Friar Lawrence's Role in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet
Friar Lawrence is an intelligent herbalist with great knowledge of
plants and a father figure to Romeo. He is the confidant to Romeo and
Romeo would rather come to Friar Lawrence than to his father. Friar
Lawrence is a pivotal person in Romeos world. Romeo comes to the Friar
to marry Romeo and Juliet and after this he kills Tybalt and is
banished. He then relies on the Friar to sort out the problem and to
rejoin Romeo and Juliet. The Friar is aware of the feuding between the
two families and when Romeo comes to see whether the Friar with marry
Romeo and Juliet the Friar thinks he can turn the "households rancour
to pure love"[1]. The Friar thinks he is vital to the joining of the
two families as he is asked to give advice by members of all families:
Romeo, Juliet, Paris and the Nurse.
It could be argued that Friar Lawrence is partly responsible for the
deaths of Romeo and Juliet as he performs many actions throughout the
play that speed up the fated demise of Romeo and Juliet, including
their marriage, even though he is doing this with good intentions. He
is not entirely to blame though as the Friar did not kill Tybalt and
did not abandon Juliet when things began to go wrong, nor did he start
the feud between the two families or have a hand in fate.
We first see him in Act 2 Scene 3 where he is talking about plants and
their seemingly magical properties and displays a great knowledge of
plants. This information is important, as it is needed to believe
events at the end of the play. Romeo then rushes in explaining that he
doesn't love Rosaline anymore:
"With Ro...
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...cene 1 Lines 72-76
[14] Act 4 Scene 1 Line 76
[15] Act 4 Scene 1 line 94
[16] Act 4 Scene 1 Line 98
[17] Act 4 Scene 1 Line 106
[18] Act 4 Scene 1 Line 118
[19] Act 5 Scene 3 Lines 153-154
[20] Act 5 Scene 3 Lines 158-159
[21] Act 2 Scene 2 Line 127
[22] Act 2 Scene 2 Line 118
[23] Act 2 Scene 2 Line 12
[24] Act 2 Scene 3 Lines 66-68
[25] Act 3 Scene 1 Lines 136-137
[26] Act 5 Scene 1 Lines 18-19
[27] Act 5 Scene 1 Lines 60-61
[28] Act 4 Scene 1 Line 121
[29] Act 3 Scene 5 Lines 161-162
[30] Act 1 Scene 1 Line 69
[31] Act 1 Scene 5 Lines 68-69
[32] Act 3 Scene 5 Lines 217-218
[33] Act 3 Scene 1 Lines 175-177
[34] Prologue Line 6
[35] Act 3 Scene 1 Line 136
[36] Act 1 Scene 4 Lines 107-108 + 112-114
[37] Act 5 Scene 1 Line 24
have not seen in previous parts of the play. We find out that he is
Friar Lawrence in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet "We still have known thee for a holy man"
in Act 1 scene 5 at his ‘old accustomed feast’. In this scene he acts
beginning of the play; it was only in Act 3 when he was accused of
Act 1, Scene 1 is the very first scene of the play so this introduces
Now because of this both of them turn to him for help when they are in
The first phase this happened was in the start of the novel. In act 2 scene
In Romeo and Juliet, a tragedy by William Shakespeare, Friar Lawrence plays a dominate role in the eventual death of Romeo and Juliet even though he is not on stage for most of the play. There are basically three major parts that lead to the tragedy; the marriage, the plan, and the inevitable deaths in all which Friar Lawrence plays a vital role.Friar Lawrence plays an essential role in the marriage of young Romeo and Juliet. At Romeo’s request Friar Lawrence states, "In one respect I’ll thy assistant be; for this alliance may so happy prove, to turn your households to pure love" (Act 2 Scene 3.) Friar Lawrence believes that this holy marriage would bring the Capulet family and Montuague family closer together, for he anticipates that the families will stop hating each other and be peaceful. His attempts to make the marriage of Romeo and Juliet are admirable but poorly planned.
Friar Lawrence is one of the most important characters in the play, Romeo & Juliet.
The people who start the story and also the one to end is the people to blame.
In Shakespeare's play, Romeo and Juliet, Friar Laurence has a major role. As a member of the Order of St. Francis, a group of wise and generous priests, Romeo and Juliet trusted Friar Laurence completely, turning to him for advice, and solutions. He was there throughout Romeo’s and Juliet's lives; he married them, came up with a plan to keep them together, and was a friend throughout their tragedies. However, Friar Laurence’s rash action in marrying Romeo and Juliet, his shortsighted plan for rescuing Juliet from an unwanted marriage to Paris, and his fear of committing sin all contributed to the deaths of Romeo and Juliet.
In Romeo and Juliet, by William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet are in love but end up dying because of Friar Lawrence's risky acts. If Friar Laurence did not take huge risks and took a safe and reliable way, deaths could have been avoided. If it were not for the hazardous acts of Friar Laurence, Romeo and Juliet would not have died.
Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy- but it did not have to be. Romeo and Juliet is the tragic story of two star-crossed lovers, Romeo and Juliet, who are the son and daughter of two feuding families, the Montagues and the Capulets. Written by the famed playwright Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet take place in the 14-15 century in the cities of Verona and Mantua, cities in northern Italy. After a series of events that involves Romeo getting banished from Verona and Juliet getting forced to marry a count, Paris, they kill themselves. It has been argued for centuries about who is to blame for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet. But, once reading the book thoroughly and consulting several sources, it is obvious who is solely to blame- Friar Lawrence. Because of the actions of Friar Lawrence, the play ended with two grieving families instead of two happy newlyweds. Although many characters contributed to their deaths, only Friar Lawrence was solely responsible for them. Friar Lawrence’s cowardice, secrecy, and miscommunication led directly to the deaths of Romeo and Juliet.
It is remarkably noted that in Romeo and Juliet, the two young lovers die for their love for each other, but many people question who's at fault? Is it Friar Laurence, the two lovers themselves, their parents, fate or a number of people? I believe that the parents are at fault. I believe they are at fault because the Montagues had a feud with the Capulets.This feud led the two lover to secretly get married, because Juliet's parents don't know about this they wanted Juliet to marry Paris. Which created a whole new issue.
It is in the scenes directly following Act 3 Scene 2 that we see two