Friar Lawrence Selfish Quotes

“Things are not always as they seem; the first appearance deceives many.” -Phaedrus. This quote can be applied to Friar Lawrence in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Friar Lawrence is supposed to be a godly man, but his looks are very deceiving to his real character. Friar Lawrence is not what you would expect of a friar, and is one of the main causes of Romeo and Juliet’s death. In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Friar Lawrence does not possess the qualities you would expect of a Friar. One quality that can be applied to his character is hypocrisy. In Romeo and Juliet, Friar Lawrence speaks of patience to Romeo. The problem with him saying this is that Friar Lawrence is not patient himself (Silka 298). An example of his impatience is his marrying
His motive to end the feud between the Montagues and Capulets is a great display of this trait. By ending the feud, he expects praise in return (Brenner 71). Friar Lawrence also seems to seek out these conflicts and tries to put himself into them (70). One would expect a friar to be humble and think of the people before himself. Lastly, another defining quality of Friar Lawrence is his impulsiveness. He shows his impulsiveness when he marries Romeo and Juliet. He marries them almost instantly to try to end the feud (Bryant, 67). Another display of his impulsiveness is when he sends Friar John a letter to Romeo. Friar Lawrence does not think of the fact that Friar cannot travel alone and sends him without a partner (Cardullo 62). All of these qualities do not seem typical of a friar. On top of Friar Lawrence’s bad character, he also has poor decision-making and ideas. To add to that, he breaks many church laws as well. When Friar Lawrence made the impulsive decision to marry Romeo and Juliet, he broke two church laws. If you are a part of the Church, it is illegal to marry two minors without parental consent (Silka 298). Not only does he break this Church law, he doesn’t think about