romeo and Juliet, a long feud between the Montague and Capulet families disrupted the city of Verona and caused tragic results for Romeo and Juliet, who fell in love but were forbidden to be together. Friar Lawrence secretly married them, but then Juliet’s parents arranged for her to marry noble Paris. Juliet took a sleeping potion, provided by Friar Lawrence, that made her appear to be dead for forty-two hours so she could evade marrying Paris. Romeo was to be told that she was still alive; however he was not informed, so he illegally purchased a poison so that he could be with Juliet in death. He went to her tomb, fought

with Paris, and drank the poison and when Juliet awoke, she saw Romeo’s body, ignored Friar Lawrence's pleas and offers for a new life, and killed herself with Romeo's dagger. Friar Lawrence’s actions throughout this affair validate his innocence in the deaths of Romeo and Juliet because throughout the play, he demonstrates how much he cares about the couple, even after their deaths, and he is willing to surrender his happiness for their security and satisfaction.

The Friar is innocent because he follows through with various plans over the course of the tragedy that attempt to maintain the wellbeing of Romeo and Juliet. When Romeo comes asking Friar Lawrence to marry him and Juliet, the Friar was skeptical of the intentions of Romeo’s love because Romeo was recently obsessed with Rosaline. However, he agrees to marry them because he sees the marriage as the thing that would end the feud: “But come, young waverer, come, go with me./ In one respect I’ll thy assistant be,/ For this alliance may so happy prove/ To turn your households’ rancor to pure love”(2.3.96-99). He sees that Romeo and Juliet want to be together, but he also knows that their families were rivals, which causes him to be unsure about how to handle the situation. By choosing to marry the lovers instead of just ignoring their request, Friar Lawrence demonstrates his care for the couple because even though the feud was keeping the lovers apart, he thinks marrying them would be best for their own happiness

because it would terminate the feud, thus allowing the young pair to be together openly. Later in the play, Friar Lawrence comes up with another idea that would preserve Juliet’s -and therefore Romeo’s- life. Juliet, anxious and afraid, comes to Friar Lawrence looking for a way to avoid marrying Paris, so he proposes an idea: “Take thou this vial, being then in bed,/ And this distilling liquor drink thou off;/ When presently through all thy veins shall run/ A cold and drowsy humor; for no pulse/ Shall keep his native progress, but surcease”(4.1.95-199). Friar Lawrence once again puts Romeo and Juliet’s happiness above all when he suggests to Juliet taking a potion that will produce a death-like sleep instead of letting her kill herself or have to marry Paris. By offering her this potion, he risks his own position in the Church to further aid Juliet in her quest for reuniting with Romeo, her true love, and alludes that he truly cared and was thinking only of the young newlyweds’ own merriment. Some claim that Friar Lawrence’s plan for Juliet to fake her death is extremely flawed because he is only focused on concealing his own role in the marriage of Romeo and Juliet and not on the possible glitches in his scheme. But, this statement is false because, in the end, the Friar is willing to confess everything he had done for the couple, instead of just keeping his actions hidden. He admits to Prince Escaulus: “I married them…/ Then I gave her (so tutored by my art)/ A sleeping potion, which so took effect/ As I intended, for it wrought on her/ The form of death. Meantime I writ to Romeo” (5.3.242, 252-255). When he admits his role in the love affair of Romeo and Juliet, the Friar knows he may be forfeiting his dear position in the church, and possibly even his life. He reveals his part in the affair of Romeo and Juliet to give closure to their parents. This expresses how much he cares for the couple because, even though they were dead, he was still doing something for their sake. His dedication to the couple, before and after their death, and his willingness to confess to his own actions for a cause he believed in indicate that Friar Lawrence sincerely wanted their young love to overcome the feud that was persisting between their families.
As Friar Lawrence is faced with two suicidal teens after Romeo’s banishment, he does the best he could under the hazardous circumstances to keep Romeo and Juliet alive and to give them a chance at being reunited, even if it means risking his own life. After Romeo draws his dagger and attempts to commit suicide, he is scolded by the Friar for acting immaturely. Lawrence exclaims, “Hold thy desperate hand!/ Art thou a man? Thy form cries out thou art./ Thy tears are womanish; thy wild acts denote/ The unreasonable fury of a beast” (3.3.118-121). Friar Lawrence demands that Romeo behave like a rational adult and deal with his problem in a mature way because he was concerned, not only for Romeo’s life, but for the influence that Romeo’s death would have on Juliet’s decisions. The Friar manifests how much he cares about Romeo and Juliet when he intervenes with Romeo’s suicide attempt. Later, when frantic Juliet threatens to kill herself, Friar Lawrence comes up with an impromptu way to direct Juliet’s attention away from the knife in her hand and refocus her thoughts on how she would get out of marrying Paris and finally be with Romeo: “If, rather than to marry County Paris,/ Thou hast the strength of will to slay thyself,/ Then is it likely thou wilt undertake/ A thing like death to chide away this shame,/ That cop’st with death himself to ‘scape from it;/ And if thou darest, I’ll give thee remedy” (4.1.72-77). Friar Lawrence does not want Juliet to lose her life as long as she still has a chance of rejoining Romeo. Enticing her into listening to what he had to say successfully diverts her attention away from suicide and back onto how she could evade having to marry someone other than her beloved Romeo. The Friar’s readiness to devise a plan that would save the lives of Romeo and Juliet, even if it meant putting himself at risk of punishment, demonstrates that he truly cares about the lovers because he was doing whatever it took to keep them happy and together. While he is somewhat successful, others may argue that later on, the Friar did not try hard enough to save Juliet after Romeo’s hasty death because he left her in the Capulet tomb with Romeo’s body, prompting her to end her life. However, Friar Lawrence does attempt to get Juliet out of the vault when he offers to take her to a nunnery so she could start a new life, free from her tyrannical parents. He begs her, “...Come, come away./ Thy husband in thy bosom there lies dead,/ And Paris, too. Come, I’ll dispose of thee/ Among a sisterhood of holy nuns” (5.3.159-162). The Friar doesn’t want Juliet to be caught by the night watch because it would result in her being back in the care of her callous father and acquisitive mother instead of being able to start a new life. His knowledge of Juliet’s family history contributes to his desire for her to be happy, even without Romeo. The Friar did everything he could do to prevent Romeo and Juliet from killing themselves, and risked his own standing in the eyes of the Church and the two families so that he could help the lovers end up happy and together.
Despite numerous setbacks throughout the play, Friar Lawrence never gives up on the young couple and their protection.

