Preview

Friar Laurence's Role In The Tragedy Of Romeo And Juliet

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
595 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Friar Laurence's Role In The Tragedy Of Romeo And Juliet
The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, written by Shakespeare, is a play filled with love, pitiful tragedies, and sorrowful deaths. Romeo and Juliet are “a pair of star-cross’d lovers” from the beginning, but they decide that they would rather die than ever be without each other (DOC A). The misfortune serves to part the feud between the two disputing families, the Capulets and the Montagues. The lives of Romeo and Juliet were suddenly terminated after the foolish decisions of Friar Laurence, their families, and most of all, Fate. Friar Laurence is a considerable factor in the tragedy that happens to Romeo and Juliet. When Friar Laurence finds out about Romeo’s plan to marry Juliet, he does not believe that Romeo is committing to Juliet or that it is true love. Although Romeo quickly decides to marry Juliet just after being “in love” …show more content…
They decide to take “the fearful passage of their death-mark’d love,” even though it ends in a grave (DOC A). It is fate that Romeo never received the letter telling him of Juliet’s safety, and that it was a big mishap and misunderstanding. They realized that the force working against their love was “greater power than [they] can contradict” (DOC E). Fate lead Romeo to think Juliet was dead, so he would start a domino effect leading to Juliet’s end. Fate ruins the love and bond between Romeo and Juliet, but it also causes the Capulets and Montagues to abolish their feud for their children.
In conclusion, Romeo and Juliet’s death came about because of many reasons, but some have more blame than others. Friar Laurence and the families’ decisions are big parts of the tragedy that happens with Romeo and Juliet, but Fate is the real game changer. Fate assuredly has the most blame on the deaths because Fate is uncontrollable. Although the deaths caused the long drawn out feud between families to end, Romeo and Juliet’s love lives

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Friar Laurence plays a large part in the downfall of Romeo and Juliet. He is extremely secretive with Romeo and Juliet’s relationship, he does not communicate well, and is an overall coward. Friar Laurence makes the ill-advised decision to marry Romeo and Juliet instead of denying to marry them and telling their parents. He believes that their relationship is better kept a secret. In fact, the Friar reveals how uneasy he feels about the union, but goes through with it anyway because of these deep beliefs: “O she knew well Thy love did read by rote, that could not spell. But come, young waverer, come go with me, In one respect I’ll…

    • 1286 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Friar laurence also made immature choices as well. He agreed to marry the two and also made a plan that in the end killed them. “ Take thou this vial, being then in bed and this distilled liquor drink thou off” (pg. 255). Here the friar tells Juliet to drink a poison that won’t kill her but make her sleep for two days. He does this so she can fake her death and be with Romeo. The Friar also made the decision to marry Romeo and Juliet in the beginning of the play. “ I’ll thy assistant be; for this alliance may so happy prove to turn your households rancer to pure love” (pg. 217). This is where things started going bad for the two. The friar could have denied Romeo when he asked for him to marry…

    • 589 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In this article it states that “The tragedy overwhelming the lovers is brought about not by error on their part but by circumstances outside their control by what is to them external accident ”(Moulton Web). This quote discusses that the death of Romeo and Juliet isn't their fault it's something they wouldn’t have been able to stop. Also in this article the author mentions that “For those who care to look for it may be seen a providence of retribution: evil has brought forth even where the feud of the parents has caused the death of the children”(Moulton Web).This quote talks about how in The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet if the two families were not feuding then Romeo and Juliet would not be dead. If there was no feuding then Romeo and Juliet would not had have to marry in secret. These two characters could have been happily married. Overall these quotation and this article helps prove that fate killed Romeo and Juliet.…

    • 795 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Friar Lawrence was a big part of the Romeo and Juliet story. He was the man who made things happen from the wedding to Juliet’s faked death, but did all these things lead to what was continues to be the saddest story ever written. Friar knew that Romeo wasn’t in love with Juliet he told him “So soon forsaken? Young men’s love then lies Not truly in their hearts, but in their eyes.” (Act 2 Scene 3) Even knowing that information Friar Lawrence agreed to marry the two children in hopes it would end the feud. He didn’t consider the long term effects of this marriage, Romeo told him he would be willing to die if he had…

    • 690 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Friar Laurence’s involvement in the marriage of Romeo and Juliet has caused a tragedy. Romeo and Juliet thought that they fell in love, but the Friar should have known that they were just kids and they were really rushing into things. In Romeo and Juliet, Friar Laurence says, “These violent delights have violent ends. Is loathsome in his own deliciousness, and in the taste confounds the appetite: Therefore love moderately: long love doth so, too swift arrives as tardy as too slow.” When he says this, he is giving Romeo a warnin. Also, Friar Lawrence should have known at the time, that Romeo was loving with his eyes and not with his heart. For example, Romeo was in a relationship with Rosaline, before marrying Julliet. Inonclusion , the Friar did not have the expierence to know that they were kids.…

    • 689 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the play, William Shakespeare develops a story where Friar Laurence is to blame for the tragic deaths of Romeo and Juliet. This play is about two star crossed lovers, Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet. After days of them meeting they were decided to get married. Romeo persuades Friar Laurence, who is the priest of their church to marry them as soon as possible. The Friar agreed; thinking their families would learn to love and accept each other. Juliet´s parents had a different idea. Her parents wanted her to marry Paris, but little did they know she was already married. In solution with the certain problem, the friar gave Juliet a sleeping potion, so she could fake her death. He wrote a note to Romeo explaining what the plan was. Friar…

