Friar's Relationship In Romeo And Juliet

In Romeo and Juliet, the relationship between Friar Laurence and Romeo is a very special and close one. The Friar and Romeo share a close bond as well as many secrets. Romeo tells the Friar everything, from his love for Rosaline, to his love for Juliet. The Friar is always eager to listen to Romeo, and tries his best to give him good advice and lead him along the right path.
In the play, when we first see Romeo and the Friar together, Friar Laurence implies that Romeo looks tired and probably did not get any sleep when he says, “Our Romeo hath not been in bed tonight.” (2.3 42) Romeo then admits that he did not get any sleep to which the Friar says, “God pardon sin! Wast thou with Rosaline?” (2.3 44) This conversation between Friar Laurence and Romeo really lets you see how close the two of them really are. The Friar knows Romeo well enough to have an idea of why Romeo might have stayed up all night. This exchange between the Friar and Romeo also indicates that Romeo had already told Friar Laurence about how much he loved Rosaline, again proving that the two of them are close.
After the exchange between Romeo and the Friar about Romeo not getting any sleep, Romeo tells Friar Laurence that he is in love with, “The fair daughter of rich Capulet.” (2.3 58) After hearing that Romeo is in love with Juliet instead of

Rosaline, the Friar says to Romeo, “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 their hearts, but in their eyes.” (2.3 65–68) As the Friar is telling Romeo this, he is shocked that Romeo has moved on from Rosaline so quickly. He is also telling him that Romeo does not truly love Juliet with his heart, but he only loves her because of her beauty. After reminding Romeo of all the times that he had been crying because of Rosaline, the Friar says, “Women may fall when there's no strength in men.” (3.2 80) During this encounter between the two men, the Friar is criticising Romeo for professing his love for Juliet so quickly, and for completely forgetting about Rosaline, who he had been in love with and crying over the day before. The Friar also tells Romeo that he cannot expect women to be so faithful when men are so untrustworthy, talking about how he moved on from Rosaline so quickly. This discussion between Friar Laurence and Romeo again proves how much the Friar cares about Romeo, because if the Friar did not care, he would not be trying to stop Romeo from going from girl to girl.
Following the debate between Friar Laurence and Romeo, Romeo continues to say that he is in love with Juliet, and asks the Friar to marry the two of them. Although the Friar is reluctant at first, he finally agrees to it when he says, “For this alliance may so happy prove to turn your households’ rancor to pure love.” (3.2 91–92) When the Friar says that he will help Romeo and Juliet get married, he is not really thinking about Romeo in particular, but rather he is using Romeo and Juliet’s marriage to end a feud between their two families.
When the time comes for Romeo and Juliet to finally get married, Romeo is eager to get the marriage done with. When the Friar sees this, he says to Romeo, “The sweetest honey is loathsome in his own deliciousness and in the taste confounds the appetite.” (2.6 11–13) Friar Laurence tells Romeo that he needs to slow things down with Juliet, and he explains that Romeo needs to love in moderation. During Romeo and Juliet’s marriage, we can see that the Friar is worried for Romeo, and that he wants Romeo to have a long-lasting marriage. Even though Friar Laurence is only marrying Romeo and Juliet to end their families’ feud, we can still see that he cares about Romeo and does not want him making any mistakes that could ruin his marriage.
Later in the play, after killing Tybalt, Romeo flees to Friar Laurence and asks him what his punishment is.

The Friar tells Romeo that instead of being sentenced to death, he has been banished. When Romeo hears that instead of being killed he has been banished, he says that he would have rather been killed because he has no life outside of Verona’s walls. When the Friar hears of Romeo’s ungratefulness, he scolds Romeo, saying that he committed a crime punishable by death, but instead his life has been spared. Romeo then says, “'Tis torture and not mercy. Heaven is here, where Juliet lives; and every cat and dog and little mouse, every unworthy

thing,
live here in heaven and may look on her, but Romeo may not.” (3.3 29–33) After Romeo says this, Juliet’s nurse knocks at the Friar’s door and tells Romeo that she had been crying out Romeo’s name. Romeo thinks that Juliet hates him so he pulls out a dagger and threatens to kill himself. The Friar then intervenes and convinces Romeo to put the dagger away by saying, “Hast thou slain Tybalt? Wilt thou slay thyself? And slay thy lady that in thy life lives by doing damned hate upon thyself?” (3.3 16–18) The Friar then tells Romeo to climb to Juliet’s room and fulfill their wedding vows. He continues to tell Romeo that he cannot stay though, that he must go to Mantua until he can convince the Prince to pardon Romeo. Even in one of Romeo’s most tragic moments, Friar Laurence is still there to help him through it and tell him what to do, again proving how close the two of them are.
While Romeo is banished and in Mantua, Lord Capulet is forcing Juliet to marry Paris, even though she is already married to Romeo. Juliet is devastated and ends up going to Friar Laurence for help. While there, the Friar comes up with a very smart, but risky plan to get Romeo and Juliet back together. He gives Juliet a potion that will make her seem dead for 42 hours and tells her to drink it before she goes to bed. When she wakes up, and everyone discovers that she is dead they will put her in their family crypt. Meanwhile the Friar will get word to Romeo about the plan and have him arrive at the tomb the moment Juliet awakens. The two lovers will then both flee from Verona and go to Mantua to live together. After Juliet hears this she says, “Love give me strength, and strength shall help afford. Farewell, dear father.” (4.1 125–26) Even while Romeo is in a completely different town, the Friar still finds a way to help him and reunite Romeo and Juliet.
The plan that Friar Laurence and Juliet came up with did not go as planned however. The potion that the Friar gave to Juliet worked, and she was put in the crypt, however Romeo never received the letter Friar Laurence sent him. The night that Juliet was supposed to wake up with Romeo at her side was the night that Friar Laurence realised that Romeo never received the letter, so he rushes to her grave so that someone is there with her when she wakes up. Although Romeo had already heard of Juliet’s death while in Mantua, and buys poison from a poor apothecary saying, “Come, cordial and not poison, go with me to Juliet’s grave; for there I must use thee.” (5.1 85–86) Romeo plans on making his way to Juliet’s grave to drink the poison and die next to her. When the Friar arrives at the tomb, he sees that Romeo and Paris are both lying in the tomb dead. Juliet then wakes up and the Friar tells her that they must leave because the city watch is coming, but Juliet refuses to leave so the Friar leaves anyways. Juliet then picks up Romeo’s dagger and stabs herself. Even though the Friar’s plan did not go as planned at all, he still tried to find a way for Romeo and Juliet to be together.
In conclusion, Friar Laurence and Romeo do have a very close relationship, and the Friar would do anything for Romeo. However, the Friar’s love for Romeo made him almost overlook commonsense, in that Romeo asked the Friar to do things that a friar would normally never do. Although in the end, the Friar is left to mourn the deaths of Romeo and Juliet, and take responsibility for their deaths, he still loved Romeo and cared for him very very much.