Friar John’s alarming news that the letter to Romeo was left undelivered sends Friar Lawrence into a panic-stricken state of urgency. He declares, “Unhappy fortune! By my brotherhood,/ The letter was not nice but full of charge,/Of dear import, and the neglecting it/ May do much danger. Friar John, go hence” (5.2.17-20). Friar Lawrence’s desperation to correct the mishaps implies that he still remains strong in his desire to keep Romeo and Juliet together until the very end. Even though he anticipates that Juliet will wake alone and curse him for not bringing Romeo to get her, he remains loyal and promises to keep her safe until Romeo’s return. Even after Romeo’s death near the end of the play, Friar Lawrence immediately tries to protect Juliet from this awful news: “I hear some noise.-Lady, come from that nest/ Of death, contagion, and unnatural sleep./ A greater power than we can contradict/ Hath thwarted our intents…” (5.3.156-159). Knowing that Romeo was dead, Lawrence’s first thought turns to Juliet. He does not want her to see her true love’s corpse because he wishes to shield her from any sorrow and anguish. His desire to keep her protected shows that Lawrence still has the best intentions for Juliet, even though her husband is dead. Some people may believe that Friar Lawrence leaves Juliet in her family’s tomb because he is afraid of

being caught by the night watch. Nevertheless, the Friar only leaves because he wants to meet Juliet’s desire to be with Romeo one last time. She says to the Friar, “Go, get thee hence, for I will not away”(5.3.165). Friar Lawrence continues to display his fierce allegiance to her yet again by granting Juliet’s request to let her stay with Romeo in the mausoleum for a little while longer. Little does he know, her plan is much more than saying farewell to her dearest Romeo. The Friar’s loyalty and his urgency to safeguard Romeo and Juliet’s marriage comes to fruition when he is tested with multiple complications that arise in his plan to reunite the couple, but he overcomes these hurdles as best as he can to protect both Romeo and Juliet.
Throughout Romeo and Juliet, Friar Lawrence plays the role of a priest, parent, confidant, and mentor to the young couple. He marries Romeo and Juliet, devises plans to help them stay together, and he even risks his own position in the Church to keep them and their love alive. The Friar’s innocence was defended by his acts of extreme loyalty to each individual; even after the death of Romeo, he still devotes his utmost regard to Juliet. He tries to guide of Romeo and Juliet, as young as they were, through acting out of love for them and speaking out of concern for their wellbeing. His sacrifices were meant to protect Romeo and Juliet throughout their courtship, marriage, and future. These deeds contribute all the more to his innocence in their deaths because they demonstrate how he put their delight before his own. In Friar Lawrence’s situation, his actions speak louder to Romeo and Juliet than even the words from their own parents.