    • 458 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    As one of the central themes of the play, fate plays an important role in Romeo and Juliet’s death. Through out the play, fate seems to control Romeo and Juliet’s lives and forces them together and apart. One example of how fate brings the two lovers together is in Act 1 Scene 2, where Capulet Servant invites people to the party, Romeo sees the invitation list with Rosaline’s name on it and decides to attend the party which results in the first meeting between Romeo and Juliet. Another example of why fate is to blame for this tragedy is in Act 5 Scene 1, where Friar’s letter does not reach Romeo due to a random incident. To a large extent, fate is not the only cause of the lovers’ misfortunes; Romeo and Juliet are responsible for their own death as well, due to their impulsiveness.…

    • 463 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the play, ‘Romeo and Juliet’ by William Shakespeare, Friar Laurence is a man well-respected and trusted by his community. He is a loyal adherent to Romeo and gives wise advice to those who need it. This changes when Romeo requests that the friar discreetly marries both him and Juliet. Friar Laurence made a myriad of mistakes following the marriage of Romeo and Juliet, as he was trying to preserve their confidentiality. His mistakes inevitably led to the deaths of Romeo and Juliet.…

    • 683 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Friar Lawrence is a very important character in ‘Romeo and Juliet’ because he is the sole figure of religion in the play, allowing us to infer a lot about the role religion played in daily life and Shakespeare’s views on it. In the play, the Nurse addresses the Friar as ‘lord’. This metaphor illustrates how religion was a major part of people’s lives at the time the play was set. When referring to Jesus we would often use the term ‘lord’; the same way that the Nurse refers to the Friar. The fact that a catholic priest has knowledge about poisons capable of faking death is out of place, thus making the reader question why he has this knowledge. The fact that the Friar has devised this plan, which could be described as a cure, if very similar to the way Jesus would help people in biblical times. Another piece of evidence to show this is how Romeo always compares his experiences with Juliet using a religious term. He says he’d like to ‘worship’ her body and refers to her as a ‘saint’ when they first meet in the play. Contrastingly, the Friar uses marriage as a way to help create peace in the city which you would not expect from a priest. Instead, you would expect him to marry them because they love each other and not to use them as a tool to get what he wants. This could show how people had started to lose their faithfulness at the time of the play. During the Renaissance era when ‘Romeo and Juliet’ is set society would have been dominated by Catholicism but this shows that there may have been a little more freedom of speech and thought in society.…

    • 608 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    fate romeo & juliet

    • 573 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Also it is a common belief that Romeo and Juliet’s parents are at fault, for making the family feud going, and or that Romeo and Juliet’s haste is to blame, or the Friar and the Nurse shouldn’t have kept the two lovers marriage a secret, and that they affected the unfortunate end of Romeo and Juliet. However, during the phenomenal and tragic play, fate is mentioned many times throughout the play and is obviously the deciding factors in the tragedy. “These violent delights have violent ends,” (Act 2, scene 6, line 9).…

    • 573 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, Friar Lawrence and the Nurse are to blame for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet in both direct and indirect ways. To begin, Friar Lawrence decides to marry Romeo and Juliet because of his idealistic views on ending the brawl between the two houses, without thinking of the repercussions. After deliberating over marrying Romeo and Juliet, Friar says,“[i]n one respect I’ll thy assistant be:/For this alliance may so happy prove/To turn your households’ rancour to pure love.” (II.iii 90-92) Friar Lawrence believes that Romeo’s love for Juliet is superficial and transparent, however, the idea of uniting the Montagues and Capulets is far too tempting. Although this could lead into disastrous results,…

    • 911 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Second, Friar Laurence is the main cause for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet because he married them eventhough he knew it would cause trouble in the future. For example, before Friar marries the two he says, “So smile the heavens upon this act that after-hours with sorrow chide us not!” (Act 2, Scene 6, Lines 1-2). This illustrates, Friar Laurence prayed that the…

    • 988 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Romeo and Juliet are doomed by fate from birth since they belonged to opposite households, but due to their rash decisions which aroused from uncontrolled emotions, and the influence of irrational guardians, their tragic endings were unavoidable. It’s Romeo and Juliet’s fate to die which is necessary to end their family feud. Many actions and dialogues in the play foreshadow their incoming deaths.…

    • 1919 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Their endings were based on their actions as characters, but fate trumped all of the impetuous actions. It was just their destiny to fall in love and essentially die on the terms of love. Some may argue that free will is the most responsible for their death, however this is not so. Yes, Romeo and Juliet made some impulsive and self oriented decisions that lead them to their death, but there was already a predestined plan for their lives. Throughout the story Shakespeare hinted at the idea of fate, which makes it a stronger point because of how it is emphasized. However, Romeo and Juliet went through so many obstacles to be together in the story because they didn’t care what anyone said or did to stop them. Even though their love was only beginning before it ended abruptly, fate played a major role in it. Fate was most definitely responsible for the deaths of Romeo and Juliet because of foreshadowing, the feud between the Montagues and Capulets and the power of the…

    • 1132 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The play Romeo and Juliet was one of the most famous love tragedies ever written. This love story unfortunately had a fatal ending. Many people argue over why the lovers had died, was it over Free Will or Fate? The death of Romeo and Juliet was partially because of free will. The fact that Romeo and Juliet got married knowing that there was a bitter feud between their families, the Montague and Capulet’s. This feud brought on many problems, such as the murder of Tybalt by Romeo. Juliet knew that this might be a problem for Her and Romeo. Juliet had said: “What’s in a name”? Which explains her ill fate of being a Capulet and Romeo being a Montague. When Romeo tells his servant “ Ay, mine own fortune in my misery”.…

    • 2097 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays